March 26, 2012

© Kevin Graham

"I am sending a photo I took May 15, 2010.

Though I am an amateur, there are actually a few photos I’ve taken that I can say I had something to do with it. This is not one of those photos.

I live just south of where the Bellevue Picnic is held each year, and climbed the hill in front my house to snap pictures of the fireworks. I did not have a tripod, so I sat in the middle of a cul-de-sac at the top of the hill and propped up the camera lens on my foot. Before the fireworks began I started taking some pictures to dial in the settings. There was a thundershower in the distance, and started capturing some lightning during the exposure. This one astonished me when I looked at it later, the man in the sky was there for an instant during the time my shutter was open. I guess I chose the time and place, the rest was blind luck!

The raw photo doesn’t stand out much, so I added quite a bit of contrast to the final image.

Camera and settings:

• Nikon D300, 18-200 zoom set to 18mm.
• f/5.6, 10sec, ISO 1600, 14bit Raw
• Active D Lighting = High

Post processing: Lightroom 3

• Calibration: 2010 Camera Vivid v4
• Color Temp 2850 Tint 0 (Tungsten)
• Boosted Contrast to 50 and added additional contrast using the tone curve (in addition to the Vivid settings).
• Split toning was used to add a bit of green to the shadows.
• Increased noise reduction slightly to 10, which I typically do anytime my ISO is above 800.
• I also use the Lens correction profile, as the 18-200 zoom has quite a bit of distortion at some settings."

~ Kevin Graham