Sorcery

Beautiful skies, but I'm not sold on the island being dead center in the composition. I much prefer your wonderful winter version of the lake!

This location seems to be getting "familiar" but it will take a lot more impressions of it before I get tired of seeing this place (if ever). Nice to see a new, more moody interpretation of it, with a sky that complements the beauty of the place. (Also great to hear that this has not become one of those places where you have to elbow in for a spot in the crowd.)

John, I thought about that while composing, but there's really not a lot you can do at this location in the summer for getting the island off-center. In the winter, you can use snow cornices in the foreground to help with that, but in the summer it's just rock and dirt in the whole foreground, so not a lot to work with there. To the right, the rock spires go upward, which I felt was very distracting when included, and to the left, there's no foreground interest. I decided rather than being ever-so-slightly off center, I'd rather have the island smack in the middle, with the rim at a third, and each face of rock spires at a third.

Wayne, I've only ever seen three shots from this spot on the rim - two from Marc Adamus, and one from Tyson Fisher (all three of which are excellent, and some of the best shots of CL I'm aware of). I've searched for more, but I've been unable to find anything else. There's definitely not a crowd here, since there's no trail to it and there's no indication from the road that this lies on the other side of the rim. It's also a strenuous hike in terms of elevation gain. You need to see this from the other side of the rim, and look at the shape/perspective of the island, to even figure out where it is - so I doubt you'll ever have to elbow out crowds at this spot.

Even if everyone else was tired of seeing Crater Lake, it's an extremely unique and awe-inspiring place - and I wouldn't stop photographing it until I personally was tired of shooting it. (And the millions of midday shots from Rim Village don't contribute to that for me.)

When I first saw this I thought it was one of Marc's images from this location. I don't mind the comp here at all mostly because none of the foreground cliffs cut into wizard island. The colors here are great as well and I always prefer the darker presentations. Well done.

Another beauty Alex. Personally, I like the snowy version posted last week better, but that's because I never see snow probably! A delight to view.

Such killer light. Might say half a step to the left and then pan back to the right a tad to center wizard island a hair...but that's a nit. Love those colors. Nice work :)

aF

Peter, that's the whole point of this spot - it's the only place up in this area you can frame the island without the spires cutting into it. Otherwise, I would have probably come up with a much different comp than Tyson and Marc did.

Bill, I love Crater Lake in winter - but I'm just not a huge fan of the shape of the island from the perspective of my other image, nor the way that it cuts up into the rim from that lower elevation. I'm in love with it from this side - I think the compositions are endless along the western rim. This particular spot works well in the summer, I think - the spires are very prehistoric and rugged-looking - but I certainly look forward to giving the western rim another shot this winter, using some foreground snow cornices as compositional elements.

Aaron, I tried that, but the big rock I had my tripod set up on to get the necessary height didn't continue to the left. The scale of the image is deceiving (hint: it's huge) - you actually need to walk many feet to the left to get any change in where the foreground cliffs lie in relation to the island.

Great shot Alex. The comp looks perfect to me. I also like the colors in both the sky and the lake very much.

sweet light and i like the comp, but the horizon looks a bit distorted to me, or it could be changes in elevation

Amazing view and beautiful sky Alex. I like the detail of the land which does have a mystical mood to it. Wonderful capture and great series overall.

Navin, that's intentional. Wanted to accentuate the curve of the rim.

Lookin good!

Nice!

Excellent Alex

Nice. Wonderful drama and light.