A tiny sparkle in the ebbs and tides of things

It was a late afternoon in late Summer. Clouds were gathering in the sky and I was well aware of the chances of a photogenic sunset, so I prepared myself and preemptively went to the Laral pastures, where the woods leave room to sweet rolling fields and the sky opens wide upon you*.

Arguably it was not the most amazing sunset I have ever seen, but you cannot have everything, especially in these cruel, cloudless, scorching hot last Summers. However, in a sense today's sunset is the most precious one, isn't it?
As the fires of the sunset deepened and subsided into flickering embers I kept shooting, trying to capture the whole story, the slow demise of the day. The woods were shivering at a light breeze, breathing arcane words that sank in the most unexplored lands of my soul. The sky was gleaming and glowing with apparently meaningful shapes and colours that went well beyond my understanding. Yes, I was there and then, and the world was giving me a wondrous gift. Yet I could not help but feel like a tiny sparkle lost in "the ebbs and tides of things" **.
For a variety of reasons that would be too long to tell - and too uninteresting for anyone to justify the effort - I have missed the feast of Autumn and the magic of Winter. Alas, not a single shot. So I am here with another shot from far too many months ago, convincing myself that it is always better than nothing. I am waiting impatiently for the earliest buds to blossom, since I won't miss the renewed beauty of Spring, at least. Until then, my friends, content yourselves with my archive...

Explored on 2024/03/03, nr. 56.

I have obtained this picture by blending an exposure bracketing [-1.3/0/+1.3 EV] by luminosity masks in the Gimp (EXIF data, as usual, refer to the "normal exposure" shot), then I added some final touches with Nik Color Efex Pro 4. I have taken advantage of the residual layer of a wavelet decomposition to give a slight, natural-looking glow to the foreground, which I felt rather crude. Raw files has been processed with Darktable.

* Here there are some other photos I took in that most pleasant location:
Just Here & Now, or The Unbearable Togetherness of Being (Alive)
Nightdreaming of other worlds
Lo, the day is fading away...
The pillars of the heavens
A whisper in the breath of the universe

** I owe these words to the streaming thoughts of Mrs. Dalloway, that I am currently reading.

Taken in: Italy / Lombardy / Costa di Serina / Sant'Erasmo (show map)

Taken on: August 15, 2023

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Italy

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Laral

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luminosity masks

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Camera: Nikon D750, f/16.0, 0.6 sec, 30mm, ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D750
Aperture:	f/16.0
Exposure Time:	0.6
Focal Length:	30mm
ISO:	100
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Chasys Draw IES 5.20.01
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