Category

Low Light Photography

Location

Spiti Valley, India

Gear

Sony A7Riii & Sony 16-35 GM f/2.8

Description

High in a remote area of the Indian Himalayas lies Key Monastery, this 1000 year old Tibetan Buddhist monastery is the crown jewel of Spiti Valley. I wanted to capture this incredible location under the night sky but this presented some challenges: had I tried to capture this in a single shot the lights of the monastery would have been far too blown out when exposing for the stars, conversely exposing for the monastery lights would not give enough light for the night sky. I opted to shoot this image over a period of 4 hours, taking the foreground at blue hour to retain minimal noise and to keep the lights of the monastery balanced with the surroundings, then waiting in place for the stars to come out I captured the night sky above the monastery. I blended the shots in post to create a balanced and clean image. Photographing in this way is, for me, the essence of landscape photography - it forces you to slow down and really appreciate the location in front of you instead of the common tendency to snap and move on. Even if I had come away with no usable image, the time I spent sat soaking up this amazing location in person is always worth it.

Photographer

Alexander Williams

Social Media

Instagram: alxxvisuals

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alxx.visuals

Website: alexjwphoto.com

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