"SKY ISLAND"

Gallery: LandscapePosted December 17, 2011450 views30 comments

While on route heading back to Canada from the American SW, I had the chance to get "really" remote in the SE region of Oregon. I was amazed at the scenery and terrain of the area. I was traveling all the back un-paved roads. I had just exited the "Heart Mountain Antelope Reserve", when I spotted this scene in the distance. There are huge areas of wetlands, and is a mecca for migratory birds.

I had to jump a ranch fence and hike 1 KM to get close to the waters edge to get this shot. There was not much of a foreground, and I also preferred the "cropped" version of the scene; so I shot this at 70mm.

Nikon 3Ds, Nikor70-200mm F2.8, at 70mm, ISO 320, F11, at 1/125sec. Unfortunately this was hand held, but with the shutter speed, it looks good

All comments are always welcome!

I will try a B&W conversion.

Comments

30 comments

Comment posted by Rodrigo Sandoval on December 17, 2011 at 6:14 PM

James,
Wonderful photo. Love the colors and the sky, both real and reflected are outstanding.
It just seems to me the horizon is a bit tilted to the left.

Registered on April 4, 2009, 13 Posts, 254 Comments

Comment posted by James Fougère on December 17, 2011 at 6:17 PM

You are right Rodrigo! Thank you for pointing that out!! I will fix it

Registered on October 25, 2010, 41 Posts, 831 Comments

Comment posted by James Fougère on December 17, 2011 at 6:34 PM

Slight horizon adjustment

Registered on October 25, 2010, 41 Posts, 831 Comments

Comment posted by Stan Rose on December 17, 2011 at 7:34 PM

Sweet! I'm a sucker for these 50/50 reflection shots--and this one is particularly nice!

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

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on December 17, 2011 at 8:15 PM

Agree with Stan. Good job. I'm always amazed with the clarity of Western skies. Here in the land of humidity and mildew, I might see a sky like this one or two days a year.

Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments

Comment posted by James Fougère on December 17, 2011 at 8:15 PM

Thanks Stan, I did have a few versions of this image with different split ratios, but I found that anything but the 50/50 split seemed uneven and took away the strong "mirror effect". I also did not get the opportunity for perfectly still water, so this is the best I could do

Registered on October 25, 2010, 41 Posts, 831 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Hartmann on December 17, 2011 at 8:39 PM

The gold and blue colors are nice and so is the comp and sky. Perhaps a spanking is in order for hopping the fence, but since this one is so nice we’ll give you a hall pass this time.

Registered on January 15, 2009, 13 Posts, 772 Comments

Comment posted by scott lanz on December 17, 2011 at 9:14 PM

Just gorgeous.

Registered on November 14, 2003, 840 Posts, 12902 Comments

Comment posted by Chip Phillips on December 17, 2011 at 10:10 PM

This is really cool James. Really nice work here. Beautiful image. Chip

Registered on November 26, 2007, 128 Posts, 1436 Comments

Comment posted by Rob Graham on December 17, 2011 at 11:38 PM

Beautiful sky and clouds. This is the type of scene I love to shoot at our local wetlands :).

Registered on August 22, 2006, 842 Posts, 2824 Comments

Comment posted by Scott Miller on December 18, 2011 at 12:54 AM

The repost looks great, the color just pops.

Registered on May 9, 2011, 23 Posts, 322 Comments

Comment posted by Ed Williams on December 18, 2011 at 1:11 AM

Beautiful James. Love the color and the simplicity. At first glance I thought I was looking at a Caribbean Island.

Registered on December 28, 2010, 636 Posts, 3499 Comments

Comment posted by Adam Gibbs on December 18, 2011 at 3:02 AM

Really nice image, James! Well worth the extra little effort to get to the location.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 168 Posts, 870 Comments

Comment posted by Tony Kuyper on December 18, 2011 at 8:02 AM

That's really nice, James. The contrasting colors and mottled sky/clouds combo works great. I might be inclined to clone/heal the jet contrail.

