Awakening

Summer wildflowers and sunset alpenglow at Mt St Helens National Volcanic Monument, June 2013.

Initially, the conditions on this particular evening were not looking very promising. The thick clouds on the western horizon were blocking all of the direct light from hitting the mountain. Just a few moments before the sun actually set, it popped out from beneath the clouds and hit the mountain with some nice magenta alpenglow. The light only lasted about about a minute, but luckily I had my comp all picked out and was just waiting for the light.

Nikon D800, Nikkor 14-24mm, no filters
7 image blend for DOF and dynamic range
1 image for the sky and mountain, 1.6 sec at f/16, ISO 100
6 images for the foreground flowers, 3-4 sec each at f/16, ISO 100 (luckily there was almost no wind, which allowed me to use a low ISO and long shutter speeds)

All comments and critiques are always appreciated. Please check out the larger version. The colors will look best on a calibrated monitor using Firefox or Safari.