by Tony Kuyper
There was a brush fire in the canyons of the nearby mountains. It as quite a site the night before with visible patches of burning foliage. Not a serious fire. Forest Service did not fight it as it was in a rugged canyon and didn't threaten any structures.
The following morning there were still a couple of patches of fire visible before sunrise. The clouds lit up too, which added an additional element. What I like the most was the way the lingering smoke separated out the canyons and peaks. It often just blends together so it was nice to see these layers that normally go unnoticed. To some degree this is a bit more "documentary" than I normally do, but I like the way these elements came together.
Your thoughts and suggestions are always appreciated.
5D2, 28-200 lens @ 70 mm, f/13, 1/5 sec, ISO 400
Comments
13 commentsLooks good, Tony. The heavy clouds with subtle touches of sunrise color are a great complement to the rugged mountains. The two burning areas are well placed and, yes, the smoke does give the ridges a fine layered look.
I love the simplicity and the elegance of this composition. The clouds complement the mountains nicely!
The juxtaposition between the grey smoke and the color of the clouds is effective here especially in the larger image.
Nice and dramatic, it could be warmed up a bit for me....
A lot to about this image. There is enough of the mountains in the base, any less might feel too slim at the base. The colors are very pleasing and the detail in the clouds interesting. It also documents a scene we hope will not be repeated any time soon.
California looks like this, along with PacNW. It looks like there are two fires, though. I like how the smoke is hanging in the canyons, and I like the sky.
--P
Tony, I guess if we could ever say there is something pretty about a fire(s), this would be a point being made. Yep, us western states folks have had a real whammy this time between lack of precipitation and all the fires raging overall, it's a really tough time for our firefighters.......
For me it's all about the sky in this one, it would be a real hit or winner in the EPJ gallery too.......
One of the attractions of fine landscape photography is the ability to put us in moments we would never witness otherwise. It is also a reminder that even though the world is constantly changing some things are constant. The smoldering hills give this a primordial feel that is indeed timeless.
I'm really liking your recent sky/mountain images. Beautiful rendition of the sky. Wonderful composition. To me the fires are of secondary interest. To me this is an image that has much more content than is immediately obvious.
Beautiful layers creatd by the smoke, mnts and the cloud formations. Looks like a smoldering volcano. A tighter view of the right side might have highlighted the fire a bit more, but still contain some of the interesting sky formations.
It reminds me that there is beauty in all things. Plato said "It is beauty I seek, not beautiful things." I like the smoke laying between the ridges and you are right it provides separation that is not always there. Making the most of documentary situations is the sign of a true proffessional.
Hi Tony,
I like the concept of how you added the fires into the composition and even included them in the title of the photo.
I do think there is too much sky in the frame, even though the colors look terrific. a 3:2 doesn't do this shot justice, because I really like what you are trying to accomplish here but to add more depth and differentiate the 2 fires with this terrific landscape, a panoramic with slightly less sky I think would have done the trick really well, especially with a 28-200mm lens. If you zoom in, shoot 6-10 verticals for a panoramic, you would be able to capture more of the detail from the fires, as well as the smoke that I definitely agree with adds more depth to these peaks. Adding some orange and yellow luminance to the fires would help accentuate them in the image, and adding some contrast on separate layers for both the land and another for the sky would certainly help.
Excellent, Tony. The cool tones in the canyons work for me and a great sky. Really nice image.