Mountain Light

Gallery: LandscapePosted March 9, 2011686 views28 comments

Hello folks. I know it's been awhile. i've missed your comments and I've missed commenting. I've been working on a couple of photo projects which have taken up a lot of time away from here. One of the projects is an upcoming ifotoguide for Yellowstone National Park. More on that later.

This image was taken awhile back. I hope you don't mind the iconography. It's a good image to have in the files. Shooting from the east side of the Tetons requires an early rise around 5:30 a.m. When I arrived at this spot two other photogs were already set up. One with a Fuji pan camera and the other with a 35mm. The Grand Teton was completely covered with clouds as the sun rose in the east. As the sun rose higher the other photographers packed it in and left me alone with my 4x5. Another 10 minutes the clouds lifted off the Grand and the light lit up the landscape. What a glorious, peaceful scene to witness, one I won't forget.

As always thanks for taking a look. Any critique, opinion or anything else you would like to add would be much appreciated.

Wista 4x5 DX11, Schneider 210mm lens and Fuji Velvia sheet film

Comments

28 comments

Comment posted by Neale Dyster on March 9, 2011 at 4:21 AM

Wow, stunning shot! Great composition, colour and light, certainly no nits from me. Beautiful work Dean.

Registered on February 19, 2008, 94 Posts, 738 Comments

Comment posted by Andreas Resch on March 9, 2011 at 5:21 AM

Very nice, Dean. I love the character of the mountain range and you've been there just right for some great light and clouds. The only "weakness" for me is the shadows in the trees which looks a bit flat and has some strange red tone about it. Was the shot a lot underexposed?

Registered on November 14, 2007, 322 Posts, 6101 Comments

Comment posted by Paul Gasior on March 9, 2011 at 7:56 AM

Nice light and color good comp.

Registered on March 7, 2010, 99 Posts, 502 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Chambers on March 9, 2011 at 8:48 AM

Gorgeous shot Dean, icon or not. I love the color contrast between the blue in the reflection and the grass. Very nicely done.

Registered on April 10, 2005, 753 Posts, 21216 Comments

Comment posted by Art Escobado on March 9, 2011 at 9:29 AM

C L A S S I C K

Registered on January 7, 2007, 0 Posts, 775 Comments

Comment posted by Harley Goldman on March 9, 2011 at 9:38 AM

Peaceful and beautiful scene. Great reflection, too.

Registered on November 19, 2003, 586 Posts, 11271 Comments

Comment posted by Koveh Tavakkol on March 9, 2011 at 10:13 AM

A beautiful shot Dean. Love the reflection and the beautiful clouds hanging around the peaks.

Registered on September 1, 2009, 41 Posts, 608 Comments

Comment posted by Rodrigo Sandoval on March 9, 2011 at 11:08 AM

Dean,
The colors and the reflection are just perfect. Excellent image.
The tree section in the middle looks as if it lacks a bit of contrast. Maybe the scanning process tried to lighten that part a bit too much. A simple contrast enhancement should do the trick.

Registered on April 4, 2009, 13 Posts, 254 Comments

Comment posted by Zack Clothier on March 9, 2011 at 11:16 AM

I had the same thing happen to me at the Snake River Overlook last September when the other photogs thought the light show was over they packed up and left...turns out they missed the best light of the morning.

I really like your choice of comp, and the swirling clouds over the Grand. I also noticed the same thing about the shadows as Andreas pointed out, I'm sure this could be fixed without to much trouble.

Registered on January 28, 2010, 343 Posts, 2257 Comments

Comment posted by Preston Birdwell on March 9, 2011 at 11:17 AM

Dean,

I really like the comp, and the light on the mountains and sky is sweet. Your patience was well rewarded. I agree that the shadow values look a bit flat and there is a magenta cast there. The reflection is beautiful.

In cases like this, where you have wide dynamic range, you have a couple of choices. One is to use a ND Grad (a two or three-stop soft), and the other is a color negative sheet film. It does look as if there is some detail in the shadows of the trees, so you might consider having this drum scanned to pull as much detail as possible. This shot would make a drum scan worth the money.

Very nice work--keep shooting 4x5!

--P

Registered on November 1, 2003, 471 Posts, 5188 Comments

Comment posted by Michael J Greene, on March 9, 2011 at 12:10 PM

Sweet, tight comp at Schwabacher Dean. I too am noticing the flatness of the middle portion of the image. The colors look good and maybe not quite up to the astounding level of accuracy I am used to seeing in your images. Glad to see you posting again.

Michael

Registered on June 18, 2009, 86 Posts, 2317 Comments

Comment posted by Taylor Reed on March 9, 2011 at 12:26 PM

Beautiful. Fix the flatness in the trees that has been mentioned and this is a real stunner.

