Fire Mountain Flowers

Overlooking the Mount St. Helens volcano at sunrise. Firey Paintbrush

flowers and Blue Penstemon compliment the foreground.

Very peaceful and balanced tones Marc. I very much like the distinct lack of clouds above the mountain, I think it enhances the foreground. The same also with the balance between the reds and the lavanders as compared to the sunset colors. In a word, incredibly balanced. Fine work.

wonderful colors, nice composition. another great photo.

Always a great photograph from you! Maybe some will say that this composition is too centered but I like it. I think the asymmetry of the clouds serves as a counterpoise for the mountain and foreground. Regards.

jeez you make me want to quit...stunning

stunning photograph. beautiful vibrant foreground followed by a wonderful view of the landscape. another one of your photo's added to my favourites.

No por clasica la composicion, menos atractiva.

Saludos.

Gorgeous.

Stunning has already been used.... so I'll just call it a real scroll stopper... Fantastic... Mike

 

 

I'm lazy ... I'm just going to say "all of the above". Sigh.

Beautiful scene!

Fab shot! Lovely colours, very pretty.

Sensational! Thanks for sharing. Regards.

Magnificent!

excellent.. just perfect color and tone !

I really like the relatively subtle light -- it has a very nice and appropriate distribution through the photograph.

I love the picture. I am completely new to photography, I'm 15 years old.

forgive me if this question is stupid but it is the photo edited in any way? I love how it seems so surreal.

Brilliant exposure and composition! You could get those rich colours of the flowers in the foreground while retaining the twilight of the horizon at the distance. Excellent!!

This is amazing. It is so relaxing to look at. flowers pop out and the sunlight off the mountain and clouds is delicately wonderful. Fantastic.

Hi Justin,

 

Thanks for your comment. Yes, I 'edited' this image in the interest of creating mood and depth, as I do much of my recent work. Specifically, the important points here were dodging out the red highlights in the foreground to help the flowers 'pop' a bit more, dodging and adding a faint blur layer (research the 'orton' effect, and simiar techniques) to the background peak to increase the sensation of distance, and dodging of the highlights on either side of the peak, again, to help draw the eye. This was all in addition to color and contrast adjustments made to the RAW file. All told, it took about 10 minutes in PS.

 

 

Most of my processing work is in the interest of creating a certain depth and mood that I feel eludes the 2-dimensional medium of photography, but is captured to precision by painters who do not suffer the same technical (and other) limitations. I try to walk the line that suits my artistic taste, and create more 'painterly' renditions in photography while retaining natural appeal (in most cases). I edit images to heighten both the visual and emotional experience conveyed to viewers of my work, and offer a sense of what I felt being there as well as what was actually there.

 

 

A very strong image: the light, the color tones and the mood created trough it, it all fits together

A beautiful landscape with a stunning light and very nice flowers

Beautiful!!

This is one of your most natural-looking images, you've managed to avoid it looking too processed. Very pretty, and a nice composition. Interesting that you used the orton effect on the peak, I can see it now you've mentioned it, but I wouldn't have noticed otherwise. Do you do that with a lot of your mountain shots?

Very beautiful image Marc, with the combination of flower/colors in the foreground. Nice early morning light on the mountain too. Best Regards ~ Gary