Nights of wonder - a photo on Flickriver

Nights of wonder

These are nights of wonder, my friends... the fireflies have come back (most probably due to the lockdown) and are swarming and dancing and happily mating in our nights. I got two fireflies sessions last week - the last one hopefully better than the first - for some 350 shots and more than 10 Gbs of RAW files.
Fireflies has always filled me with awe and wonder. They turn an ordinary night into a dancing celebration of life, making my very heart sing. We can say that the whole effect is due to their bioluminescence - yes, this is undoubtedly true: I am fully aware of the biochemical details of the process. You can often hear people saying that science has spoiled the sense of wonder and mystery - and this is false (for me, at least): my knowledge of the underlying details have only increased and deepened my sense of awe. Life is such an incredible miracle... and you need just a little biochemistry to realize that it is not just some kind of dubious pseudo-mysticism: all the living beings are part of an unique, unfathomable music - all linked and entangled at the deepest levels. Just for the occasion my mind and my heart are dancing together, since they both share this same realization - and they sing the same song.

It has always been one of my unfulfilled dreams to photograph fireflies, which, sadly, are becoming a rarity in our countryside; the positive effects of the lockdown for the environment have probably favoured a blooming this year, so I decided to have a try. I followed the advices of a master of fireflies photography, the Bulgarian photographer Hristo Svinarov. However I will eagerly accept hints and positive criticism from everyone who will be so kind to offer it.
In my second fireflies session I have become a little more confident in my possibilities. I have tried to lower the ISO below 1000, and this is by itself a huge step towards better photos; moreover I have somehow dared more in composition. I am forced to use my Samyang 14 mm, which is the only fast-aperture lens I have in my gear, so I ventured nearer and nearer, until I was effectively surrounded by dancing fireflies.

I have stacked 12 5-second photos with the Gimp. As the basic layer I used an image I have obtained by averaging the photos with John Paul ChaCha's Chasys Draw IES Artist: the fireflies themselves were almost obliterated but the landscape were effectively denoised, while the details were improved. After the stacking work in the Gimp I added some small touches with Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
Simply by my natural curiosity I tried the inverted RGB blue channel technique described by Boris Hajdukovic as a possible final contribution to the processing. The results of this interesting trick are utterly unpredictable when we come to low-light captures; I discovered that in this context this technique can effectively isolate the fireflies from the background.

Taken in: Italy / Lombardy / Cambiago / Cascina Orombella (show map)

Taken on: May 27, 2020

Tags:

evening

Spring

fireflies

lucciole

campagna

countryside

fields

ditches

trees

stars

campi

fossi

dance

love

corteggiamento

courting

mating

Nikon

D5100

Samyang

Samyang 14 mm

Nik Color Efex Pro 4

Color Efex

Chasys Draw

stacking

averaging

Darktable

nature

canals

luciferin

luciferase

biochemistry

awe

wonder

life on Earth

bioluminescence

stupore

incanto « less

Sets appears in: • Fireflies • Night photography

Groups appears in: • The Light Fantastic • Nikon DSLR Users more » • Night and darkness • ! 60-89 Faves (P1,A+F3) • ! 30-59 Faves (P1,A+F3) • ! FavTop 0-49 (P1, A+F4) • ! FavTop 50-99 (P1, A+F4) • Nikon D5100 • *Echoes of Nature • Amazing scenery • Amateur Photographer Magazine • Photography with open source softwares • 75 - 99 faves (add 1 - fave 2) • MASTER OF PHOTOGRAPHY « less

Camera: Nikon D5100, f/2.8, 5 sec, 14mm (=21mm), ISO 800 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D5100
Aperture:	f/2.8
Exposure Time:	5
Focal Length:	14mm (35mm equivalent: 21mm)
ISO:	800
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	No Flash
Exposure Program:	Shutter speed priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Gain Control:	Low gain up
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Ver.1.01
Show full info

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