By the light of the silvery moon: Incredible images of Colorado's night skies captured by one of its own residents
Magical and strangely beautiful, these spectacular images show the Colorado skies as you have never seen them before.Native photographer Mike Berenson has lived in the U.S. state for more than 20 years and wanted to share the beauty of the region - as he sees it - with the rest of the world.
His images are actually a composite of two pictures, delicately blended to show off the drama and colour of both the mountainous landscape and the starry night sky above.
Berenson, 44, enthusiast began capturing and manipulating the pictures in a bid to 'give the sky a sense of place' by using moonlight to create a prominent and dramatic foreground.
Tripping the light fantastic: The Colorado skies
are shown as many have never seen before by the work of photographer
Mike Berenson
Starry starry night: A range of camera lenses -
such as Nikon 24mm F14, a Nikon 50mm F1.2 and a Nikon 16mm Fisheye -
were used to create the spectacular effects
Dramatic landscape: The image enthusiast - and
Colorado resident for more than 20 years - wanted to share the
spectacular scenery in his corner of the world
Cosmic creation: The photographer said he wanted
to use his pictures to 'give the sky a sense of place' by producing a
prominent and dramatic foreground
Berenson is no amateur when it comes to capturing such magnificent shots. He puts in a lot of preparation into deciding where the locations are and what time of the night will work best.
The photographer, who lives in Littleton, Colorado, regularly goes hiking at night to find the right locations.
Using astronomy tools, he looks at the moon's cycles to judge how much natural light he will have to illuminate features of the foreground.
He said: 'The ideal time for me to go out is when the moon is a quarter full. I regularly scout the back country of Colorado and in particular, the National Parks.
Bending the edges of reality: The photographer
uses astronomy tools to look at the moon's cycles to judge how much
natural light he will have to illuminate features of the foreground
The milky way: Berenson got the idea for his
cosmic images while he was taking pictures of underwater fish and
observing how the natural light made them look
Lonely planet: The bleak but beautiful landscape
is shown in all its glory, where stars and sky meet snowy mountains
Berenson has developed a composite approach to get the best pictures by himself.
He added: 'I use more than one exposure - one for the foreground to get the detail and then a series of pictures to pick up the details from the stars.
'These two pictures together then give one really good picture, and I can then blend the two using photoshop to make them pleasing on the eye.'
The photographer uses a Nikon D700 for his shots with range of lenses including a Nikon 24mm F14, a Nikon 50mm F1.2 and a Nikon 16mm Fisheye.
Dedication to the cause: Photographer Berenson,
who lives in Littleton, Colorado, regularly goes hiking at night to pick
out the right locations for his stunning images
On the horizon: The photographer said the ideal
time for him to go out - for the best light - is when the moon is a
quarter full
Getting it just right: Berenson said he has
gotten to know the locations really well and has found that if he
doesn't put the time in finding the right place, the pictures regularly
fail
Despite the fact manipulation is used to create the images, the photographer says is has not been easy to develop the technique and still requires a lot of experience to get it right.
He said: 'I started by doing underwater photography and shooting images up to 70ft below the surface.
'I was shooting schools of fish from below and seeing how the natural light from above really made the picture amazing.
'It suddenly hit me how amazing it is to be able to look up at fish, a view that most people won't get to see in their lives.
'Because of how special I found this experience, I wanted to share that and other unique experiences with others.'
From the inside looking out: This image was
taken from the window of a log cabin, framing the spectacular night sky
Special blend: The photographer has worked out a
method of how to get the best pictures by himself - by using a
composite approach
Image manipulation: The technique involves two
photographs being blended in photoshop to make one dramatic picture
Master manipulator: Berenson said it has not
been easy to develop his unique approach and added the technique
required a lot of experience to get it just right
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