Rowena Sunrise

Gallery: LandscapePosted May 1, 2013812 views20 comments

The first rays of sunlight shining down over a field of Arrowleaf Balsamroot at Rowena Crest in the Eastern Columbia River Gorge.

This image was captured a few minutes after my image titled Luminance. It's amazing how much the light changes over such a short period of time.

Nikon D800, Nikkor 14-24 at 14mm, no filters
5 exposure hand blend for DOF and dynamic range
1/15 sec at f/22, ISO 100 for the sky, sunstar and distant ridges
1/125 sec at f/13 ISO 400 x4 for DOF in the flowers

Thanks for any comments or suggestions you have. Please check out the larger version.

Comments

20 comments

Comment posted by Youssef Ismail on May 1, 2013 at 11:05 PM

Beautiful photograph Scott. If I may ask, purely out of my own curiosity and desire to learn, in the blend that you made, how did you keep the sun star rays uniform during the DOF blend? For that matter, where did the sky and bg ridge blend start?

Registered on November 1, 2003, 474 Posts, 5555 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Reid on May 1, 2013 at 11:29 PM

Wonderful image Scott. Very dramatic with great light and wonderful sky. I like it with the dun centered. Great job on the processing also.

Registered on January 27, 2013, 65 Posts, 2460 Comments

Comment posted by Scott Smorra on May 2, 2013 at 12:13 AM

Thanks for the comments Youssef and Bill.

Youssef: for the sunstar I only used a single image. This image included the sky, sunstar and ridges. See the image above which shows the layer mask for the sunstar and sky. Red is the area which is masked out. Let me know if you have any other questions.

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

Comment posted by Colin H Sillerud on May 2, 2013 at 12:19 AM

Another stunner from the Columbia Hills. Spot on processing and execution, Scott.

Registered on May 26, 2011, 17 Posts, 58 Comments

Comment posted by Chris Chamberlain on May 2, 2013 at 12:31 AM

Wow! Really nice exposure blend, and really nice crisp detail. I was going to say I liked the softer light of the sunrise shot better, but went and looked, and no, it's this one. Excellent.

Chris

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

Comment posted by Joerg Bonner on May 2, 2013 at 2:49 AM

beautiful image, scott! i love all the elements, particularly the sunstar (i'm more and more becoming a fan of centered subjects). if i had one wish though, it would be for a few more flowers in the lower center. the area seems a bit empty to me.

Registered on September 5, 2011, 44 Posts, 221 Comments

Comment posted by Evan Olson on May 2, 2013 at 9:01 AM

I like the sunstar. Clouds are pretty nice as well, overall very nice image

Registered on November 17, 2012, 31 Posts, 70 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Seaver on May 2, 2013 at 9:17 AM

That's an amazing sunstar and the backlighting on the foreground flowers is great. Thanks for showing the blending approach.

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

Comment posted by Nick Bristol on May 2, 2013 at 9:36 AM

Scott, What a beautiful sunrise image. The large version is really impressive to look at! Excellent work on this.

Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI

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

Comment posted by Nancy Lea Sandy on May 2, 2013 at 2:08 PM

Very nice work. Love it

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

Comment posted by Bill Chambers on May 2, 2013 at 4:40 PM

Very pretty Scott - love the FG, and nice blend work.

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

Comment posted by John Mumaw on May 2, 2013 at 7:31 PM

This one has it all. Remarkable light, skies, foreground and 'development'. Thanks for posting a larger version to savor and the link to an earlier version, which itself is gorgeous. Those two are my favorites from the recent images posted from this place.

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

Comment posted by Brian Schrayer on May 2, 2013 at 9:44 PM

Scott, this is very bold - a bit of a departure from what I perceive to be your usual style which is a bit more subdued. Not a bad thing - just an observation. I like the back lighting on the balsamroot as it really brings them to life. The color in the sky is beautiful as well. However, in my opinion the sunstar is too over-powering in the image. I actually think I would prefer this without the sunstar. Overall I think I prefer your "Luminance" post for that reason. I haven't read the other comments so I'm curious to see what other's response will be.

EDIT: After reading the other comments I am definitely in the minority, but I'll stick to my guns.

I think besides the fact that the sunstar feels over-powering part of what bothers me about it is the way that it intersects with the line formed by the glowing flowers on the boundary between the middleground flowers and the background hillside.

I always enjoy seeing your work, Scott, so I hope you see this as a constructive opinion, though definitely in the minority. As others have said your processing looks perfect here. Thanks for giving insight into your technique.

Registered on May 28, 2004, 114 Posts, 2890 Comments

Comment posted by Scott Smorra on May 2, 2013 at 9:58 PM

Thanks to everyone for the comments.

Brian: I appreciate your honesty about the sunstar. I know they aren't for everyone!

Joerg: I agree with you about the lack of flowers in the center. It's unfortunate that there wasn't one more group of flowers in the middle. I feel like the sunstar pulls the eye up enough that it's not a huge issue though. Thanks again for the feedback.

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

Comment posted by Vance Gese on May 2, 2013 at 10:42 PM

Fantastic, Scott. Love how the flowers and leaves are backlit, the nice diagonal of shadow on the left that helps move the eye back, and your centering of the sun, which in my opinion is spot on. Your blending work is exceptional and I appreciate your willingness to share how you masked the foreground. Wonderful image.

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

Comment posted by Aaron Feinberg on May 3, 2013 at 7:36 AM

Well that doesnt suck. Nice work sir! And best sunstar i've seen w/ 14-24...havent gotten mine that clean yet!

aF

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

Comment posted by Paul Breitkreuz on May 3, 2013 at 5:46 PM

Gorgeous scene, Scott. The larger version is excellent in detail too.

Registered on February 25, 2006, 525 Posts, 8448 Comments

Comment posted by Kah Kit Yoong on May 4, 2013 at 8:47 AM

This is gorgeous. Love the light and use of it.

Registered on September 27, 2006, 636 Posts, 10682 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Metternich on May 4, 2013 at 5:16 PM

Bam!!!!! Great bold image Scott! Stepping up the game!

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

Comment posted by Jeremy Kessler on May 8, 2013 at 2:13 AM

Fantastic! Like how you kept the shadows rather dark.

Registered on September 13, 2007, 36 Posts, 1283 Comments