My soul is longing for you... [explored on 2022/09/24]

... More than watchmen long for the morning...

At the border of the high Padan Plain, just at the feet of the first line of the Prealps, there lays a string of five lakes. They draw a line that is the base of the so-called Larian triangle, i.e. the triangle-shaped mountainous land between the two arms of the Lake Como (also called Lario). These lakes, often called the Lakes Briantei, or the Brianza Lakes (from the name of that land, Brianza), are way smaller than the Lario and the other great lakes of Northern Italy - just a string of beads in the higher plain - but they share the beauty of their larger cousins, although on a smaller, more intimate scale. I have always felt quite strongly the fascination of their common origin, which dates from the end of the Würm glaciation, some 11,700 years ago. I can easily see in my mind the enormous, mighty glaciers from the Alps flowing beyond the last mountains and spreading through the high plain. A powerful sight, indeed... Yet all that glory was deemed to end as the climate was becoming warmer, and eventually the glaciers began to recede, leaving behind deep ditches and huge semilunar terminal morains. You can easily fill in the story - the melting waters, the swamps, the debris from the looming mountains, and, eventually, the lakes.
Well, this is not a lesson in geology - I am by no means an expert, just a guy who perceives geology in a very emotional way (quite possibly a trait acquired from my late father, who was a passionate amateur mineral and fossil prospector).

I have begun a photographic exploration of those relics of the last glaciation, the Lakes Briantei. At sunrise, of course.

My second (and last, for now) session was at the Lake Alserio, a small, rather shallow one (its average depth is 5,4 m (17,7 ft)). Yet it is a very fascinating lake, completely surrounded by a variety of natural habitats that has always hindered urban development in the close vicinity of the lake. Its placid waters are rich in waterlilies and birds of all kinds.

I took this photo a bit later than my previous post from the same lake, La vie en rose: it had been a fleeting moment, just the time to take a couple of exposure bracketings. Then the world turned into liquid gold and the sunrise proper began to unfold before me, as the clouds looming on the horizon became alive with the fiery fires of the rising sun. Even as the incandescent orb of the sun was thoroughly hidden from my sight, red and orange sunshafts began to pierce the thick shroud of clouds and a morning hymn resounded within my soul - trumpets and flutes, and horns, and streams of light from the very source of life on Earth. This magic moment was the second gift of that morning and I have done my best to capture its beauty as a gift for everyone who will enjoy it.

Explored on 2022/09/24 #40

I have processed this picture by blending an exposure bracketing [-2.0/-1.0/0/+1.0/+2.0 EV] by luminosity masks with the Gimp (EXIF data, as usual, refer to the "normal" exposure shot).
Along the journey - post-processing always is a journey of discovery to me - I tried the inverted RGB blue channel technique described by Boris Hajdukovic to give a slight tonal boost to the reflections and to some parts of the sky. As usual, I gave the finishing touches with Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
Raw files processed with Darktable.

Taken in: Italy / Lombardy / Alserio / Alserio (show map)

Taken on: August 17, 2022

Tags:

Italia

Italy

Lombardy

lake Alserio

lago

lake

lago di Alserio

Prealps

mountains

montagne

prealpi

glaciation

glaciazione

Resegone

reflection

underwater

glaciers

morains

sunrise

daybreak

alba

aurora

early morning

morning

mattina

clouds

cloudy

Nikon

D750

Nikkor

24-120 mm

zoom

lens

Darktable

the Gimp

Nik Color Efex Pro 4

inverted RGB blue channel

exposure bracketing

luminosity masks

silence

calm

geology

landscape

water

poles

weathered wood

pali

mooring

berth

ormeggio

morene

sentries

watchmen

sentinelle

colline moreniche

quiet

laghi briantei

waterlilies

ninfee

sunshafts

sun rays

sunlight

cloudscape

woods

trees « less

Sets appears in: • Lakes Briantei • Explored photos more » • Sunrise « less

Camera: Nikon D750, f/14.0, 1/20 sec, 24mm, ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D750
Aperture:	f/14.0
Exposure Time:	0.05 sec (1/20)
Focal Length:	24mm
ISO:	100
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	GIMP 2.10.32
Show full info

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