Iceberg in Port Charcot at sunset, Antarctica. Canon 5D Mark III, 24-105mm f/4L IS, (24mm), 1/50 sec @ f/7.1, ISO 400.
In contrast to the last photo I shared from Port Charcot, on the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula, this image was taken in the opposite direction, about 15 minutes later. The sun had just set and we were closing out the night at about 11:40 p.m. One general piece of advice for landscape photography is don’t put your camera away when the sun sets. If the conditions are right, and there are clouds in the evening sky and it is clear enough in the west, a lot of color can happen at that point. Especially in far northern and southern latitudes when the sunset takes it’s leisurely time. For the curious minded, there is zero saturation and zero vibrance applied to this image in post production. Just a basic white and black point set, with some shadows boosted in Lightroom 4. How I would have loved to be in a skiff and buzz around those giant icebergs at this moment, but this was essentially a grab shot on the way back to the ship.
Stunning, and great that you give the settings. Yes, sometimes the colours are there when you think they have gone for the night or morning,here in NZ I find that in the early morning, I am lucky if I am there at the right time, a few minutes and they are gone.Your photo is truly beautiful, thank you for sharing so much with us. Cheers from Jean.
It would be wonderful to have boats standing by, weather permitting, so photogs could cruise around the icebergs to their hearts content. And somehow, I don’t know how, to be able to make a stable platform in the water to use tripods and long exposures – imagine star trails with a big chunk of blue ice in the foreground!