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Stay Awhile
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Stay Awhile

by Scott Smorra

Gallery: LandscapePosted September 22, 2012609 views26 comments
Summer wildflowers and sunrise alpenglow on Mt Adams from the Goat Rocks Wilderness in Washington.

This is another image from our recent 4 day backpacking trip in the Goat Rocks. On this particular morning I woke up to thick clouds, fog and wind. I decided to get up anyway and hiked up to the place I had scouted the evening before. Luckily, just as the first rays of light began to touch Mt Adams, the fog started to dissipate.

Nikon D800, Nikkor 24-120mm f/4 G at 110mm, with slight polarization of the sky, no polarization of the flowers.

10 image blend for DOF. Yes you read that right! 1 image for the mountain/fog/sky (0.4 sec at f/9, ISO 100), 9 images (all 1/100 sec at f/8, ISO 1600) for the foreground flowers. I was amazed by how shallow the DOF was at 110mm and it took all 9 images to get all of the flowers in focus.

Thanks for taking a look and for any comments you have. Please view the larger version.

Comments

26 comments
Comment posted by Aaron Feinberg on September 22, 2012 at 6:51 PM
Well that doesnt suck....might have polarized the flowers...but killer work anyway. Woop!

aF
Registered on October 26, 2009, 399 Posts, 2789 Comments
Comment posted by Scott Smorra on September 22, 2012 at 6:53 PM
Thanks Aaron. The wind was blowing so hard that morning that I had to take the polarizer off to keep the shutter speed fast enough to stop the wind motion. Even without the polarizer, I had to shoot the flowers at ISO 1600.
Registered on November 2, 2009, 161 Posts, 2143 Comments
Comment posted by Patricia Brundage on September 22, 2012 at 7:07 PM
Amazing scene throughout. Like how the snow and sky has a glow the same color as the flowers. Awesome!
Registered on March 23, 2006, 1111 Posts, 6531 Comments
Comment posted by Robert Dayton on September 22, 2012 at 7:17 PM
Awesome, Scott! The large image is lovely. Great colors and light. I also like
the way that you composed with diagonals in the fg and middle. I believe that
this would make a beautiful print.
Registered on November 11, 2008, 281 Posts, 3958 Comments
Comment posted by Peter Coskun on September 22, 2012 at 9:26 PM
Wonderful atmosphere from the lifting fog. The light over Mt Adams is fantastic and the splashes of color on the wildflower covered hill is just great. Well crafted image and the blend is seamless.
Registered on October 31, 2011, 170 Posts, 1240 Comments
Comment posted by scott lanz on September 22, 2012 at 9:44 PM
Gorgeous, killer image, Scott. :toast:
Registered on November 14, 2003, 840 Posts, 12902 Comments
Comment posted by David Edwards on September 22, 2012 at 10:39 PM
A beautiful shot Scott. Love the fog and the effect on the mountain and sky. Perhaps a tad too much magenta on the flowers and mountain {?), but loving this one just the same. Great job to capture and blend under those conditions :smile:
Registered on December 6, 2008, 142 Posts, 2623 Comments
Comment posted by Bob Miller on September 22, 2012 at 11:21 PM
What a beauty! First thing that struck me was the fushia color in the sky so close a match to the wildflowers- and those yellows are so complimentary. Lovely. :toast:
Registered on January 24, 2005, 152 Posts, 405 Comments
Comment posted by Joseph Campisi on September 22, 2012 at 11:56 PM
That's a winner in my book Scott! That will make a kiiiilllller print! :toast:
Registered on November 24, 2008, 304 Posts, 3211 Comments
Comment posted by Daniel Rappaport on September 23, 2012 at 12:14 AM
Beautifully done. The hard work to achieve such great DOF was worth it.
Registered on September 9, 2009, 294 Posts, 2006 Comments
Comment posted by Gary Jacobson on September 23, 2012 at 12:18 AM
What a beautiful capture Scott!
Registered on May 20, 2012, 17 Posts, 41 Comments
Comment posted by Chris Chamberlain on September 23, 2012 at 1:18 AM
Very beautiful! The light and color here are gorgeous! Your processing is very good as well.

