northern lights - norway Northern lights (23)

Shot in 2013 in Nyksund, Vesterålen Islands, Norway. f/2.5, 3 sec, ISO

800. I've tried in vain to clone out some of the electric cables... Thanks

for your feedback!

I wonder what source provides that warm-orange pier lighting in the middle of the the composition? The picture is in my view technically perfect (no surprise there :)) and kind of reminds me a bit of that crazy 'Troll hunter' movie i saw a couple of monts ago. Good job!

Regads,

VS

Thanks Vjacheslav for your very nice comment! If you check the image one click left in the same folder, you'll discover the orange light source. Nyksund is a tiny village build around a harbour.

Unfortunately the real size image is not flawless. It is quite noisy. There is banding in the water at the bottom. And there are those cables... Cloning them with the vivid parts of the aurora as a background was impossible.

Best regards,

Alain

Even on large size the flaws you mention aren't really visible, so I'll pronounce it superb as well... Mike

Very well done - composition, light management, processing.  Excellent work.

Nice elements and composition, the light and water reflection draws one into this image, well done.

Alain,  Wonderful image!!!  We are going to Alaska next August/September.  I'll settle and be ecstatic with an image or few like this.  Larry

Ahhh those electric cables, they are the bane of my life, and I suspect of yours too!

But I do have to say that they don't detract from the overall aesthetics of this image.  It's a beautiful scene and you have done well to balance the extremes of light and shade.

Compliments & Best Regards

Alf

What electric cables? ;-)... Mike

Oops, I was looking at the wrong cables.  Hang on a bit, I'll try again... Mike

Ok, NOW, what cables? ... Mike

Content aware tool perhaps ?

All gone anyway, can't see a trace of them now!

Alf

I used Neat Image to lessen the slight noise (which helped somewhat with the cables) and then used the clone tool in Photoshop Elements in various aperture sizes and opacities.  A tedious method but effective, total time about 30-45 minutes.  Well worth it for these beautiful images... Mike

Mike: a huge thanks for your help and time. I agree that the result is impressive but... I suspect the problem to be much harder on the original size image. I've tried with various PS tools, but the aurora structure was always altered. I've sold a few 80-100cm prints of my photos until now, and it's absolutely necessary for me that things are perfect at 100% crop on the screen, in case someone asks for a large print of this picture one day. I'll test your method! Thanks for the input. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and to everyone on PN!