Photo by Phong Le
Our Place in the Universe
Ever since I was a child, I’ve been inspired by the mountains and decided to move to Colorado in March 2022, in part to find more subjects for my photography. Less than a year later, in February 2023, I ventured to Chasm Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park.
The park had received several feet of snow over the past few weeks, burying the trail leading to the lake. I battled thigh-deep snow to carve a path along a steep traverse, then scaled icy cliffs to make my way to Chasm Lake. Exhausted, I sat in the snow in silence. It was there, on the shores of this frozen lake, awed by the majesty of Longs Peak towering above me, that I began to contemplate my place in the Universe, and how, just as grains of pollen on the wind and planets through the cosmos, I had moved through my life, seemingly randomly at times, but always toward some ultimate purpose.
I took out my tripod and stepped out onto the ice. I photographed myself at 24mm with my iPhone 14 Pro Max, because that was the range of my Bluetooth remote. Then I took another shot at 48mm, planning to composite the two images in ON1 Photo RAW.
Post processing notes:
I used ON1 Photo RAW content-aware crop to expand the top and bottom of my photo into a 2:3 ratio, then masked my silhouette and shadow from the 24mm photo to blend it into the 48mm photo, shrinking it 50% to maintain proportions. I used Sky Replace to swap in a more dramatic sky, as well as a Noise Reduction Effect (for the sky), Glow, Tone Enhancer, Sunshine, Dynamic Contrast, and Vignette. Finally I used Local Adjustments to match the illumination and colors of the scene to the sky replacement.Exif information:
| Copyright: | Phong Le |
| Camera: | iPhone 14 Pro Max |
| Aperture: | f/1.78 |
| Focal Length: | 6.8600001335144mm |
| ISO: | 64 |
| Shutter Speed: | 1/1073 sec. |
| Created: | February 7, 2023 20:49:12 |