Gift of La Nina

Wow, that's some intense color! Must've been spectacular to be there. I'd be tempted to crop from the right past the two larger clumps of plants at the edge of the frame, but it'd be a shame to lose any of that dramatic sky.

Lori

Ooooh! I thought sunset was no good at the Tetons? I like your position, although it isn't immediately recognizeable. Surprised so many others were there too. It's a beauty of a sunset, and a nice comp. I think you have a majenta cast all over the foreground snow though!!!

Chris

Seriously 100 others? That's some serious colour, what a spectacle it must have been to see.

100 other exposures give or take. I was the only photographer here, at Glacier Point. It was one of those odd moments when all these cars pass by, and here i am standing in two feet of snow firing off shots, wondering why no one else is pulling over to take this all in! On their way to work--i guess!
Chris--sunset doesnt give you any direct peak colors, but peak colors often dont coincide with the best sky color, so personally i dont think its that much of a handicap.

Great light and color - I can't believe no one else stopped to enjoy this! Jaded, I guess. I do agree with Lori's crop suggestion. Beautiful shot!

Wow, amazing colour, almost otherworldy. This looks like one hell of a spectacle to attend, and you've captured it very well!

Must have been special being there to see this. Hard to believe no one else pulled over to watch this. Very nice, Stan. That sky is awesome.

Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI.

That is one spectacular sunset. If you get a sunset like this, you definitely can't complain about the sunrise the next day! I'll take 1 out of 2 everyday

Pretty amazing stuff. I like that the peaks are partially obscured. Those roiling clouds separating the mountains from the blazing sky add even more drama to this magnificent scene.

I love the spectacular light and sky around the peaks! I'm with Chris about the magenta fg snow being a little distracting.

Beautiful image Stan. the color in the sky is amazing and the reflection on the snow is very nice. I agree with the previous suggestion of a slight crop off the right side.

Thanks folks!
Rick: i thought Chris was joking (?). The reflected pink light on the snow is what attracted me to the scene--its why i kept so much of the otherwise unexciting fg here.

Really amazing color Stan ! Must be a great spectacle to see ..

Pink overload Really incredible light show, Stan!

Guy

WoW... Amazing light and scenario Stan

Color Explosion!! Yep, like color reflected off of water, so too does the snow. Hmm, don’t know if my English was correct, but you get the point.

This goes to show that one must be ready at all times to start shooting.
Nice capture.


Edit: I might have stepped about 40 yards in front of the camera to get a shot of myself staring at the light show…. might have been a cool pic.

Spectacular light. I agree with the crop suggestion (but those plants only bothered me once I read the comment). Nice work.

I'm glad you make it and came back safely. It looks like your trip was worth it. Beautiful view.

- Dan.

For clarification, I was in fact, joking!

Chris

Insane light show, must have been a great experience to witness.

Incredible, Stan.

I can't add anything new to the prior comments except to wish that I was standing next to you with my camera clicking too..

Hi Stan

A bit torn on this one. The lighting is obviously spectacular, but the pink color cast, although present, is not quite working for me. I think this image strongly represent a challenge we are all up against as landscape photographers. Our eyes to some degree, but our brains and acquired perspectives to a much greater extent, unconsciously correct for color cast. The referenced perspective we have learned and come to expect is, that snow is white(ish). Not a saturated pink. This is not to say it can't visually work presented as pink, it can, we have both seen it.

That said, it seems to now come down to an artistic decision, which we all have to make consciously or unconsciously. How much of the color cast do I leave in to re-create the experience of what we felt, without negating someones natural ability to mentally correct for what they are only seeing and not experiencing.


It is not my intention to trump your image, it is not! There is a lot to like here. I just merely want open a discussion or exchange on the effects of images with heavy color casts. This image seems an appropriate segway into such a conversation. Be interested in your take on this?

Thanks, Shane

Fantastic image and light. You nailed it.

Whoa amazing color Stan!!

Shane, Thanks, i totally welcome the discussion, because I have to make these decisions just as you do. So, Ill try to explain things as clearly as possible. I dont have access to the RAW right now, but if i get a chance ill post an unedited version later today.

First thing i want to say is that when i saw how the light was going, i made every effort to get the color down at the scene---i directly compared what i was seeing on the LCD to what i what i was seeing in reality. The red/pink light on the snow only lasted a couple minutes tops, and the few images i took during that short time were obviously the ones i spent the most time processing--you can see a shot taken just moments before this one (when the color hadnt quite peaked) on my RMNP post, along with other views around that spot. If I had used an Auto WB here, the temp was at ~4000 K and the cast was quite blue on the snow--which is absolutely ridiculous since i was seeing pink/red quite clearly with my eyes, so auto WB was simply wrong. Instead, i used cloudy WB which looked a lot more accurate to me.

Of course I increased the vibrance here from the default RAW, which simply looked like your typical dull RAW file--but i had to reduce red sat by -20 in LR just to control the typical warm clipping you get from the 5Ds. Is some of this artistic license? Probably.

All i can say is I totally understand your comment, Shane--I once tried to convince Floris one of his snow shots was too pink, becuase it looked a bit 'out-there' to me. But ive become more forgiving over the past year or so, as i spend more of my mornings with a camera (and i am NOT a morning person ) and I find that I am seeing light and colors that maybe a couple years ago were exaggerated or unreal. This was definitely some exceptional light--and as a meteorologist I partly anticipated it, which is why I drove 630 miles to get here when I only had a long weekend to work with. Im fairly satisfied with the results I got here--they look realistic to me as the person who was actually there--but of course that doesnt mean diddly squat, im more interested in how other people perceive the results. So, if you have suggestions--have at it!

Beautiful color, this must have been a special sunset to witness in person.

Stan
Nice shot of Teewinot
Our snow pack is 160% of normal. That is why you, I and 100s of others have spent a bunch of time waiting for a bit of the Grand. Still this is a beautiful subset. Pink snow? Snow is only the color that reflects from it, whats the choice here? Going to be clear and near 0 tonight. Ill be out there to see what happens at sunrise.

Hey Stan

Thanks for the elaboration of the situation and your thoughts. Your right, in the end it just comes down to weather it works for most of the viewers. I would be curious to see a re-post with 50% reduction of the pink color cast in the FG & MG snow only. Something similar to the snow on the high peak, even a little less though. Don't remove it totally just reduce in that area. Re-post it and see which version folks prefer? I honestly don't know, but I would be interested in seeing the results. This may in the end influence how I process my images in the future.

Thanks for the discussion.

Shane

Amazing light. Love how the snow picks up the color.

Great color in this grand scenic; I like it.

Thanks for all the kind remarks!
Shane, thanks, i think its a valuable discussion, so at risk of never selling this print im gonna move the discussion to the Landscape Forum, since this shot is about to cycle off the front page!

Sweet colors in an amazing scene. Wondering what a longer lens (or crop} would have produced framing just the peaks with the clouds.

I really like the reflected light and color on the snow and great sky with those low hanging clouds.