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Solstice of Light
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Solstice of Light



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Photo taken with the very sharp Sigma 18-35 Art lens (no stabilizer) at 20f. No photoshop at all. Raw image is essentially the same than this one.
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Photo taken with the very sharp Sigma 18-35 Art lens (no stabilizer) at 20f. No photoshop at all. Raw image is essentially the same than this one.
.....................................................................................................................................................................................
The sun over the snowy top of "Bola del Mundo", one of the highest mountains of Madrid region, at the very center of Spain. The towers are 50 years old antennas, still in perfect use. The photo was taken the shortest day of 2014 (winter solstice) and practically at solar noon. I reached there after three hours walking up with my kids the icy and hard north face of the mountain. Winter solstice occurs when the sun's daily maximum elevation in the sky is at its lowest, during the shortest day of the year. But the solstice itself lasts only a moment in time: exactly when this shot was taken.
..................................................................................................................................................................................... (File#: 2014-12-21-14.07.05-1-DxO)
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cameraCanon EOS 70D

settings Aperture f/2.8 ISO 100 Shutter 1/8000 

upload_dateDec, 2014

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6335

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Awards

Contest Finalist in Futuristic Photo Contest
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psyacovone jusi18 pranabsasmal brucesharock AMBAVARAM annahazlewood Rosley +142
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NatureLoverJJWal

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Impressed
NatureLoverJJWal

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15 Comments |
jeffswanson
 
jeffswanson January 01, 2015
Nice shot.
emileabbott
 
emileabbott January 03, 2015
Perfect time and place Jose. Nice capture.
NanaSue54
 
NanaSue54 January 03, 2015
Beautiful!! :)
claudiovaz
 
claudiovaz January 04, 2015
It is like a rocket ready to be launched. Nice photo!
teetee1852 Premium
 
teetee1852 January 07, 2015
Brilliant !
AnjanR
 
AnjanR January 19, 2015
perfect timing and super composition
IsabellaD Premium
 
IsabellaD February 25, 2015
AWESOME capture, voted in Off THe Grid !!
RhondaMcD
 
RhondaMcD March 05, 2015
Perfect timing. Congratulations.
ovosphotography
 
ovosphotography May 23, 2015
well done!
iceman2
 
iceman2 August 07, 2015
Beautiful capture!
Russell_Campbell PRO+
 
Russell_Campbell August 07, 2015
Nicely done!
Remraf
 
Remraf August 08, 2015
Great shot!
Bill-01
 
Bill-01 March 25, 2016
Well done, congratulations
NatureLoverJJWal
 
NatureLoverJJWal March 01, 2020
Wonderful capture. Congratulations on your awards in this photo.
stigfagerli PRO+
 
stigfagerli March 01, 2020
Nice foto

Submitted to Photo Contests

Tags

#antennas #blue #cold #noon #sky #snow #solstice #sun #winter
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Behind The Lens

Location

The sun over the snowy top of "Bola del Mundo", one of the highest mountains of Madrid region, at the very center of Spain. The towers are fifty years old antennas, still in perfect use. The photo was taken the shortest day of 2014 (winter solstice) and practically at solar noon. I reached there after three hours walking up the icy and hard north face of the mountain with my kids. Winter solstice occurs when the sun's daily maximum elevation in the sky is at its lowest, during the shortest day of the year. But the winter solstice itself lasts only a moment in time. Exactly when this shot was taken.

Time

At the very winter solstice: at solar noon the 21 of December 2014.

Lighting

It was a sunny, but cold and windy day. Sun was very intense and obviously it was in front. I had not any filter. I experimanted with a wide aperture (2.8), in order to obtain the sharpest shot possible, so I had to use a 1/8000 exposure to be able to take the photo without burning it... and the sensor.

Equipment

Photo taken with the very sharp Sigma 18-35 Art lens (no stabilizer) at 20f, focussing through the view finder. With these sophisticated and luminous lenses, at wide apertures there are autofocus issues if you shot through the viewfinder. At least with a medium level camera like my Canon 70D. The most accurate focusing method at wide apertures is the Live View (touching screen focusing method). But in many situations like in this photo you can not use the LiveView... That is why I tried in this photo a large aperture (in order to obtain the sharpest photo possible) and a 1/8000 exposure focussing through the viewfinder. No photoshop was applied to the photo. Raw image is practically the same than this one.

Inspiration

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. But the earth was formless and empty. Then God said: Let there be light; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good'. (The Bible, Genesis 1, 1). ................................................................................................................................................................................................ It is the light what gives consistency and form to the matter. The atoms are practically 100% empty space. The volume occupied by the nucleus plus the volume occupied by the electrons is only 0,0000000000001% (yes, thirteen decimals) of the total volume of any atom. But the photons, as bosons responsible of the electromagnetic interaction, connect internally and continuously the electrons with the nucleus, and also the atoms with other atoms in order to form molecules. The photons act as if they were the cement of the matter. Without light in its interior, there would not be 'solid' atoms and molecules. The matter, the whole universe would be an extremely loose soup of bosons and hadrons with c.0% density. That is, without light, the matter, the earth would be 'formless and empty', as surprisingly states the first sentence of the Bible. Light is not an outside phenomenon: photons are an essential 'internal' component of the matter. Without them it would not be possible any form. Neither the beauty, nor the photography. The matter is literally 'filled' with light. Also at night. To capture it, is all.

Editing

Not photoshop was applied. Colors and lighting are just the original, the natural ones. RAW converter used was CAPTURE ONE 8, a very good Raw converter, specially for landscapes and shadows recovery. Later I used DXO VIEW POINT for correcting a little bit the distortion in the towers provoked by the grand angular lens.

In my camera bag

The mentioned Sigma 18-35 Art lens, plus the Sigma 50 Art lens and the Canon 70-300 L lens.

Feedback

Keep walking until you find the scene you like. As Picasso said, "Inspiration does exists, but it has to find you working"... Or walking! Keep walking, whatever is the mountain!

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