nickeykolev

On the road under the rain

Car light trails inder the rain on the Transfăgărășan road in Romania

Car light trails inder the rain on the Transfăgărășan road in Romania
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NIKON D610

settings

Aperture f/22 ISO 100 Shutter 117/1 Focal Length 140/10

upload_date

Oct, 2019

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Behind The Lens

Location

This is the famous Transf?g?r??an road that crosses the southern section of the Carpathian Mountains of Romania. It was built in the early 1970s by the Romanian as a strategic military road, ascending up to 2,000 meters of elevation to connect the southern with the northern part of the country. With it's location and heavy usage, the road is a magnificent scene to capture by photographers, mostly at dawn and in night, composing with cars light trails. The scenery from the road's top is unimaginable, surrounded by mountain peaks and beautiful valleys on both sides.

Time

What I wanted to do is to get to a sweet spot in the end of the day, right before the sunset, so I can try and capture different scenes - sundown, dusk and night. The particular image is taken at dusk - when the sun already dropped down enough in behind. That way I was able to include enough details in the sky and the valley with the road.

Lighting

I got to say that the light conditions were tough. At one hand. I was a bit unlucky with the weather, as the sky was cloudy, but still light enough through the clouds in the distance. My intention was to capture car light trails, so I had to play a lot with the correct exposure - not burning out the light sky, but light enough to get as much details of the land as I could. As it also started raining, this put more trouble with the moist and water drops. On the other hand, though, the environment actually boosted the mood for the scene. A darker, uneven light from the spots in the sky actually made it so dramatic and a bit creepy, which made me stay and shoot until the rain got stronger.

Equipment

The photos in the series are taken with Nikon D610 with Samyang 14mm 2.8 lens on a tripod. The settings are with the highest apperture of f/22, with manual slow shutter, so the light trails could look as long as possible.

Inspiration

The Transf?g?r??an road was, and still is on my radar for a long time now. As I live in Bulgaria, and the road is in the neighboring Romania, it is a not so hard to reach spot, but still it's a 10 hours drive. I was looking at so many beautiful night photos of the Transf?g?r??an road for a long time and this summer I had the opportunity to finally go there, as I was in Bucharest for a couple of days. The whole area, that the road actually passes by is magical. It happens to be one of the favorite locations for romanians and their guests to go for a weekend, enjoying nature. There are so many sights to see and photograph - the mountain ranges, waterfalls, the Bâlea Lake is also quite beautiful. And of course - the highest point of the road form which point the scenery just leaves you speechless.

Editing

The final image is a stack of multiple captures of cars light trails in different locations on the road. Each image in the stack is exposed to the brightest spots - the light areas of the sky, so, as in many other post-processing of similar exposures, I just bump up the shadows and blacks to get the details a bit and increasing a little the contrast. In the current image I intentionally kept the water drops and not removing them, as they add up to the mood of the scene.

In my camera bag

Well, in my bag I always carry the Nikon D610, paired with a Tamron 24-70 f2.8 G2 lens as a multi-purpose. Along with it I still carry the 14mm Samyang f2.4 for those wide landscapes. The Samyang is proven in sharpness and colors and is my favorite wide angle for now, even though it is a bit hard to operate. For some occasions I carry a 85mm Samyang f1.4 lens, which I use to play around with bokeh. This one lens is the sharpest I ever played with.. Also, I carry a benro tripod and a Hoya HD polarizer filter.

Feedback

One thing to know for sure - carry some clothes :) I was at Transf?g?r??an mid August, so it was a hot summer in the valley below, but going on top in the evening and night, the temperatures fall down rapidly. You should be prepared for weather changes as well. Talking about weather changes, you know what they say: There's nothing better than bad weather! At a time, I was feeling so unlucky with the clouds and the rain, but actually that helped to get a photo of the scene in a whole different mood than what I had originally in my mind. Always take the maximum of what you see, despite conditions. When trying to capture a scene in low light, always remember to plan your arrival earlier, so you have enough time to cruise around and find the spot you want for the composition you want. Setup your camera focus and settings at the latest possible time with more light, so you are sure you have correct focus and exposure levels. Than - just be patient and enjoy yourself. Grab a beer, feel the wind, hear the sounds surrounding you. Set yourself in a mood, resembling the moment you are on the spot, remember it and try to pass it through your photograph :)

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nickeykolev

nickeykolev

On the road under the rain

Car light trails inder the rain on the Transfăgărășan road in Romania

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow nickeykolev

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