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Symphony
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Symphony

by Benjamin Olson

Gallery: LandscapePosted February 15, 2012473 views23 comments
It's been such a long time since I last shared anything with you all, and I've missed it! Now that I'm almost done with school, I have some free time to begin posting here and on other sites again. I look forward to becoming part of this community again!

This past September I had the chance to photograph a Aurora Borealis display in northern Minnesota. It was a surreal experience . A buddy and I head out around 11:30pm to a lake northeast of Bemidji about twenty miles and within 5 minutes of getting in the car we could see it faintly on the horizon. Once we reached our destination we immersed ourselves in the green glow for over 3 hours. During the course of those 3 hours fish were jumping, owls were hooting and when the lights reached their peak at 1:30am a neighboring packs of wolves began to howl. By far one of the most amazing experiences to date, and the wolves made it that much better!

This image composed of one exposure and I cloned out a light from a cell phone tower on the tree line and the glow of a cabin on the distant shore. Since the northern lights reflected so strongly on the lake, very few stars reflected on the calm water, so I chose to remove them also. Lastly, I adjusted the white balance to remove a greenish/yellow cast.

Comments and Critiques are appreciated.

Benjamin

5D Mark II - 16-35mm @ 23mm
ISO 1600 - f/4 - 15 seconds

Comments

23 comments
Comment posted by Peter Coskun on February 15, 2012 at 4:38 PM
That is a wicked display of northern lights. I like the rich colors and the way the green fades into the stars above.
Registered on October 31, 2011, 170 Posts, 1240 Comments
Comment posted by Keith Bauer on February 15, 2012 at 4:52 PM
Wow! That is one intense display. I really like the composition and the flow of the lights and lines. Great Stuff.
Registered on November 20, 2003, 458 Posts, 4836 Comments
Comment posted by Harry Lichtman on February 15, 2012 at 5:08 PM
An interesting pattern of light, reminding me of the shimmer of heat waves off the ground. A beautiful glow.
Registered on September 17, 2010, 304 Posts, 3507 Comments
Comment posted by Aaron Feinberg on February 15, 2012 at 5:30 PM
Holy f balls. Sick...and thanks for the honesty in the editing!! <3

aF
Registered on October 26, 2009, 399 Posts, 2789 Comments
Comment posted by Paul Gasior on February 15, 2012 at 5:32 PM
Beautiful colors and comp. :wavey:
Registered on March 7, 2010, 99 Posts, 502 Comments
Comment posted by Benjamin Olson on February 15, 2012 at 5:44 PM
Thanks everyone! No, problem Aaron!
Registered on April 7, 2007, 169 Posts, 725 Comments
Comment posted by Philip Schwarz on February 15, 2012 at 5:46 PM
Beautiful shot. Definitely one of the better aurora shots I've seen from the area. I keep hoping I'll see them sometime. Congrats on school. It seems like you just started a few months ago. With any luck I'll be up for the Eelpout Festival this weekend.
Registered on November 29, 2006, 236 Posts, 1210 Comments
Comment posted by Benjamin Olson on February 15, 2012 at 6:12 PM
Philip,

If you are free and want to go out and take some pictures let me know! I know Eelpout is rowdy though!!! :biggrin:
Registered on April 7, 2007, 169 Posts, 725 Comments
Comment posted by Rick Goldwasser on February 15, 2012 at 8:08 PM
Whoa...that's pretty intense. This works really well as a northern lights abstract - very cool.
Registered on May 10, 2009, 127 Posts, 970 Comments
Comment posted by Wayne Jones on February 15, 2012 at 8:47 PM
Wow, what a strong Aurora! Interesting shape -- looks like a giant great blue (er, green) heron flying.
Registered on April 18, 2007, 953 Posts, 6435 Comments
Comment posted by Tonia Graves on February 15, 2012 at 10:01 PM
Wow, what an amazingly beautiful image!
Registered on October 29, 2011, 92 Posts, 1035 Comments
Comment posted by Tony Kuyper on February 15, 2012 at 10:55 PM
Wow. What a display! It almost feels like heat rising from the water.
Registered on November 1, 2003, 364 Posts, 22328 Comments
Comment posted by Morris McClung on February 16, 2012 at 12:07 AM
A true work of art. You should be very proud. :toast:
Registered on May 7, 2007, 670 Posts, 19650 Comments
Comment posted by Zack Clothier on February 16, 2012 at 12:41 AM
Awesome aurora shot, man. It sounds like you had quite the experience while photographing this as well. One thing that I noticed is that line through the aurora in the center of the photograph just above the trees and how it's reflecting in the water. Now that I've noticed it I can't help but think that it is a stitch line (although I know it is natural and that this is not a stitched image)..it's so minor I wasn't going to point it out but thought I'd give you my most honest critique since this is such a wonderful image and display of lights, again, great job! :toast: :toast:
Registered on January 28, 2010, 343 Posts, 2257 Comments
Comment posted by Vance Gese on February 16, 2012 at 12:42 AM
Fantastic. An incredible display. Love how the arching lines of the aurora's border mimics the curves in the profile of the distant shore/forest. Stunning image. And to watch this with a pack of wolves a'singin to the lights ... amazing.
Registered on November 13, 2008, 298 Posts, 6629 Comments
Comment posted by Stuart Williams on February 16, 2012 at 1:10 AM
glorious - love it. the thin green line holds it all together.
Registered on December 7, 2007, 247 Posts, 4792 Comments
Comment posted by Benjamin Olson on February 16, 2012 at 11:15 AM
I want to thank everyone for all the positive feedback on this image, I really appreciate it!

Zach,

I also noticed that line too, I don't really care for it, but I'm not going to do anything about... I don't think.

Benjamin
Registered on April 7, 2007, 169 Posts, 725 Comments
Comment posted by Stan Rose on February 16, 2012 at 2:33 PM
Wicked! :cool:
Registered on September 15, 2005, 836 Posts, 17099 Comments
Comment posted by Hamed Musharbak on February 16, 2012 at 3:55 PM
Stunning light :toast:
Registered on June 1, 2009, 372 Posts, 2282 Comments
Comment posted by Florian Aubin on February 16, 2012 at 3:56 PM
beautiful aurora pattern here, well capted.
Registered on April 8, 2011, 8 Posts, 100 Comments
Comment posted by Kory Lidstrom on February 17, 2012 at 10:14 AM
Nice work. I've lived in Minnesota my whole life and never seen the Aurora. Maybe this will be the year. Not sure if I woulda cloned out the start in the reflection -- if anything I might've accentuated them, but that's just personal taste.
Registered on November 19, 2008, 49 Posts, 1035 Comments
Comment posted by Benjamin Olson on February 17, 2012 at 10:57 AM
Kory,

I understand, that is not something I would've normally done, but given that there were only handful of stars that were bright enough to reflect on the lake and that they were slightly streaked out I decided to remove them. They were more distracting then they were complementary, but I'll try to post a version later today with the stars. Thanks, I appreciate the feedback!
Registered on April 7, 2007, 169 Posts, 725 Comments
Comment posted by Gary McGhee on February 17, 2012 at 5:04 PM
Fantastic shot Benjamin, sounds like you had a terrific night.

Gary.
Registered on April 15, 2010, 142 Posts, 2416 Comments