Emerald City

Gallery: LandscapePosted August 16, 2011392 views16 comments

This is a series of shots taken in 2010 in the spectacularly picturesque Ice Lake Basin in Colorado's San Juan Mountains. I missed the summer wildflower season there this year (and everywhere else for that matter) which has me depressed (or maybe it's the 3rd straight month of fog that's doing that), so I went back into the archives to see what I had passed the first round and finally stitched this together. Every time I visit this destination I always come back with scrapes and bruises on my chin because it's on the ground the entire time I'm there! Counting the days until I can be back out in the high country...

Tech Data:
Nikon D300
Nikkor 16-35mm f/4
6 Vert shots de-distorted individually and stitched using PS auto functions
Tony K's lum masks for all selective adjustments
Andreas Resch's script for easy sharpening on both versions

Comments

16 comments

Comment posted by Joel Hazelton on August 16, 2011 at 1:57 AM

Wow, this is absolutely gorgeous. The pano really adds to the majesty.

Registered on August 6, 2008, 194 Posts, 1315 Comments

Comment posted by Floris van Breugel on August 16, 2011 at 2:04 AM

The colors here are quite magnificent, I love the turquoise combined with the warm light on the peaks. Overall I think the composition is too wide, leaving the image without a strong focus. The right hand side seems somewhat unnecessary to me, as my eyes are drawn right in to the oranges on the left.

Registered on December 19, 2008, 306 Posts, 4840 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Harding on August 16, 2011 at 2:36 AM

What a stunning and beautiful scene. I love it! Very well done Jared.

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

Comment posted by Andreas Resch on August 16, 2011 at 5:08 AM

Great colors and depiction of the place.

Registered on November 14, 2007, 322 Posts, 6101 Comments

Comment posted by Svein-Frode on August 16, 2011 at 7:57 AM

Lovely landscape! Only nit: The reflection of the sky in the water is a bit too bright.

Registered on November 13, 2003, 9 Posts, 277 Comments

Comment posted by Jared Atencio on August 16, 2011 at 10:28 AM

Thanks for the comments!

Floris-that was actually my main concern and partially the reason I posted. I originally cropped just to the right of the large diagonal cloud, but felt that threw off the balance and didn't quite work with where the lake's far edge divided the frame. In that case a crop of some of the FG rocks was necessary to get a better balance, but I felt that area adds a lot of interest and I don't want to lose that.

Svein-I agree and noticed that after I posted. Thanks for the comments.

Registered on June 23, 2009, 21 Posts, 422 Comments

Comment posted by Keshav Kumar on August 16, 2011 at 10:42 AM

While it is a fabulous vista and the colors and technicalities are spot on, I feel it is a tad left heavy. May be a little less of foreground and a more panoramic crop would do the justice this image demands.

Registered on June 3, 2008, 16 Posts, 42 Comments

Comment posted by Gary McGhee on August 16, 2011 at 11:12 AM

You caught some nice light and colour here Jared, great shadow detail too.

Gary.

Registered on April 15, 2010, 142 Posts, 2416 Comments

Comment posted by Joseph Campisi on August 16, 2011 at 12:38 PM

Beautiful light Jared, and I love the clarity of the water.

Besides what Svein said about the reflection, I think a crop would make this a stronger image. I know you're trying to portray the sweeping majesty of the scene with the panorama, and it works on that level to convey that for sure. But I would try a crop with about 1/3 of the sky taken off of the top, and the right hand side to about where the alpenglow starts. It's worth working on, because this is a fantastic scene!

Registered on November 24, 2008, 304 Posts, 3211 Comments

Comment posted by Margaret Summers on August 16, 2011 at 1:42 PM

A perfect solution to a gloomy day! This is beautiful to loo at until you can get back out in the wild again.

Registered on May 24, 2011, 54 Posts, 99 Comments

Comment posted by Phil Pogledich on August 16, 2011 at 3:27 PM

This pretty much works fine for me as posted, though the "too bright" reflection is probably worth a fix. It's quite a beautiful scene overall and I'm sure it will look wonderful printed. I think the composition works well due to the balance provided by the distribution of the foreground rocks and the lines of clouds, even if the light is somewhat concentrated on the LHS of the frame.

Registered on August 24, 2009, 123 Posts, 3099 Comments

Comment posted by Kent Mearig on August 16, 2011 at 4:17 PM

I love the definition in the line of light/shadow across the ridge and the overall crispness in the image. The rocks and clouds give just enough justification for the panoramic format.

Registered on September 4, 2006, 237 Posts, 4748 Comments

Comment posted by Chris Martin on August 16, 2011 at 8:19 PM

Everything about this image is stunning! I love how you can see the reflection but also the rocks along the bottom of the lake. Nice work!

Registered on September 1, 2008, 2 Posts, 24 Comments

Comment posted by Kane Engelbert on August 16, 2011 at 10:47 PM

Uh... from someone that's been to ILB many times...this is stunning. What a refeshing look to an otherwise "iconic" shot. I have a feeling you were trying to get a different perspective of this scene. For those that say it needs a crop I'm guessing they may not be as familiar with the normal scene and they may be migrating to the "iconic" perspective. Just a thought.

You use a pano head for this shot. My guess is "yes."

Registered on June 14, 2009, 63 Posts, 291 Comments

Comment posted by Michael J Greene, on August 17, 2011 at 4:11 PM

What up Jared. Wonderful colors and I really like the clouds. The lightest part of the reflection needs to be burned down and the comp maybe a bit tight on the left, but overall its a stunning display of colors and the conditions certainly worked to your benefit. I hope all is well.

Michael

Registered on June 18, 2009, 86 Posts, 2317 Comments

Comment posted by Morris McClung on August 22, 2011 at 9:26 PM

Excellent comp, and the pano format shows how grand this must be.

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