johnknudsen
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Behind The Lens
Location
Taken in the mountain hills of Draper UT. This underpass leads to a multitude of trails for biking, hiking, and exploring the amazing scenery that overlooks both Utah Valley and Salt Lake Valley.Time
My friend Cameron (featured in a handful of my other photos) and I set out just before sunset on a warm summer night, hiking through the area photographing the city down below. We turned back as night fell, but before heading home we stopped at this underpass and brought out the steel wool for what turned out to be a very late and epic night of photography.Lighting
The lighting is really what makes this photo shine. I love the gradient from dark to light that works in parallel with the leading lines to draw the viewer to the center and main focus of the image. Dark and mysterious is the vibe I was going for with the lighting here and I am very pleased with the result.Equipment
This was taken with a Nikon D800 and Nikkor 50mm f/1.8GInspiration
Long exposure photography has always been a fascination of mine. I love having a general idea of how you want your photo to turn out, but always having that element of surprise with the final result. With this one I was curious how things would turn out if the steel wool was confined to the space inside the tunnel rather than the usual long sweeping trails I'm used to.Editing
Most of the post processing here was focused on fine tuning the gradient from dark to light and working on the contrast to give a punchy/grungy look. Overall it was a pretty simple edit. The photo didn't need too much to shine.In my camera bag
These days I'm running with my Nikon D850, Nikkor 50mm 1.8G, and Tamron 150-600mm G2.Feedback
Experimenting is key with these kinds of shots. The end result can vary so much by a change in shutter speed or your movements with the light source. For long exposures I like to find a spot that I find interesting and see what I can do with light to highlight what I find most visually appealing about the space I am in. That said, so many of my favorite shots like this have been from ideas with no real direction in mind. Just pointing my camera, going for it, and having fun seems to yield some of the best results for me.