Submitter's name:	Scott Gomez
Title:	No Further Off the Road Here, Please.
Gear used:	OM-2N + Zuiko 24/2.8 + Lens Hood + Old beater Slik Usomething12 tripod + M Remote Cord 5m + Winder 2.
Diaphragm:	f8
Shutter speed:	Auto. Judging by the winder & mirror clicks, it was approximately 20 seconds.
Film used:	Kodak Gold 200.
Scanner:	Acer Scanwit 2720S
Digital Technique:	Scanned with minor level adjustment via MiraPhoto into PhotoShop 5.5. Then cropped, adjusted levels more precisely, adjusted colors to get closer to "true" (there was little adjustment required, to my surprise, the negative only needed the yellow brought up a little) and retouched dust spots. The only serious manipulation I made was to use the clone tool to take out some white light bleed from the lamps behind the rocker switches. Downsampled and unsharp-masked before saving as a JPG.
Photo Technique:	I used the 24mm to get as much of the dash and as wide a through-the-windshield panorama as I could. Set f8 for some depth of field and focused as good as I could on the little bit of the guard-rail I could see. Then wait for no traffic (this is the main road up the mountain into town) plop down on the guard rail and trip the shutter. This is one of the sharper of the resulting shots (I made about 9 attempts). Light on me was the moon forward of me and to my right and the amber parking lights from the truck. Attempts with the headlamps on didn't work well at all.
Subject information:	In true Olympus List spirit, I combined a TOPE 1 entry with an SUV and snuck in a TOPE 2 shot as well. :-) Taken around 10:30PM at a small turn-out on CA 138 about 0.5 miles (0.8km) below Crestline, California, looking towards the south-southwest. Altitude here is 4500 feet (1372m) and the lights in the distance are at about 800 feet (244m), something like 7 miles (11km) away as the crow flies. The tripod was collapsed as short as it would go and set up on the driver's seat. I parked in the turn-out with the truck deliberately at an angle, pulled up almost touching the guard-rail. The drop just the other side of the rail is about 5-600 feet (152-183m). I had to frame and focus the shot while wedging my head between the seat-back and the viewfinder. All done while balancing on the driver's side rock rail with my knees braced against the side of the seat and leaning in the open door. This is a *small* truck (a Suzuki Samurai) but it's about 3 feet from the ground to the seat portion of the driver's seat.
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Comment left by: Olaf Greve (no e-mail specified)

I like the futuristic effect all the lights cause, it looks a bit a scene from some science fiction movie where a UFO has just landed. The city lights in the background contribute to that... Alright, at times my fantasy gets carried away a bit, but at least this is the feeling that's conveyed to me when seeing the picture :)

Comment left by: Bill Barber (nsurit@aol.com)

Scott, could you just take a couple steps back. And then could you levitate so it looks like you are sitting on that bed of lights. Just kidding. Nice, well thought out photograph. I agree with Olaf, looks a little like the lead in scene for an X Files episode.

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