"The Living, the Dead and the Lifeless"

My last morning in the Bishop/Eastern Sierra area was was greeted with an uninspiring cloudless sky. Still, the backlit grasses at this time of day are hard to pass up. This was taken along the road to the Buttermilk hills. I highly recommend this area for anyone visiting. For this comp, I wanted to gather several elements that convey the personality of this stark, yet rich and beautiful environment. Thanks for your impressions. The Larger view is preferred!

Good work, the sunset is terrific. 7/7

It's not easy to make that landscape look beautiful any time of the year let alone late summer.  You did.  S

Wonderful work!

Beautiful sunstar and nicely chosen foreground, with plenty of interest. I like the way the apparently trivial and unassuming is raised to the level of artistic significance.

Thanks Esteban, Steve, Gunnar and PJ! You know Steve and PJ, I probably at times succeed in making the trivial or mundane look exceptional because, unlike most,  I find this type of scenery exceptional. I knew what to expect with the backlit brush, but when I bushwacked around and found these rocks, it completed my vision. Basically, three foreground elements is my magic number when I have little to work with. In this case, rock, deadwood and backlit rabbit brush tells a quick story. Add the sunstar for drama and warm light and you just might pull it off!

I had a feeling this was California. Great shot and effective sun flare.  I haven't read your entire post but I guess this must be an HDR to get that kind of detail in the foreground?  If so you must have snapped away really quick before the sun moved.  My only worry w/ the shot is that the sun looks too perfect.

GB

I love how you took a scene I probably would have discounted or walked right past and made a very dramatic image out of it. Excellent HDR work too.

You got it: the moment to be happy. BR Joerg

Excellent work Mark! Love the warm, subtle colors, excellent composition, and marvellous sun star.

All the best,
Neil

Mark - Those grasses are electric.  Definately looks like an inspiring area.  Great harnessing of the light - do do a great job of keeping contrast in the scene while still including the sun.  ANother unique image.

Harry

Great shot and a really great job of getting the exposure right.

Thanks Greg, J.B., David, Jorg, Neil, Harry and Stu!! Yes Greg, this is an HDR, more so, an exposure fusion is the term. I don't use HDR software, instead I blend everything by hand. As far as the sun, for a shot like this, I will expose several bracketed frames to capture as much detail as possible near the sun. Then I will blend them together. I never have a problem with the sun moving because I get the shots off rapidly enough. Since I am using a small aperture, the sun will record fairly neat. Keep in mind, this is a wide angle shot, so the sun is actually smaller than what it appears. That circle is actually the shape of the aperture ring in the lens. Thanks again to all of your comments!

Hi Mark, thanks for explaning your technique. I can see how you put it all together now and I'm even more impressed.