December Theme: Snowy Sunrises and Sunsets

Seeing as how a majority of us have seen our first good snow storm of the season recently (it snowed for 16 hours here Wednesday with a low of -15 ), I figured it is appropriate to kick off our monthly theme with Snowy Sunrises and Sunsets.

I'll start us off with an image of the Brazos Cliffs at sunset from last year.

Oh Adam, that's not even FAIR! Awesome shot.

Cottonwood Pass late-September of this year.

And a little bit to the right...

Impressive start - great images guys!

Here's one from a secret little spot near Aspen, taken this September.

Wow this is great! I like this challenge thingy, it'll keep me on my toes for sure. The images I've seen so far are truly inspiring!

My shot here in the Garden of the Gods is from my new favorite perch, taken Friday, Dec 1st 06 at Sunrise.

Flip it!

Hey James, your images often seem very dark to me, like these two. Do they look that way to you on your monitor? And if not, do the other ones posted here look excessively bright?

Or am I the only one who perceives this?

Rick, would you mind giving me directions to your secret little spot near Aspen?

Nice work everyone!

Southern Sangres near Taos.

hey Todd,
Mine are dark but they are exactly what the image looked like at the time of capture. Your images in contrast to mine are just right given the composition. I think if yours were brighter or darker they would not show as well, the one of the Maroon Bells ( uh I mean the Secret Spot Near Aspen) is a bit bright. I noticed that Adam's Shots and mine are relatively similar in light density but because the compositions are vastly different his look more open than mine which are very busy, so i think that's what you're really picking up on. I tend to like dark however. i had some from the same day that were brighter, but not as appealing to me.

By some freak coincidence, I stumbled upon the same "secret" spot that Rick did. Here's my take on this new found hidden wonder.

http://gcollier.com/MaroonSunrise.jpg

Awesome images, guys. Admittedly snow and I are not good friends but every now and then I do manage to drag myself out in the cold.

Here's dawn over the San Rafael canyon.

Guy

You guys sure seem to know where to find some unique vantage points. My image is probably a bit more iconic than Rick and Grants, but it's all I have that is freshly taken. This was shot last night at sunset up on Flattop in RMNP looking west.There was a really cool orange glow to everything. That's Hallett on the left and more of Flattop on the right. It was about 0 degrees up there with a snowstorm moving in and out. When the sun finally set then it really got cold!

Sweet images, guys. Except for you Grant - crummy location.

James - your images come across on my monitor as a little darker than what I'd expect for that time of day (most notably in the sky), but more noticeably they seem to both have a very strong yellow cast....

Adam, sorry my friend - you're on your own trying to find this little gem. I'll give you a hint though: head towards Aspen and then follow the tour buses...

Red Rock Lake, Indian Peaks Wilderness.

Rick, that's freakin' gorgeous!

James,
Exactly what Rick said. You compared your shots' "density" to that of Adam's, but note that Adam's sky is blue, whereas yours is black, or very nearly so. Plus, as you might know (har-har), I have a little experience with sunrise shooting in Garden of the Gods, and your shots are markedly darker than the conditions would present. By f-stop standards, I'd say more than 1 f-stop, perhaps close to two. I also agree on the yellow cast. Some of it can be justified by the conditions, while much of it is detrimental to the scene. The second one takes the phrase "don't eat yellow snow" to another level.

Guy, Erik, Grant, Rick: Nicely done! Guy, you know I'm a sucker for "above the clouds" images. Sure would like to see something like that myself.

Morraine Park Winter Sunrise. Unfortunately in the Winter I'm limited to shots close to my car because I don't have time to hike and make it to work on time.

Wow, you guys are killing me! Tony, id say it was pretty fortunate you didn't hike away from that shot! Ive been eyeing the alpen glow for the last week but havent had a chance to get out due to work schedule--but i have a few days off now so im ready to go--these shots have certainly given me the inspiration/motivation.

Wow, those are some sweet shots!! Great job guys.

Great stuff everyone! I haven't been around in a while, but the photos inspired me to get involved again! I don't have many of these scenes, but here is one from Mt. Falcon State Park in Evergreen last winter.

Tony, you've got some sweet light in that shot.

Chris, I almost feel cold looking at your image.

Nice work from both of you!

Wow, I am really digging this thread!! Some just plain unbelievable images everyone!!! Actually makes me want to get out in the freezing old and shoot!!

Here's my contribution. This is from the very top of Snowy Range Pass in southern Wyoming a few years ago. It was late fall, and the weather had been totally overcast the day before, and pretty blustery. I woke up early and headed for the pass for sunrise, not having a whole lot of hope for any color. Along with that, the wind was howling at least 30MPH! Well, as you can see, I got lucky! The sun broke through for only about five minutes, and I fired away. Sadly, the wind was such that none of the images are tack sharp, and I wouldn't want to enlarge it a lot, but I still like it!

Funny story along with that. I was wearing a hat, one of those floppy fishing type hats, and a big gust came up and off it went. Well, it decided to roll on its edge, like a wheel and took off fast!!! And I took off after it. After I caught it (almost 100 yards away!!) I looked around to make sure no one had seen my little escapade! Luckily, I was the only crazy one up there that morning! Would have been quite the comical sight I'm sure!!

