Putting together the ideal

For sunset today in Iceland, my photo tour group and I set up at one of the most beautiful ranges in the southern part of the country -- Eystrahorn. Unfortunately, the sun was covered by a thin cloud layer. In addition, the pond that we were hoping to use for a classic reflection was partially frozen, thus there was no reflection at all. The wind created ripples in the melted portion of the pond which further frustrated our intensions. Not to be thwarted by reality, I photographed the scene with a different vision in mind. I composited the aurora borealis taken on a previous trip to Iceland behind the mountains and used the Photoshop plugin ‘Flood’ to create a perfect reflection. I photographed a rock in the scene, and in Photoshop I selected it with the quick selection tool and pasted it into the reflection to provide a dominant foreground as well as a sense of depth. Finally, I darkened the mountains and the rock to suggest a night shoot with a long exposure. I shot the scene with a 24mm focal length at f/22 and 200 ISO. The predictions for the next two nights for solar activity and clear skies means we should be able to photograph the northern lights after dark. I'm really looking forward to that.