Balanced Rock Sunset

Gallery: LandscapePosted June 25, 2013121 views8 comments

Sunset at Arches National Park gave the sky some clouds that made a perfect background for one of Nature's amazing geological marvels. The Balanced Rock is the size of about four school buses and one of the main attractions to Arches National Park in Moab, Utah.

I left a little shadow detail to draw attention to surroundings.

A similar balanced rock fell in 1979.

Sony A 900
Sony G 70-400 zoom @ 400
ISO 320
f 7.1 @ 1./250 sec

LR 4.1 raw
CS5 crop and corrections

c&c welcomed

Comments

8 comments

Comment posted by Ben Horne on June 25, 2013 at 2:25 PM

I like how you've gone with a silhouette here as opposed to trying to show every ounce of shadow detail. I do feel as though the image needs some significant CW rotation though. This is based on the clouds, the foreground rocks, and the distant hills. They all seem to indicate an uneven horizon. Even if this shot truly is level, there are times when it's best to visually level a shot to give the appearance that it is level.

Registered on August 27, 2009, 51 Posts, 959 Comments

Comment posted by Rick Turner on June 25, 2013 at 3:59 PM

Good suggestion Ben. Thanks

Registered on February 18, 2012, 534 Posts, 2755 Comments

Comment posted by Nick Palmieri on June 26, 2013 at 7:12 AM

Very nice job...I think your vision of drawing attention to the environment works very well here. I agree about the rotation and think sometimes you just have to level it by eye in post processing. I think if it were mine I would take a bit off the bottom. Easy fixes if you choose on a very nice image!

Registered on September 1, 2011, 35 Posts, 748 Comments

Comment posted by Nathan Apodaca on June 26, 2013 at 12:34 PM

I like the repost. A wonderful sight of colors and shapes! Nice job...

Registered on November 16, 2011, 67 Posts, 1127 Comments

Comment posted by Morris McClung on June 26, 2013 at 12:57 PM

I like the graphic quality to this, Rick. The sky color is a nice bonus to make it real pretty.

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

Comment posted by Navin Sarma on June 27, 2013 at 11:15 AM

Hmm... Rick I'm somewhat conflicted by this image. Everyone always wants more shadow detail but I think you are purposefully avoiding that. Tracking with your creative vision for silhouette, I might look to increase the brightness of the background to make the silhouette more prominent. Right now on my monitor the relative brightness is a bit too similar to emphasize the FG shapes and the peaks in the distance. Just my thoughts, hope they help somewhat

Registered on July 17, 2011, 233 Posts, 1373 Comments

Comment posted by Lon Overacker on June 29, 2013 at 4:27 PM

Rick,

I really like the rotated repost that eliminated the patch of sky. Excellent silhouette and capture of the balancing rock.

Lon

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

Comment posted by Howard Cheek on July 5, 2013 at 7:21 PM

Very cool look in near silhouette, love that sky and it's a great setting Rick!

Registered on July 24, 2008, 1201 Posts, 10758 Comments