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

Comment posted by Bill Maile on December 18, 2011 at 10:40 AM

That's a great reflection shot, love everything about it!

Registered on March 2, 2009, 984 Posts, 2518 Comments

Comment posted by Nick Bristol on December 18, 2011 at 12:21 PM

Beautiful! I love the light, and that golden color of the hills looks fantastic with the clouds and blue sky. Wonderful reflection too.

Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI

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

Comment posted by Wade Hardy on December 18, 2011 at 3:03 PM

Wow - great find. Nicely executed too. Love the warm and cool colors but the light and shadow play really make this one special. Nice work!

Registered on May 2, 2006, 121 Posts, 1824 Comments

Comment posted by James Fougère on December 18, 2011 at 3:12 PM

Tony, thanks for the tip, I was going to clone out that trail before doing a test print

There are not many occasions when a "day time" blue sky shot works for me, but this is one of them. I feel the public will like it for it's simplicity and contrasting color. When you view this large, there are some nice shadow details on those grass covered peaks

Registered on October 25, 2010, 41 Posts, 831 Comments

Comment posted by Art Escobado on December 18, 2011 at 7:24 PM

elegant!

Registered on January 7, 2007, 0 Posts, 775 Comments

Comment posted by Lon Overacker on December 18, 2011 at 7:27 PM

James,

Gorgeous reflection-scape. Love the color combo and the clouds are just awesome. You already took care of one of my suggestions with the repost and correcting the tilt. The second suggestion hasn't been mentioned so it might just be me and my monitor, but I think the blue is just on the edge of being electric and the gold a hair on the saturated side. But clearly within the realm of personal choice. Beautiful image.

Lon

Registered on November 24, 2006, 521 Posts, 19147 Comments

Comment posted by James Fougère on December 18, 2011 at 8:15 PM

Lon,

Thanks for the comments. As for the saturation, it looks good on my end, with calibrated monitors set for printing. I will run a test print tomorrow, and see if the blues get to "electric". As you know, different browsers change everything. I use safari, so all is good, except for the "?" in a box in the middle of each NPN photo, because of the old technology of this website

Registered on October 25, 2010, 41 Posts, 831 Comments

Comment posted by Vance Gese on December 18, 2011 at 10:44 PM

Love that light on the hills and of course your incredible composition with such stunning pattern and form. Superb work.

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

Comment posted by David Edwards on December 19, 2011 at 3:23 AM

A beautiful image, James. Wonderful contrast and color... love the strong blue/gold combo. Feels like I'm in a dream. Magic light... magic shot!

Registered on December 6, 2008, 142 Posts, 2623 Comments

Comment posted by James Fougère on December 19, 2011 at 4:12 AM

Registered on October 25, 2010, 41 Posts, 831 Comments

Comment posted by Stuart Williams on December 19, 2011 at 6:21 AM

very nice - everything working here. one question - on my (uncalibrated laptop) monitor, the sky seems a touch darker than the water - usually it would be the other way around?

Registered on December 7, 2007, 247 Posts, 4792 Comments

Comment posted by James Fougère on December 19, 2011 at 9:19 PM

Stuart, I have calibrated monitors, and the reflection brightness is similar to the sky. The reflection is a different tone of blue. I will be doing a test print to check it out. Thanks for your comment

Registered on October 25, 2010, 41 Posts, 831 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Metternich on December 20, 2011 at 4:31 PM

A very happy image!

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

Comment posted by Tom Haxby on December 20, 2011 at 9:11 PM

Magnificent.

Registered on July 6, 2006, 126 Posts, 647 Comments

Comment posted by Ryan Montgomery on December 21, 2011 at 1:08 PM

Wild shot and vibrant colors. Well done

Registered on January 14, 2011, 23 Posts, 26 Comments

Comment posted by James Fougère on December 21, 2011 at 8:03 PM

Here is a pano version. I think I prefer this version. Any comments??

Registered on October 25, 2010, 41 Posts, 831 Comments

&quot;SKY ISLAND&quot;

Comments

"SKY ISLAND"