Cradled from Above

Gallery: LandscapePosted October 1, 2013168 views7 comments

It seemed that if there was ANY type of valley, converging slopes, or general low spot, that lots of water would collect there. Still flying northeast from Anchorage towards Canada, we cruised over lots of wetlands, glaciers, and along side tall mountains and their associated drainages. Our route was taking us along the edge of a weather system, so we could look south-southeast and see lots of mountain obstruction, low clouds, and precipitation. It turned out to be a great place to be for pictures, as the low, broken clouds as in this picture were dotting the landscape, framing amazing scenes.
I especially liked this particular location because of the symmetry in the mountain sides, and whisps of clouds. And of course there is a mountain stream running down the middle, a common sight up that way!

Canon 60d 10-22mm @ 22mm
ISO 250 --- f/4.5 --- 1/800sec --- handheld --- cropped a tad to remove distracting elements around the border ---

Comments/Critiques Welcome. View Large!

Comments

7 comments

Comment posted by Brian Schrayer on October 1, 2013 at 9:20 PM

Nathan - I definitely get a sense of the grand scale of the landscape. Those foreground clouds really make the shot and contrast nicely with the autumn tundra in the landscape. Beautiful work!!

Registered on May 28, 2004, 114 Posts, 2890 Comments

Comment posted by Thomas Haney on October 1, 2013 at 10:22 PM

Nathan, this is an amazing photograph. What an incredible scene to have witnessed, and all the elements really came together for you. I love how the clouds mirror each other across the divide and the snow-capped peaks in the background are wonderful. If I really reach for a suggestion it would be a minor brightening of the foreground, especially the left side, and maybe some brightening of the river to bring it out, but really I love this as is. Thanks for sharing it.

Registered on April 7, 2013, 138 Posts, 537 Comments

Comment posted by Nancy Lea Sandy on October 1, 2013 at 10:41 PM

Beautiful! The broken clouds add so much to this scene, softening the rugged terrain. Very impressive view.

Registered on January 24, 2011, 576 Posts, 6942 Comments

Comment posted by Matthew Goldsmith on October 2, 2013 at 10:38 AM

Very unique perspective allowing for a view that most of us never get to see. I like that. I agree with Thomas..perhaps just a bot brighter in the foreground.

Registered on June 29, 2010, 37 Posts, 286 Comments

Comment posted by Marc Adamus on October 2, 2013 at 10:54 AM

What an amazing abstract landscape in the lower 2/3rds. I love how the warm layers disappear into the clouds. The top isn't adding anything except a little perspective, so I might be inclined to crop just a tad more, even though I'd normally prefer the thirds.

Registered on September 17, 2005, 780 Posts, 8091 Comments

Comment posted by Ian Cameron on October 2, 2013 at 11:50 AM

I like this Nathan the thumbnail barely does it justice but opening up is a bit of a revelation. Great shot.

Registered on August 6, 2004, 1125 Posts, 3318 Comments

Comment posted by Nathan Apodaca on October 2, 2013 at 3:16 PM

Thanks, everyone! Was a sight to enjoy, and it lasted only about thirty seconds or so, at the pace we were moving. I didn't have long at all to perfect the exposure, so the RAW image is definitely darker than I would have wished. That said, I could lighten the foreground some more, but I'd be losing a bit of image quality!

I'll shortly post an image in this gallery of a close up of the terrain, clouds, and sky that initially had more shadow detail... Thanks again!

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