Went for a walk last night to catch a glimpse of the starscape above me.  The sky was overcast, and the breeze was cool.  Trudging along, I wondered if the shroud that loomed overhead would ever disappear, revealing the glorious splendor of the celestial bodies beyond.  It had been a while since I had gazed out at the stars and was hopeful that my late-night excursion wouldn’t be in vain.

Cresting a hill, I stopped and lifted my gaze towards the heavens.  A break in the clouds gave promise of a clear view.  I stood in awe and watched as the veil slowly lifted and the cloud cover dissipated from view.  As I beheld the unfolding scene before me, I considered how wonderful it would be to have someone to share this moment with, someone with which to enjoy the magnificence of the planets, stars, and galaxies above.

Leptus loomed over me like a gentle giant.  Namaris floated peacefully, passing on without a care for the inhabitant of the planet to which it owed its orbital path.  Several other moons, planets, stars, and celestial beings traversed a course across the night sky that night, many of which I could not personally identify.  Among them, though, was a small speck of light, way off towards the north-western horizon.  Though visually insignificant, that dot in the sky carried significant meaning for me.  I’d heard much about that tiny planet, much about the things that had transpired on its surface.  But what interested me most was its inhabitants.  

They were a diverse people, or so I’d heard.  A people who enjoyed a variety of cultures and ethnical backgrounds, and who lived on a planet whose ecosystems varied from high-desert to tropical rainforest.  It was a beautiful planet, one that I longed to visit.  As I gazed up at that small speck in the vast expanse of sky above, the name of that planet reverberated through my mind.  What a glorious name for a glorious place.  Earth.

Standing there, alone on that hill, I considered what it must be like to live on a planet inhabited by other individuals.  To live in a place where neighbors came over to borrow a cup of sugar.  To traverse a world where the sounds of children playing resounded through the trees, across the rivers, and off the mountainsides.  To exist in a land where people called you up just to wish you good-day or comment on the weather.  To live and not be lonely.  To be, and not be alone.

I pondered these things as the celestial bodies slowly circled my solitary planet.  I found myself wishing for things I could never hope to experience, craving an existence that would never be.  Never had I thought that I would find myself unhappy here, floating out in space, the sole-inhabitant of my own planet.  Yet with all the world at my fingertips, I discovered that it was all meaningless to me; empty and devoid of enjoyment.  With earth’s small light beaming down at me, I longed for something more, something utterly unattainable, yet something so vital to one’s existence: companionship.  Never in my lifetime could I hope to ever experience the true joys of such a privilege, but as the glorious scene above me began to fade as the first rays of light began to illuminate the sky, I hoped in my heart that the inhabitants of that great planet, Earth, never took for granted the immense privilege of friendship and co-existence.  What a gift it must be to not be forced to live alone, for that kind of existence is agony itself.

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Sorry for the late post, I was away during the weekend, didn’t get an opportunity to put this post together until today.  Here’s a brief synopsis of this shot.

The most interesting aspect of this shot is that it was taken during the late afternoon with the sun still shining.  I didn’t want to try shooting after dark because of the logistical challenges (focusing in the dark, long exposure, composing the shot without being able to see through the view-finder, etc.) so I decided to just shoot it during the day and convert it to a night scene in post.

This objective was accomplished by shooting with a tungsten white-balance (gave everything a bluish tone) and under-exposing the image (rich shadows, not too many hot highlight areas).  I also added to this effect by de-saturating and adjusting the color-tones in post.

I actually used a couple tutorials for creating the sky and planets.  It’s amazing the number of videos you can find on creating nightscapes.  Essentially it was a process of adding a lot of digital noise, brush strokes, textures, and lens flares to get the desired effect.

That’s essentially the overview of this shot.  Definitely an interesting effect.  Hope it inspires you to try something new!  See you next week.