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Shuksan Sunrise
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Shuksan Sunrise

by Michael Westerbeck

Gallery: LandscapePosted April 1, 2012457 views7 comments
This is Mount Shuksan in Northern Washington State. I have shot this mountain and in this area for many years, in many conditions, and in all 4 seasons. I still believe it is one of the most picturesque areas of Washington. I feel extremely fortunate to live here and be so close to so much beauty.

Comments welcome

Comments

7 comments
Comment posted by Benjamin Olson on April 1, 2012 at 8:39 PM
Beautiful scene Michael! I like the composition, especially the diagonals the clouds create. The coloration and the processing seems a little odd though. The sky is beautiful, but I can see some strange artifacts in it (over sharpening maybe), the highlights are little too intense for my taste. I think if you tone down the highlights, pull a little detail out the distant trees and desaturate the blues it would improve the image greatly!
Registered on April 7, 2007, 169 Posts, 725 Comments
Comment posted by Stan Rose on April 2, 2012 at 12:48 AM
Shuksan is one of my fav mts. I love your comp here, real pretty and interesting, but there are some technical issues--the sky is very noisy and there are odd uneven areas in the forest; some of the pines appear real bright and others dark in the bg. Id start from scratch with (hopefully) the RAW. :wavey:
Registered on September 15, 2005, 836 Posts, 17099 Comments
Comment posted by Hamed Musharbak on April 2, 2012 at 11:56 AM
Good comp & light

the processing looks good

Hamed
Registered on June 1, 2009, 372 Posts, 2282 Comments
Comment posted by Mat Malone on April 2, 2012 at 1:53 PM
Very beautiful scene, well composed. But I agree with Stan that there is room for improvement with the processing. The clipping sky highlights are the biggest issue for me.
Registered on December 15, 2008, 91 Posts, 882 Comments
Comment posted by John Williams on April 2, 2012 at 11:38 PM
I'll agree with a lot of the above Michael.

I've never been to this part of the state, but this is such a lovely scene I guess I need to correct that.
Registered on September 6, 2007, 221 Posts, 5985 Comments
Comment posted by Dietrich Gloger on April 3, 2012 at 2:10 PM
This is a difficult one for me Michael. I like the scene and all the elements. The light looks good too and the composition is well made. There are a few issues: The remaining snow (in a state of melting) is not very appealing and the image appears a bit soft. I think you have a great place there for your photography and being close allows to check out this area often to wait for optimal conditions (e.g. fresh snow). Just some suggestions.... :wink:
Registered on January 26, 2007, 360 Posts, 9876 Comments
Comment posted by Vlad Sadovsky on April 3, 2012 at 11:39 PM
Well captured scene, MIchael. I concur, Baker and North Cascades are some of the most beautiful areas of the PNW.

Color areas we well distributed, these patches of warm right grass are especially nice.Snow patch on the right seems a tiny bit odd in texture.

Compositionally I like all the diagonals interplaying (including the subtle one in the grass), altough placing the Shuksan itself so close to the left is slightly uncomofortable, subjectively.

Well done.
Registered on November 12, 2010, 48 Posts, 358 Comments