Cascade Radiance

Gallery: LandscapePosted January 20, 2013611 views15 comments

Sunrise, Mt Hood Wilderness, Oregon. January 2013.

Last Friday I made it up to Mt Hood to catch the sunrise. I left Portland at about 4:30 AM to drive to the mountain and snowshoe up to this location. It was a beautiful morning and the duration of sunrise color was amazing. The horizon started glowing about 45 minutes prior to sunrise and just kept getting better until the sun came up. This is some of the most dramatic light I've experienced on the mountain.

Nikon D800, Nikkor 14-24mm at 16mm, no filters
3 image hand blend for dynamic range
0.6 sec, 1/3 sec 1/13 sec at f/16, ISO 100

Thanks for taking a look and for any comments or suggestions you have. Please check out the larger version.

Comments

15 comments

Comment posted by John&Patty Benway on January 20, 2013 at 11:57 AM

Beautiful scene Scott, gorgeous color and warm light, had to be a beautiful sight to see. Excellent work.
John

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

Comment posted by Peter Coskun on January 20, 2013 at 12:26 PM

Great play of shadow and light! Definitely a calling for me to return to Oregon.

Registered on October 31, 2011, 170 Posts, 1240 Comments

Comment posted by Eva McDermott on January 20, 2013 at 12:54 PM

The title says it all. Wonderful radiance throughout Scott and of course stunning color. I especially like the reflected color off the snow.

Registered on January 4, 2009, 1015 Posts, 13229 Comments

Comment posted by David Bostock on January 20, 2013 at 2:47 PM

Scott, I was driving to work that morning, wishing beyond all wishes that I was out somewhere with the camera. Glad you caught it. This is an awesome spectacle. Well done.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 90 Posts, 2778 Comments

Comment posted by Daniel Rappaport on January 20, 2013 at 2:52 PM

Beautiful colors. Love the way the shape of the clouds is mirrored by the foreground snow.

Registered on September 9, 2009, 294 Posts, 2006 Comments

Comment posted by Aaron Feinberg on January 20, 2013 at 3:02 PM

Love that early glow...usually means it's gonna go nuclear. 3 shots w/ the d800? Damn that's a lot of dynamic range ;)
Might make this a pano crop and use the llc line as a starting point...

Nice catch sir!

aF

Registered on October 26, 2009, 399 Posts, 2789 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Seaver on January 20, 2013 at 5:13 PM

The overall warm glow is terrific and there's lots of interesting landscape features leading into the distance as well as the stunning sky. I do wonder about some burning in of the pink region in the sky just above center.

Registered on January 23, 2011, 1103 Posts, 17270 Comments

Comment posted by Tony Kuyper on January 20, 2013 at 8:49 PM

Wow, Scott! Such beautiful light. Really like to see warm snow.

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

Comment posted by Vance Gese on January 20, 2013 at 10:48 PM

Beautiful colors in the sky as well as the soft glow imparted to the snow. Gorgeous. Great title too.

Registered on November 13, 2008, 298 Posts, 6629 Comments

Comment posted by Nick Palmieri on January 21, 2013 at 8:26 AM

Very nice composition. I love the reflected light off the snow. Very nice.

Registered on September 1, 2011, 35 Posts, 748 Comments

Comment posted by Stan Rose on January 21, 2013 at 11:27 AM

Scott--im gonna be a bit hard on you cause wile it's a real pretty shot, ive seen enough of your work to know your capable of better. Mark already covered my one technical not (slightly blown red)--the main problem is the comp, it feels static to me and this is dynamic light. I think the problem is the lines all lead straight to the rhs, and that downward portion on the rhs is too close to the edge. Im not suggesting you risk death, but this is very well known and climbed mountain, and your perspective makes it look relatively tame (look at the nearly horizontal horizon). I think you needed to be higher up on a steeper angle. I admire the effort and you were rewarded with a great show, but im not sold on the vantage.

Registered on September 15, 2005, 836 Posts, 17099 Comments

Comment posted by Nick Bristol on January 21, 2013 at 7:06 PM

Scott, It had to be special being there for this. I think your effort paid off. I love the light and glow you captured!

Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI

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

Comment posted by Todd Liotine on January 22, 2013 at 4:40 PM

Really love the warm pink glow on the snow!

Registered on July 1, 2008, 131 Posts, 671 Comments

Comment posted by Scott Smorra on January 22, 2013 at 10:33 PM

Thanks to everyone for all of the comments. I really appreciate the feedback.

Stan - thanks for your honesty...that's what I really like about your comments! This comp wasn't what I intended to capture that morning, but the light was just too good to pass up. My hope was that this type of light would be going off over Mt Hood, but the mountain only caught the alpenglow, since there were no clouds around the mountain (I have another image of the alpenglow I will post soon). Thanks again for sharing your thoughts.

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

Comment posted by Morris McClung on January 23, 2013 at 10:35 AM

Lovely shot. The glow on the snow is excellent.

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