About the Image(s)

The Comet over the Lake

Sometimes our plans work the way we want, and those days are the ones we will remember forever. Last week I went to Oregon for one week of photography. First two days by myself at Crater Lake National Park and then on the coast joining other people.
I visited Crater Lake 18 years ago briefly and from that moment I always wanted to go back with my camera. So, this time I planned to be there for two days. I wanted to sleep in the lodge of the park, but it closed the day before I planned to be there. So, I booked a cabin in a camp few miles away. My wish was to be able to photograph the lake by night with stars. Two days before leaving the forecast were very promising. I would have one night of clear sky, unfortunately this was going to be the night I was traveling there, so I had just to hope everything would go smoothly. So, I woke up at 4 am to catch a plane to get to Chicago and from Chicago to Portland. Surprisingly, no delays or other issues were encountered. Picked up the car I booked and drove 4 and half hour to the place I was supposed to be by 6 pm for checking in. No issues on the road although the skies show some haze while getting close to the park because some wildfire. I was a little bit nervous, but as soon as the road started to go up, the haze cleared. Anyway, I arrived to the camp on time to check in, drop my stuff, bought some frozen food to eat later (that was the worse part…), and then jumped in the car again to get to lookout I wanted to go. I arrived there just 20 minutes before sunset. With my surprise there were few other people there some with cameras (it was Monday, and all park facilities closed the day before), and some of them just with binoculars. After few minutes I realize they were there because the comet Atlas would have been visible that night! Sometimes, all planets align, and we are lucky. Indeed, that night the moon was also kindly lighting the lake and the foreground from the side. I had the time to look around set my tripod a little bit offset and in a lower position compared to the others (we always want to get something different from others) and then I just had to wait. Here is the best image of that night. However, I took only 10 pictures that evening because the beautiful spectacle Mother Nature was showing deserved to be watched in silence and with respect.

Fuji GFX100s, Fujnon 20-35 mm f/4 at 20mm, f/4 15 sec, ISO 1600. White setting was on fluorescent because, as previously stated I like my night photo blue (I guess is a question of personal taste).

Post process, I crop to 3:2 as usual, I then darkened selectively the foreground because the strong light from the moon and lightened slightly the left part of the image to get a more balanced appearance. Added a little bit of contrast and clarity. Not much else needed to be done. Finally I increased exposure of 0.1 and brightness by 10%.