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Distant Pillars
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Distant Pillars

by Basil Greber

Gallery: LandscapePosted March 20, 2016607 views15 comments
Shot on Lofoten last year. I was shooting wide angle compositions (see "Remnants of Winter" in my gallery) when I noticed how the sun was illuminating these distant rock towers. So I mounted my telephoto and shot a few compositions. Originally, this one contained a bit more room at the bottom, including a mountain hut in the area, but I chose to remove it for now and focus on the landscape entirely.

D610, 70-300 AF-S VR at 200 mm.

Comments

15 comments
Comment posted by Tom Falley on March 20, 2016 at 1:25 PM
Thanks for sharing Basil!

Always a big fan of weather in the big mountains, rock faces, smooth glaciated terrain.  Thanks for sharing your vision of this outstanding terrain!

Best wishes:   Tom
Registered on November 21, 2014, 189 Posts, 454 Comments
Comment posted by Harry Lichtman on March 20, 2016 at 1:33 PM
The light and rock forms are sweet. I can see how the hut would add scale to the image, but this tighter view works for me. I could see it being even tighter, more off the bottom. Looks like an incredible place to visit. 
Registered on September 17, 2010, 304 Posts, 3507 Comments
Comment posted by Lon Overacker on March 20, 2016 at 2:15 PM
Basil,

This is fantastic mountain drama!  The mix of clouds, mist, light and towering rock formations just make for an awesome scene and captured image.  I'm so glad this is in color too so we can see some of the warmth of the light.

The only very minor suggestion I have would be to balance out the color in the patches of snow in the bottom 1/3.  Some snow is a bit cyan, where other patches are more white, neutral.  Otherwise, I like how the canyon/diagonal working up from the bottom also works to lead the eye in to the frame (although honestly, the drama up top already takes us there!)

Well done isolating with the longer focal length.

Lon
Registered on November 24, 2006, 521 Posts, 19147 Comments
Comment posted by David Schoen on March 20, 2016 at 3:58 PM
This is a very dramatic image. The light is quite spectacular. It really has a lot of impact with respect to composition. I do agree that the color balance in the lower part could be improved with respect to the cyan cast.  What is interesting here is that the image goes from a warm cast to a cool cast. Was that your intention?
Registered on November 6, 2006, 1213 Posts, 4587 Comments
Comment posted by Basil Greber on March 20, 2016 at 4:06 PM
Thanks for commenting, everybody!

Regarding the color cast - I actually reduced the cyan/blue in the lower half of the frame quite considerably, but may have to re-visit this due to the blotchyness mentioned. There is a massive difference in color temperature between the lower part (cold, in the shade) and the upper part (warm, illuminated by the setting sun). I think that leaving this uncorrected would render the bottom half with excessive blue cast.
 
Registered on November 8, 2005, 219 Posts, 1340 Comments
Comment posted by Marylynne Diggs on March 20, 2016 at 7:11 PM
Great call on grabbing the long lens.  I like the isolation and the atmosphere (both literal and figurative) of this.   I see a couple of blotches of greater cyan (near the upper right snow field and the upper left one too) and then some funky shadow on the left side where ocean meets rock.

As for the cyan, if this is basalt, it could be naturally bluish, but it is a tish distracting.
ML
Registered on December 14, 2010, 122 Posts, 1034 Comments
Comment posted by Nick Bristol on March 20, 2016 at 7:29 PM
What a fantastic shot! This view is amazing that you captured in great light and wonderful conditions. The larger view shows much better details in the foreground and is actually exciting to look at for me. I could see removing some cyan from some of the snow patches although it was probably mostly caused from shadows. Wonderful work, Basil. 

Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI
Registered on February 1, 2004, 752 Posts, 14140 Comments
Comment posted by Daniel Rappaport on March 20, 2016 at 8:48 PM
Good decision to narrow down! Striking composition and light.
Registered on September 9, 2009, 294 Posts, 2006 Comments
Comment posted by Kah Kit Yoong on March 21, 2016 at 3:07 AM
Terrific telephoto view of the 'smoking' mountain and its a nice one too with a cool peak. The colours are very naturally presented.
Registered on September 27, 2006, 636 Posts, 10682 Comments
Comment posted by Roel Wijtmans on March 21, 2016 at 1:29 PM
I don't know your other version, but it certainly looks like the right decision to me, judging from this photo. Very impressive mountains and gorgeous light make far a stunning moment!
Registered on September 30, 2012, 116 Posts, 2257 Comments
Comment posted by John Williams on March 21, 2016 at 9:53 PM
Dramatic landscape and light Basil. Great idea to focus on the landscape.
Registered on September 6, 2007, 221 Posts, 5985 Comments
Comment posted by Harley Goldman on March 23, 2016 at 11:37 AM
Great sense of scale and drama.  Real sweet. I would lose the cyan cast in the snow.
Registered on November 19, 2003, 586 Posts, 11271 Comments
Comment posted by Vance Gese on March 27, 2016 at 6:00 PM
Awesome, powerful image.  Talk about soaring heights.  Fantastic.
Registered on November 13, 2008, 298 Posts, 6629 Comments
Comment posted by Lucy Aron on June 7, 2016 at 3:32 PM
Stunning.  The bottom resembles a classic Japanese a woodcut.
Registered on February 25, 2011, 189 Posts, 1160 Comments
Comment posted by Lucy Aron on July 11, 2016 at 5:34 PM
Almost like a woodcut.  The subtle light hues in sky and on rock create a powerful image.
Registered on February 25, 2011, 189 Posts, 1160 Comments