Anatomy of a Composition - I'll Leave the Light On

Maybe it’s the sheer scale, maybe it's all the data, maybe it’s the time spent over the computer editing and stacking, maybe it’s the time in the world - the scouting, the hike, the camera settings, and then waiting through each set of images that’s gathered… so many variables to appreciate and too be challenged by when creating a panorama, I just don’t know what it is about them and why they are so intriguing. And then, just to make it interesting, add in the Milky Way, and the number of variables grows, what seems in an exponential way.

But, I’ll keep creating them, especially the Milky Way - something about the shape of the arch balanced with the landscape below, a world asleep, one we rarely look at. Scouting this location the past two years doesn’t give the full context of the story. We have property, in the small town on the left, Alma. It came into my family in 2004, and while the first few years we were able to enjoy it, skiing in the winter in Summit county, hiking and what seemed like endless projects in the summer, the past ten years it has seen less use by the family, though the projects never seem to end. So endless trips between Denver and Alma have given me an appreciation of the surrounding landscape, and just the slightest taste of the potential for beautiful images.  This is just one example.

In the early Milky Way season, February and March, this is a harrowing setting - ferocious winds, drifts of snow  8 and more feet high, bitterly cold temperatures, each one a genuine challenge to overcome. But all three together and it becomes a dismal experience.  So, I rarely venture beyond the treeline in these wintery-est months, but I’ve always kept my eye on this hillside, this gentle path that leads to the crest of the Mosquito Range. I decided to push myself this last weekend, to climb out of the trees and higher up that slope.  To compose with more intention and patience, and to sit a little more still.

The result is this panorama, with the heavy blue and green airglow from the 60% humidity. Hoosier Pass and the Town of Breckenridge to the north, the entirety of South Park and Pikes off to the east; all from a midnight hike to 12,000 feet.  This image has some imperfections, but I will look past those for now, while reading and practicing ways to improve, and planning on the next night out.

A total of 90 images were used to create the panorama - images were shot in three rows made up of 18 frames. Final images size is close to 90MB. Images were batch edited in Lightroom, then stacked in Starry Landscape Stacker.  Final edits were made both in Photoshop and Lightroom.

May, 2020 - As always, thank you for joining me on this adventure

For more thoughts on some of these images, head over to www.wordpress.com/alma175w  

I’ll Leave the Light On - South Park & the Milky Way - Sony a7rIII - FE 24/F1.4 GM - ISO 3200 | F/1.4 | 8 sec.