Well it is 2022 and it is almost time to take down the Christmas decorations. Our family tradition is to keep them up until January 6 th, the traditional date for the arrival of the three wise men in the Christian calendar. The tree is set up beside our grandfather clock. This morning, a sunrise sunbeam happened to hit a window on the house behind ours and bounce into the living room to light this corner of the room and the tree. The warm sunlight on the rich red cherry wood of the clock gave a certain warmth to this spot. Knowing this was a short-lived opportunity, I scrambled to get the camera set up and capture the moment. And then it was gone. – JW
Date Taken: 2022-01-04
(c) Copyright 2021 JW Vraets
Tech Details:
Taken using a tripod-mounted Nikon D800 fitted with an AF-S Nikkor 24-120mm VR 1:4.0 lense set to 86mm, ISO100, Daylight WB, Matrix metering, Aperture Priority Mode, f/8.0, 1/2 sec with an EV-0.67exposure bias. PP in free Open Source RAWTherapee from Nikon RAW/NEF source file: set final image size to be 9000px high, brighten image overall by setting Exposure Compensation to EV+0.23, use Tone Curve 2 to slightly brighten the Lights and very slightly darken the Darks, boost Contrast and Chromaticity in L-A-B mode, set White Balance by sampling a white area in treetop angel, slightly boost Vibrance, sharpen (edges only), save. PP in free Open Source GIMP: use the Hue-Saturation-Brightness tool to slightly decrease overall saturation, slightly boost contrast, add a non-destructive dodge/burn layer and dodge/brighten the clock face a little and also dodge/darken the angel’s gown highlights a little, create new working layer from visible result, sharpen, save, scale image to 6000 px high, sharpen, save, add fine black-and-white frame, add bar and text on left, save, scale image to 3000 px high for posting online, sharpen very slightly, save.
