Lupine Sunrise

Gallery: LandscapePosted September 23, 2012414 views16 comments

Day break over a huge field of lupine in the Goat Rocks Wilderness in Washington, August 2012.

The amount of lupine in the Goat Rocks this year was amazing. This is the same field where I created the image
Celestial Existence the night before.

Nikon D800, Nikkor 14-24mm G at 14mm, no filters
2 exposure hand blend, 1 exposure for the sunstar and sky (1/40 sec at f/22, ISO 100) and 1 exposure for everything else (1/160 sec at f/16, ISO 400). I really like the sunstar created by the 14-24...very crisp and clean.

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

Comments

16 comments

Comment posted by Nancy Lea Sandy on September 23, 2012 at 8:17 PM

Stunning. I love the sun-star and the crisp, fresh details in the lupine blooms.

Registered on January 24, 2011, 576 Posts, 6942 Comments

Comment posted by John Mumaw on September 23, 2012 at 9:35 PM

That crisp, clean sunburst really makes a lot of difference here, elevating this from very good to excellent! I really like how the exposure is held in check so well, and of course the beautiful field of flowers. The slope of the flower field looks great, too. Not a wasted pixel here, Scott!

Registered on September 9, 2005, 62 Posts, 2289 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Teller on September 23, 2012 at 9:55 PM

I agree that the sun star makes the image.

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

Comment posted by Ben Horne on September 23, 2012 at 10:09 PM

I can only imagine how sharp this must be at full res. I can practically shave my beard off the web image. I love the backlit lupine, and the electric green and purple. It also works quite well with the distant mountains in shadow. There is enough detail to show what's going on, but I'm glad you left some wonderful dark tone near the trees to give a sense of mystery. The sun star is very interesting on this one. It feels as though it is floating in front of the mountains rather than peering over the top. I think that can be attributed to the way the 14-24mm renders it. Excellent work as usual!

Registered on August 27, 2009, 51 Posts, 959 Comments

Comment posted by Rick Turner on September 23, 2012 at 11:14 PM

Beautiful work

Registered on February 18, 2012, 534 Posts, 2755 Comments

Comment posted by Chris Chamberlain on September 24, 2012 at 12:05 AM

Beautiful light, handeled very well! I'm not a big sunstar fan, but I agree with you, that lens makes some very clean and crisp stars. Excellent!

Chris

Registered on March 13, 2007, 500 Posts, 8365 Comments

Comment posted by John&Patty Benway on September 24, 2012 at 6:22 AM

Wow, the sun star is amazing, along with color and detail. Beautifully done Scott.
John

Registered on May 12, 2006, 626 Posts, 8700 Comments

Comment posted by Nick Bristol on September 24, 2012 at 9:07 AM

Beautiful image Scott. There is a beautiful combination of light and shadow here along with wonderful colors. The large version is beautiful and has amazing detail and sharpness. Excellent work!

Nick Bristol
Lone rock, WI

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

Comment posted by R.Bill Moser on September 24, 2012 at 2:01 PM

The sunstar makes this already great shot even more interesting. Love the light in the foreground. Great image.

Registered on January 29, 2010, 285 Posts, 4281 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Chambers on September 24, 2012 at 4:39 PM

Very nice Scott. Love the crispness of the sunstar and the backlit lupines.

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

Comment posted by Dennis Harding on September 24, 2012 at 6:58 PM

I love sunstars and I shoot a lot. Your shot is great.

Registered on January 19, 2011, 33 Posts, 408 Comments

Comment posted by Bruce King on September 24, 2012 at 11:13 PM

Really nice.....something to aspire to.

Registered on January 14, 2010, 276 Posts, 2212 Comments

Comment posted by Wick Smith on September 25, 2012 at 1:38 PM

Great shot & great sunstar! I have only used my 14-24 for night work so far with the lack of ability to filter it. I may have to pull it out & see what mine will do. Super image

Registered on June 12, 2009, 91 Posts, 379 Comments

Comment posted by Scott Smorra on September 26, 2012 at 1:05 AM

Thanks to everyone for all of the comments.
Ben - you are right...this is crazy sharp at 1:1. Gotta love the D800 and 14-24 combo! For the sunstar, the sun was about 50% of the way up when I captured this and I think this is what is creating the illusion.

Wick - definitely give your 14-24 a try for sunstars. You don't need a filter if you are shooting straight into the sun. The lens does pick up a ton of flare due to the front element. I reduced the flare by holding my index finger in front of the sun for 1 exposure, and then I blended this image with the sunstar image. I still had to do a fair amount of flare clean up, but this technique at least minimizes it.

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

Comment posted by Alex Mody on September 27, 2012 at 12:03 AM

Awesome. Looks like your trip was fantastic.

Registered on December 25, 2007, 163 Posts, 1896 Comments

Comment posted by Tony Kuyper on September 28, 2012 at 9:11 PM

That is one of the best sunstars ever, Scott. The rest of the light is excellent too. While it doesn't bother me, the curvaceous wide-angle perspective seems to be present. With the centered sum, this seems to work as the round emphasizes this element nicely.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 364 Posts, 22328 Comments