Sometimes photographers need a little luck… shot with a Pentax 645 Z

Ah! Pomerol!
Vineyard at night


While I was shooting this long exposure image, a car passed on the road, just on my left and lit the vine foliage…

Nicolas Claris said:

Ah! Pomerol!
Vineyard at night

PENTAX 645 Z- FA645 80-160mm F4.5 @ 160 mm - 30,0 s; f/8; ISO 400​

While I was shooting this long exposure image, a car passed on the road, just on my left and lit the vine foliage…

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Simply brilliant preparation for "Lady Luck"! James Bond get's the ladies 'cause he's not only good looking like you, but also he's so fit and prepared for that lucky break that he never misses. Had you not had everything right - the memory of the layout of the vineyard, the previous shots you took and the dream already in your head, all the serendipity in the world would not have helped you!

Still, I now can see that we lesser mortals could use a vehicle's moving headlights to paint with light on a grand scale! That is such an ambitious but doable technique we would do well to remember!

So, Nicolas, We all can be doubly appreciative: for the picture itself and then for the great lesson in lighting landscsape with a car!

?

Asher

One minute before…

One minute before, the same shot, same settings except that there were no car passing by…


The very same shot but with a virtual car light beams created with masks in Lightroom 6…

Personally, I prefer the "lucky" shot!

The aggressiveness and invasive disorder of those elongated shadows provides a strong counterweight, sufficient to balance the picture. Hardly any of us would have applied such a deft but heavy hand to a corner of a nice and sufficient picture. This again is a good lesson. We should be prepared, on occasion, to be warlike in our hunting strategy and from time to time go beyond reasonable, appropriate and
pleasant. After all we are hunters trying to bag our prey, our prize! Nature does this for us where we hesitate because we know that rash behavior often ruins our work!

So this is a great lesson in lighting but also in the challenge to "bring off" such bold strokes deftly and impressively enough that this major structural modification can actually carry part of the "freight" of the total picture's worth - and it does and with applomb! Here the lighting informs us that "We travelled to this location in the darkness and then came across a wonderful building, regally standing out, dominating the landscape!"

Bravo, Nicolas! You were prepared and when it happened you bagged your prize! You changed something well conceived, sufficient and nice, (but static), to magnetic and unusually impressive and alive! Getting a living immediacy into a scene with no people is a wonderful achievement.

Asher

Asher!
You make me blushing!
BTW, there were people… in the car!

Wow, Nicolas, that car did you quite a favor; it took what would be a good image into a fantastic one. What a sky too. I like it!
Maggie

Maggie Terlecki said:

Wow, Nicolas, that car did you quite a favor; it took what would be a good image into a fantastic one. What a sky too. I like it!
Maggie

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Thank you Maggie
Hence the thread title!
The magic is also that the car speed was perfect so the lighting was on par…

Luck comes to those who deserve it Nicolas. Well done, as usual.

Hi, Asher,

Asher Kelman said:

The aggressiveness and invasive disorder of those elongated shadows provides a strong counterweight, sufficient to balance the picture. Hardly any of us would have applied such a deft but heavy hand to a corner of a nice and sufficient picture. This again is a good lesson. We should be prepared, on occasion, to be warlike in our hunting strategy and from time to time go beyond reasonable, appropriate and pleasant. After all we are hunters trying to bag our prey, our prize! Nature does this for us where we hesitate because we know that rash behavior often ruins our work!

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So well said. That paragraph is itself a fine work of art (not to be confused with "fine art").

Best regards,

Doug

Asher Kelman said:

Simply brilliant preparation for "Lady Luck"! James Bond get's the ladies 'cause he's not only good looking like you, but also he's so fit and prepared for that lucky break that he never misses. Had you not had everything right - the memory of the layout of the vineyard, the previous shots you took and the dream already in your head, all the serendipity in the world would not have helped you!

Still, I now can see that we lesser mortals could use a vehicle's moving headlights to paint with light on a grand scale! That is such an ambitious but doable technique we would do well to remember!

So, Nicolas, We all can be doubly appreciative: for the picture itself and then for the great lesson in lighting landscsape with a car!

?

Asher

Click to expand...

A good lesson is a remembered lesson!
Last year for our exhibition "Bateaux, Châteaux, Gâteaux", I used my car headlights and "stop" red back lights to enlight this photo of Château Léoville Barton…

The red trail on the limit of the château and vines is a car passing by… Long exposure…

In Northern California, raging fires have consumed thousands of homes near the famous vineyards. But these precious heritage areas are, unlike the oak Forrest's and shrub filled landscape, totally green and have almost entirely escaped damage. In fact, the vines acted as a fire barrier and saved families in the wine tasting rooms!

So Nicolas, who would believe vineyards save lives! So that is part of your world!

Asher