Cuenca-BW-Night-Lightning
Cuenca, Ecuador.
Cuenca, Ecuador.
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Apr, 2014Views
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ericpulskamp
April 08, 2014
Thank you to everyone who has taken their time to view, like, or award my photo.
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this photo from the roof of my apartment building in Cuenca, Ecuador. Cuenca, which sits at about 8,500 feet above sea level in the Andes, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the third largest city in Ecuador.Time
I shot this about an hour after sunset.Lighting
My initial goal was to shoot the sunset, but about 30 minutes after the sun went down, some angry-looking clouds started rolling in from the south. I kept shooting – hoping to maybe get a lightning shot, and if Mother Nature didn’t cooperate, I had a plan.Equipment
I shot this with my entry-level DSLR – a Nikon D5100 with the kit lens, 18-55 mm f/3.5 – 5.6. I set the camera in aperture priority mode at f/5.6, ISO 100, on my Sunpak 6600CPG tripod; I used a remote shutter release to take the picture. The shutter was open for four seconds on this photo, so you can’t handhold the camera in these types of lighting conditions.Inspiration
I am fortunate enough to live in a beautiful and unique place. Whether I want to go out and shoot landscapes, cityscapes, or street photography, I am surrounded by inspiration.Editing
I always shoot RAW. A lot of amateur photographers believe that shooting RAW is only for the pros, but basically, shooting RAW will yield better images and give you more room for error which you can fix in Photoshop. I first edited the image in Photoshop Camera RAW where I adjusted contrast, highlights, shadows, blacks, boosted clarity, cropped the photo, and added a vignette. Then I converted the image to black and white using the Google Nik Collection Silver Efex Pro plug in Photoshop; this added a bit of noise to mainly the sky, so I brushed the sky with the noise reduction plug in from Google’s Nik Collection. I reopened the image in Camera RAW and made a few more tweaks in the Basic panel. Since Mother Nature didn’t cooperate and give me a light show on the night I took the picture, I added what I think really sparks interest in this photo – the lightning. I used the Eye Candy plug in from Alien Skin Software. It is an easy plug in to use, but I had to play around with different types of lightning and locations in the picture to end up with a realistic result, with the ends of the lightning appearing to strike the high points of the antennae.In my camera bag
I currently shoot with the same Nikon D5100, but I have upgraded the lens to Nikon’s 35 mm f/1.8G, so my kit lens usually stays at home. Nikon’s 35mm prime or the 50 mm prime are both excellent, sharp lenses for your first upgrade for only around $200. My next camera will be either the Nikon D750 or the D810.Feedback
I think this shot illustrates what an amateur photographer can do with amateur gear and Photoshop. You don’t need to go out right away and spend a few thousand dollars on professional gear to get really good images. The two most important things an improving photographer does are learning and practicing. Don’t be afraid to try new things, and get out there and shoot!
