Ice in flames
Rising sun illuminates cave covered in ice on the shore of Baikal lake, Russia
Rising sun illuminates cave covered in ice on the shore of Baikal lake, Russia
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Mar, 2016Views
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Awards
Contest Finalist in One With Nature Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in People In Large Areas Photo Contest
People's Choice in Layered Compositions Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Layered Compositions Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Monthly Pro Vol 21 Photo Contest
Peer Award
Superb Composition
Absolute Masterpiece
Top Choice
Outstanding Creativity
Magnificent Capture
All Star
Superior Skill
Genius
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Behind The Lens
Location
I made this picture during my traditional landscape photography workshop on Baikal, Russia. To find this kind of ice covered cafe I had to travel all the way to the north of the largest inhabited island on Baikal - Olkhon island. This place is not much visited but there are the most fascinating ice caves of OlkhonTime
At this place you can only make this kind of picture in the sunrise. So did I. I woke up at about 5 am to be at the certain cave before the sunrise and was waiting there till about 7 amLighting
It was cold. Really cold. The temperature before the sunrise was about -25C so waiting there for an hour was one of a task. But I did it. The other thing is that it was my second attempt to get this picture. The most important thing to get this effect of flaming ice is to shoot this cave with the sun lighting directly into it. So I was looking for this kind of cave checking direction of the sunrise and for the clear sky in the morning. I did this picture on third day of waitingEquipment
I used my Nikon D810 with wide angle lens 14-24 f/2.8 and a tripod. No other equipment was usedInspiration
I have seen some images from the ice caves and wanted to do something special. I got this image in my mind before the shooting began. Sun, flaming ice and a man walking in the background. When I got everything sorted in my brain it was only a matter of looking for exact cave and momentEditing
I did quite a lot of postprocessing on this this image. The problem is the dynamic range of this scene was extremely wide, wider than the dynamic range of the camera. So I had to use luminosity masks and multiple images to blend overexposed and underexposed images. Also I had to use image stacking to increase depth of field the way it would cover all the scene from foreground to background. After doing image stacking and digital blending I made final color toning to adjust the colors the way I have seen them in the realityIn my camera bag
Here is my normal set of equipment for most of my adventures. I use Nikon D810 as my main camera and Nikon D700 as spare and second camera for intense reports and action scenes (now planning to purchase Nikon D500 as second dew to it's outstanding burst more and light weight). My main lens is AF-s Nikkor 24-70 f/2.8, my main lens for landscapes (including this one) is Af-S Nikkor 14-24 f/2,8. I also use Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 as my main telephoto lens and Tamron 150-600 f/5.0-6.3 as my super-telephoto lens. For many years i've been using Gitzo Explorer as my main tripod - this image is mad using this tripod. I also carry polarizing filter, neutral density filter (ND 1000) and a set of 5 spare batteries.Feedback
Plan you image. Try to imagine the composition of your future shot. Prepare for you shooting. Explore the landscape, clearly understand the points where sun rises and sits. Explore how sun reflects on ice and other surfaces as it might be important for your shot.