Registered on February 18, 2010, 26 Posts, 556 Comments

Comment posted by Jimmy Gekas on March 9, 2011 at 1:01 PM

Awesome scene, Dean! The light is sweet and the comp is wonderful. I see that others have commented on the flatness of the trees. Other than that minor nit, I think this rocks.

Registered on July 26, 2007, 244 Posts, 2807 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Hartmann on March 9, 2011 at 1:44 PM

While the others left empty handed, you stood your post and scored big!
This is the good stuff for sure. The comp is wonderful… great reflection and the dappled light on the mid area nice. I really like the grass you included at the bottom. I think it makes the frame.

Registered on January 15, 2009, 13 Posts, 772 Comments

Comment posted by Nick Bristol on March 9, 2011 at 1:45 PM

Hi Dean, This is really beautiful a beautiful scene. The colors and reflection are wonderful, along with your comp. That light is just awesome! Nice work!

Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI

Registered on February 1, 2004, 752 Posts, 14140 Comments

Comment posted by Dean Sauskojus on March 9, 2011 at 3:33 PM

Andreas, this time of the year the tops of the trees are full of pine cones. That's where you are seeing the red color. It's hard to tell in this small image but when larger the cones become very apparent. When I took this photo I didn't use any filtering to balance things out. It took some work to deal with the contrast. This was scanned with my 10 year old Epson flatbed. One of these days I'll have it professionally scanned to bring out the shadows more. Thanks for the comment.

Registered on September 29, 2009, 137 Posts, 2659 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Metternich on March 9, 2011 at 3:35 PM

Wow stunning!

Registered on June 19, 2009, 276 Posts, 6240 Comments

Comment posted by Dean Sauskojus on March 9, 2011 at 3:44 PM

When you guys say flatness in the trees or not enough contrast, do you mean the shadow detail in the tree area needs to be brought out more?

Registered on September 29, 2009, 137 Posts, 2659 Comments

Comment posted by Floris van Breugel on March 9, 2011 at 4:30 PM

What a fantastic image! The light here is just magical, and the composition, while classic, seems a little different from most that I've seen from here - specifically the meadowy midground, I really like. The shadows do look a little low in contrast - something I often see with scans posted here. I guess it's really hard to get that right.

edit - clarification on the flatness in the shadows - you don't have a real black point in the shadows (compare with the border of your image, for example). If you stretch the shadows so there's a real black point you'll get some more contrast in there, which will help that part of the image pop more, and look more realistic IMO. So in a sense you have actually brought the shadows out too much.

Registered on December 19, 2008, 306 Posts, 4840 Comments

Comment posted by Dean Sauskojus on March 9, 2011 at 6:03 PM

Thanks Floris for the clarification.

Registered on September 29, 2009, 137 Posts, 2659 Comments

Comment posted by Paul DeCesare on March 9, 2011 at 10:50 PM

Floris is dead on when he said magical light. If I had more than two thumbs they'd ALL be up!

Registered on August 31, 2007, 29 Posts, 202 Comments

Comment posted by Kory Lidstrom on March 9, 2011 at 10:53 PM

You're certainly got the title right - the light here IS amazing. I like just about everything about this one except for the shadow areas which look too blue. Warm them up and I think you're there.

Registered on November 19, 2008, 49 Posts, 1035 Comments

Comment posted by Morris McClung on March 9, 2011 at 11:19 PM

Gorgeous work, Dean!

Registered on May 7, 2007, 670 Posts, 19650 Comments

Comment posted by Scott Smorra on March 9, 2011 at 11:52 PM

Beautiful image Dean. I really like the comp and the reflection is outstanding. Looks like sticking around really paid off for you here. I think the suggestion made by Floris is exactly what is needed for the mid ground. Moving the black point to the right should create some nice contrast in the trees. I'm guessing you will need to do this selectively to the trees, since the rest of the image already looks great.

Registered on November 2, 2009, 161 Posts, 2143 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Teller on March 10, 2011 at 10:01 AM

A fantastic of one of my favorite places on earth. I hope to be back there this coming September.

Registered on August 23, 2010, 1162 Posts, 6692 Comments

Comment posted by Doug Koepsel on March 10, 2011 at 11:18 AM

Dean, nice color in the peaks and clouds seen in the reflection, and I like the inclusion of the foreground grass and how you have light on the grass across the water. The tree tops in the reflection seem a little dark.

Registered on April 1, 2010, 196 Posts, 1592 Comments

Comment posted by Chad Merrell on March 10, 2011 at 10:13 PM

Loving this. Having tried to shoot this under less favorable skies and without your skills I am learning a lot as I study this image.

Registered on July 8, 2010, 91 Posts, 304 Comments

Comment posted by Laurent Baig on March 11, 2011 at 1:47 PM

Might just be my work monitor, but it feels like you could pull the blacks down a bit more. Other than that, beautiful image. What are you doing with a 4x5?

Registered on January 12, 2005, 206 Posts, 6784 Comments