Chris
Registered on March 13, 2007, 500 Posts, 8365 Comments
Comment posted by R.Bill Moser on September 23, 2012 at 8:25 AM
This is an awesome shot. Great mood, beautiful colors and light. Well crafted image. The processing looks great, too.
Registered on January 29, 2010, 285 Posts, 4281 Comments
Comment posted by Nick Bristol on September 23, 2012 at 9:56 AM
What a beautiful scene! Really nice work here Scott. I love the light and beautiful colors. The detail looks fantastic and I'm betting this would make an awesome print. Looks like it was really worth your efforts here. :smile:

Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI
Registered on February 1, 2004, 752 Posts, 14140 Comments
Comment posted by Nancy Lea Sandy on September 23, 2012 at 10:20 AM
Incredibly lovely. Nice mood and rich, bold color. Beautiful work
Registered on January 24, 2011, 576 Posts, 6942 Comments
Comment posted by Jagdeep Rajput on September 23, 2012 at 11:29 AM
The only thing, I can say is WOW !
Jagdeep Rajput :toast:
Registered on April 29, 2008, 686 Posts, 2857 Comments
Comment posted by Karsten Wrobel on September 23, 2012 at 1:31 PM
awesome :toast:
Registered on November 1, 2008, 117 Posts, 851 Comments
Comment posted by Mark Metternich on September 23, 2012 at 2:39 PM
Pretty! :biggrin:
Registered on June 19, 2009, 276 Posts, 6240 Comments
Comment posted by Gary McGhee on September 23, 2012 at 4:20 PM
Beautiful landscape Scott, your composition works very well for me. The light on the mountain tops off this wonderful scene.

Gary.
Registered on April 15, 2010, 142 Posts, 2416 Comments
Comment posted by Wick Smith on September 23, 2012 at 4:43 PM
Sweet light! love the foreground.
Registered on June 12, 2009, 91 Posts, 379 Comments
Comment posted by Tom Haxby on September 23, 2012 at 4:54 PM
Wow. This is amazing. The colors are great and nice that the flowers and the alpenglow match so well.
Registered on July 6, 2006, 126 Posts, 647 Comments
Comment posted by Sandipan Dutta on September 24, 2012 at 5:42 PM
Great landscape and superb execution.
Registered on March 9, 2009, 171 Posts, 493 Comments
Comment posted by Navin Sarma on September 25, 2012 at 11:13 PM
saw on 500px first, again i'll say its beautiful. love the sharpness in the Mt, and but of course the flowers. i imagine there was very little wind while you shot this?
Registered on July 17, 2011, 233 Posts, 1373 Comments
Comment posted by Scott Smorra on September 26, 2012 at 12:45 AM
Thank you very much to everyone for all of the comments. I really appreciate everyone taking the time to leave their thoughts on this image.
Navin - the wind was blowing like crazy! I tried to wait for the breaks between the wind, but the flowers were never completely still. That's why I ended up at ISO 1600 to maintain 1/100 sec. In a large print there are a few small areas with a bit of motion blur, but only other photographers would notice it :wink:
Registered on November 2, 2009, 161 Posts, 2143 Comments
Comment posted by Harry Lichtman on September 26, 2012 at 3:33 PM
Crazy beautiful display of color and flowers. Love how the flower and mnt. color mimic each other. Intense! You must have had to do a fair amount of manual blending as even with that shutter speed, flowers are frozen in different places. A bit of artistry to put all of the pieces together. A couple of moving flowers might actually keep it more real for a viewer:toast:
Registered on September 17, 2010, 304 Posts, 3507 Comments
Comment posted by Art Escobado on September 27, 2012 at 10:15 AM
great technical job and of course shot! :toast:
Registered on January 7, 2007, 0 Posts, 775 Comments