"Tempestuous Dawn"

Terrific composition and some wonderful lighting conditions. I love the details on the big jack pines in the FG. IMHO, the magenta might be a little 'rich' here, but that's a personal preference. Nicely done, Mark. Cheers! Chris

This is my one of my favorites from the trip. The sunrise on this morn was perhaps the most vivid I have ever witnessed. This view was actually away from the real light show. I am mostly pleased with the blend, revealing the detail in the pines while holding the sky. I actually balanced the foreground with cyan and green to eliminate the strong cast, leaving a hint compared to the actual image. The sky was not adjusted. Thanks Chris!!

Blended from two exposures, one to hold the sky color and another to reveal the detail

in the mountains and foreground, especially the pine trees. The sunrise on this morning

was expansive enough to illuminate the opposite horizon, which is to the right of this

scene. The actual rising sun is to the left and behind my position while shooting this.

This is the Sierra Buttes from the Lakes Basin in Plumas County, California. Please

click image for a Larger view. Thanks for your feedback!!

Just a follow-up; I don't doubt that the sky was, in fact, like this; I was just trying to suggest that the magenta cast is a bit strong for my taste (e.g., shifts the green of the pines and the blue in the sky. I think your blending is superb, and probably could not have been achieved with the conventional use of ND grad filters, etc. You really found yourself on a nice road to have this perch and view! Again, well done, Mark! Cheers! Chris

Wow, just Wow.... fantastic detail... Mike

 

 

Stunning, to say the least! And, in every respect.

Thanks Mike, William and again to Chris. Chris, I understand your point of view. Without a doubt the Magenta will put a hurt on the greens. I could process the greens separately for color, but I don't want anything contrived. I do like the effect the cast has on the bark of the pines, however. You really should have seen this sunrise, the color was very intense. The blend on this is arguably my best, at full res there are zero haloes. The exposures were F11 at 2 seconds and F11 at 15 seconds, ISO set at 100. There isn't a single pixel of noise. If there was any mentionable breeze, I could not have pulled it off. It appears stormy, but the moment was quite sublime and quiet.

Great shot Mark.I like the depth that you created by having the pine trees in front of the rest of the scene.I think that this shot really captures the essence of the Sierra's.Really nice job with this one!

Hi Mark.

 

This is outstanding work!

I must say your processing on this has made a luminous and beautiful image with great depth.

 

 

A standout, great DOF. Excellent work...........Dan

Mark,

 

First - what I like about this: I think the composition is great (one of your better ones, in my opinion), the light and colors definitely drew an emotional response from me (perhaps being a fellow Sierra lover), and the blend is done well in terms of avoiding haloes.

 

After looking at this for a while, though, what starts to stand out to me is the relative brightness of the foreground trees against the sky. I think the mountains are very well balanced with the sky, but the trees appear too bright. Specifically the two trees closest to the camera. Having witnessed many such displays, I know there can be a beatuiful glow reflected off the clouds that seems to illuminate the shaded landscape. However, here I think the effect is too strong. If you have saved the separate layers, I might suggest playing around with the levels to see if a more natural balance could be achieved.

 

Again, aside from that, very nice image...

 

Anish

Thanks so much Jacob, Seung, Dan and Anish. Anish, I like your suggestion. Not so much that I agree, but that darkening the foreground trees perhaps subdues them. The subject is the mountain and darkening the foreground introduces some needed contrast and brightens the subject in relation to the foreground. As far as why I don't agree. Well, I really feel it is subjective. My viewpoint is that our eyes see scenes three dimensional, with much greater perception of tonal range than that of a camera, especially from a single exposure. Yet we are so programmed to see two dimensional scenes the way the camera presents them. Therefore, our expectations are to see the trees more as silhouettes. In reality, however, our eyes do not see silhouettes in a scene like this one. Needless to say, I wanted to try your suggestion because I respect your viewpoint. The result is an improved image. The darker trees give the scene some added depth. Take a look at the attached and tell if it comes closer to your vision. Thanks so much for taking the time to suggest an alternative approach Anish!!

Mark,

That is exactly what I was talking about. I was not suggesting that the trees be sihlouetted, but rather a tweak - as you have done. I think the the pastel tones reflected onto the trees from the sky is important, and is what really makes this image work. Your slightly toned down revision strikes the right balance in my view.

 

Anish

Finally someone who knows how to use blending to create a more realistic result. Very clean job, no halos in sight and well worth the effort.

 

This is a lovely shot the colour is wonderful and the pine trees are bringing something a bit different to the image.

 

Alex

Just gorgeous. The light balance looks natural, if slighly otherwordly to me. I have seen this reflected glow many times photographing the NH landscape, especially during the fall. Colored foliage seems to glow intensely prior to the sunrise, as the clouds are heating up with color. It happened just this AM in the White Mountains of NH, when the leaves on the ground even looked fresh. Sweet shot.

 

Harry