Wow, I need sunglasses for that one, Brent. Awesome!

Tony - sweet! I haven't shot Morraine Park since I lived in Loveland; this makes me want to head back!

Chris - great to see you posting again. I second Adam's comment - this has a very brisk feel to it; nice!

Brent - that's the warmest looking/feeling winter image I've seen. Gotta love when there's a little seam in the clouds like that. Kudos to you for making the trek even though it didn't look promising - definitely paid off!

A bit late but this is a shot of Horsetooth Mountain in Fort Collins that i shot this week with the moon setting over it.

Bill

Bill,

By any chance do you have another shot of the same except with a much longer lens?

yes Tony I do have some I shot with my 300mm, see this one, only problem was that the cloud colors had diminished by the time the moon was the correct exposure. What do you think.

Bill

http://www.billmeikle.com

You would need either a grad (maybe a reverse grad), or to combine two shots to get the moon exposed in #1 like you have it in #2. I agree the clouds and color are nicer in the first one. Being a Fort Collins resident, I really need to take a Horsetooth shot at some point.

Hello everyone! I have been lurking for a few weeks now and have decided to jump into this topic. First of all, I am inspired by the talent here and hope to get myself to the next level in my photographic endeavors. I am very glad I found this forum.

This was taken at the Sand Dunes National Park at the end of October. It snowed the day before & we headed down for arrival in the late afternoon. I took quite a few images and even though there weren't that many people that day, I had a challenge to find snow patches without footprints all over them. It was an unusually calm afternoon...we didn't get the usual buffeting by wind which was very nice! I blended three shots for this with EV separations of
-2, 0, and +2...ISO 100...f 11....Canon 10D...Tokina 12-24mm f4 lens at 12mm (~ 18mm with conversion factor)...tripod...cable release...no filter. Blended with Photomatix Pro and finished in PS CS.

I would be most interested to hear what your opinions are of this

Pam

Pamela., this is a great image, I love the sun on the horizon, the colors of the sky and enough light in the foreground. I wouldn't have recognized the sand dunes though. Have you tried cropping top or bottom to unbalance it a bit more??
Sounds like you did a lot of good work to get this image, keep them coming,


Bill

Fort Collins

Welcome to RMNP, Pam! Very nice image from the dunes. I like the subtle color reflected in the foreground snow, and of course the sunstar. If I were to experiment, I'd try lightening up the scene a little while holding the sun in check.

Also - this thread tends to be more of a gallery type thread (i.e., displaying rather than critiquing); if you're specifically looking for feedback on the image, you can post this in the main forum and I'm sure you'll get more suggestions there.

Thanks very much Bill for your comments and suggestions. It was a very enjoyable outing.

Hi Rick, thank you too for the warm welcome. I apologize for asking for advice on this thread...I will post this in the general forum for critique...I'll get the hang of this

Pam

No apologies necessary, Pam; it's okay to ask for advice in any thread. I just wanted to steer you to where you'd get the most views and feedback!

Welcome to the group, Pam!

There have been so many awesome shots posted already, I'm not sure this is even in the same league, but here goes. This is at dawn from the top of Molas Pass.

Don

A little bit of snow counts, right? Here's Broken Arch at sunrise on a chilly winter morning. Phenomenal images here, folks. Keep 'em coming!

A little bit of snow counts, right?

Sure does! How could does it get there in the winter? Thanks for sharing.

There have been so many awesome shots posted already, I'm not sure this is even in the same league, but here goes.

Awesome shot, Don. I love the pastels!

Several tough acts to follow. Here's a little something from the foothills.

It can get quite cold, Adam. Last week we had several days in a row with night temps in the single digits (in town, colder in Arches & Canyonlands) and day temps below freezing. Okay, so it isn't as cold as the Rockies but this IS the desert, after all!

Fantastic shots everyone! Makes me feel cold just looking at them :D Heres mine from October in Eldorado Canyon State Park, CO. Keep um coming everyone!

Here's mine: Lava Creek at a cool 5 below! Taken last weekend in the Tetons. Thanks to all the talented individuals above for the inspiration/motivation.

Michael,
Nice light and I love the clouds.

Stan,
That's a beautiful sunset you've captured! I like the color reflecting in the foreground.

Well done both of you.

Thanks, Adam. It was pretty comical; i spent an afternoon scouting out a location to shoot Grand Teton at sunrise, then at the last minute i suddenly noticed the better photo was in the other direction, so i had to scramble across the road, down an embankment and out onto the ice--you can see some of my footprints in the foreground! fortunately there was just enough liquid on the surface to get some reflections.

Garden of the Gods from October.

Garden Sunrise

Nice one, Mel!

I figured i needed to balance my Wyoming sunrise with a Colorado sunset, so here's one from Thursday in the Spanish Peaks area.

A lot of great shots. Very itimidating and ispiring at the same time. This one was taken at Bryce Canyon, Sunset Point in February 06. I added no saturation to the photo, it was really that bright. The sun was setting, (4:52pm), and it eems to shine through some of the Hoodoos.

Canon 5D, EF 100-400mm L IS lens, ISO 100, 1/200, f5.6

That is some red there Brad.