Our magical day continued as we headed north from the Antarctic Circle. The calm day had the sea as still as a millpond and the warm glow of the sunset sky reflected in the marine mirror. We moved smoothly through this orb of light passing icebergs and floes dotted with Adelie penguins and Crabeater seals. Ahead a full moon rose into the cooling colours of the sky. It was a surreal experience seeing images through the viewfinder that seemed unreal only to take your eye away from the frame and see that it was quite real and even bigger, looking as though someone had Photoshopped the world, turning the saturation slider up to 11. The temperature dropped rapidly with the clear sky and the shiny sea surface soon took on a grimy look as it began to freeze. As our day concluded with this magic Antarctic sunset and moonrise it seemed we had experienced the most otherworldly experience possible on this world, with old hands and Antarctic novices equally overwhelmed by the experience.

All photos with Nikon D810 and Nikon 24-120mm f4 VR lens. Processed in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop CC 2015.

These were interesting images to process as being a very low contrast scene the files looked very flat and unlike what was experienced. Adjusting the tonal range in Lightroom to regain a light and dark point regains the contrast and colour saturation as perceived. The saturation can look excessive and was actually reduced in some of these images.

See Edin’s blog for her images from the end of this incredible day.