Stands in Silence
by Scott Smorra
As the sun rises behind Mt Hood, a perfect pyramid shaped shadow is cast upon the surrounding landscape. I climbed Hood last Friday/Saturday with a few friends and we made it to the summit just after sunrise. This is one of my favorite images from the climb.
Photography was not my primary goal on this trip (making it to the top and back down safely was my goal) but I was pleasantly surprised by the good light on the summit. Hauling dSLR gear up the mountain didn't make climbing any easier, but I was glad I brought everything along.
All C&C are appreciated. Larger version provided.
Nikon D7000, 12-24 Nikkor Dx, polarizer
1/6 sec at f/16, ISO 100, single exposure
Comments
22 commentsPhenomenal mountain top image. While we've seen mountain shadows before, there is certainly something quite mesmerizing about this one. The shadow is distinct and it just melds with the distant landscape so beautifully. I wish the foreground was a little more pristine, but I'm getting picky....
Is there any more room up top? Looks like this is slightly narrower than full frame; curious what you may have cropped. But no matter really - this is fantastic.
Lon
aF
Guy
Lon - I did crop some off the top here. The sky above was more of a hazy blue which didn't seem to mesh with the rest of the comp, so I cropped it out.
Aaron - for the WB, the foreground is all in the shade (it was being illuminated by a bright blue sky above). The foreground was quite blue in the raw file and I decided to process it with a more magenta/white tone. Maybe too white???
Harry - I got lucky having the top of the shadow just touching the hills. I only had a few minutes to set up and get a few images facing the sun and then turned around and got a few images of the shadow. The light changed incredibly fast at the high elevation.
Guy - I agree with your comments about spending a night on a mountain. The lighting can be magical.
I would reduce the foreground area..
Gary.
Congrats!
Christian.