Tranquility

Please click to see the full-size file.

 

This image was taken some 30 minutes before dawn. Although this is a 30 Second exposure, the movement of Venus is nicely hidden by the diffusion through the clouds. A 3-Stop Hard ND filter was used to hold back the sky. This was actually too much and the reflection was lighter than the mountains themselves and the lower half of the photo was brought down with a levels mask.

 

All comments on this image are welcome. I'm fairly confident that my vision of this has been met, but suggestions, comments, concerns, and so on are all entirely welcome.

 

----

 

For those that follow my work, this image will stand out as a bit of a departure from where my photography has been headed lately. In a lot of ways this is the result of nature of my road trip. I wanted to see the country, I wanted to cover A LOT of ground (in the end, some 18,000 km over 35 or so days), and I wanted to see wide-open country and mountains. This highly encouraged a different style than my usual small-space, intimate-landscapes or even the urban/industrial landscapes I have been working on. But, I also consciously wanted to try my hand at full-colour, grand landscape photography.

 

In a few weeks when I have some more images posted and more worked on and ready, I will share some more thoughts about my adventures, the lessons learned (often painfully so), and my own thoughts on my attempts at grand, colour landscape photography. I might even make a "presentation" to better discuss my thoughts.

See Comment Below. Thanks in advance for your comments.

A great work! This is what I am seeking for in my landscape photography. I know the techniques for this kind of shots, but haven't mastered them. Your detailed explanations is especially helpful to me.

Really beautiful work with very nice lighting, Ian! Best regards, Ruud.

Zhang, Steve, and Ruud, thank you for your nice words and taking the time to leave them.

I had been waiting to see the shots from your west coast trip! This is my favorite of the lot so far. Love the cool tones and strong contrast. The composition is well thought out and very tidy. Post processing is flawless. Those clouds add a lot to the overall scene. Beautiful shot overall. As far as the other 3 shots you've posted, I think you somewhat fell into the wide-angle trap: I found through my own experience that if you go too wide on the mountains you tend to lose them in the frame. I found that using 15-20mm focal length usually gave me the best results in the Rockies. Looking forward to seeing more.

Hi Younes,

 

Thanks for the comments. It was hard to get the rocks to look balanced in the foreground and I'm glad they are tidy. I like things being 'ordered'.

 

At full size, Venus really plays a major role in this image and I am disappointed by how insignificant it seems in the web posting. In fact, before this trip, there were very few image were I felt the reduction in size really changed their effect from full size. But, at least a couple of these seem so very different shrunk down.

 

For example, I think the other shot of Patricia Lake I have posted (with the reeds and pink clouds) really changes when it is large enough to see all the details in the mountain ridges.

 

I'm also glad you commented on the cloud patterns. In the end they are what convinced me that this was the exposure to choose out of the 5 I made.

 

As for your thoughts on the diminutive mountains in my other frames, I can see what your saying. I certainly even agree with you in regards to the shot of Pyramid lake. I should have got lower and used a longer focal length to really pull the mountain into the image. But, quite frankly, that was a fairly casual shot from just before I left for the morning and I'm very surprised it has ended up being as good as it is. I think I currently like it so much because it was such a surprise when I was going through my files. I have a shot from earlier in the morning which I think is much stronger (stronger than anything posted so far, in fact). That was dominating my thoughts at the time.

 

Actually, can I ask you that question? Once you have made what you feel is THE image, when you think you have captured what you envisioned, how do you refocus and continue? Or, do you? There are occasions where I have continued and felt that I managed to make a better image after that point of initial satisfaction. There are also time when I have given up completely and moved on to a new spot (even if the light is still good) being satisfied with what I have done. I have mixed feelings about those. I have often managed to make an equally good shot at another locale. On those occassions, I am glad to have left, but, I usually wonder what I missed by leaving. I certainly have that thought about leaving the Alvord before the sun set completely. But, most of the time I continue on at the site and don't get anything better at all and I think it is because I have lost my focus or my drive since I feel I already have what I wanted.

 

Anyways, as for the other two, I actually felt that the mountains were decidedly NOT the subjects and therefore I didn't mind them being incidental. I was more interested in the reeds and the sky than the mountains in my Rosy-Fingered Dawn with the mountains mostly being the bridge between the two. In the shot of the Athabasca, I really didn't notice the far off mountain at the time at all.

 

Thanks again for the comments. They have been thought provoking and have made me think hard about my images in a new light -- which is always the desired result of these conversations.

 

Oh, and if it is mountains you want, stay tuned. I have a shot of Mt. Peyto I am quite proud of and a shot of Mt. Cephren that is very simple; but, quite satisfying.

 

 

Ian,

 

I totally get your point when you say that web compression does these images no favour. In fact I still am not sure where Venus is on this shot...what brought me to landscape photog. in the first place was seeing larger than life prints in a gallery.

As for your question...for me it's a bit different. When the light starts rolling it's magic, I become entranced (literally, I am not kidding you), and I just dance around trying different comps, different angles. Once I am satisfied with a comp, I usually stay there for a while and take a shot every now and then: I have noticed that sometime the light changes ever so subtly that it makes the difference between an OK shot and a great shot. I never feel I got the shot until I get back home and look at them (too many disappointments in the past :D). Also, I have sort of learned to wait it out until all light is dead, you just never know how things turn out. I recall this sunrise I shot (well actually didn't come out with a single decent shot) at Castle Mtn: from 6 am til 9am the entire area was draped in a thick white veil (in fact you couldn't see the mountain at all standing on the castle junction bridge), but for 10 min around 7, the clouds lifted off to display one of the most amazing light shows I've ever seen). Anyhow, I am rambling here...short version: I am never content until I've exhausted all the options :). Can't wait to see more from your trip.

Very impressive landscape photo, excellently composed and edited.

BR / Volker