Spray Park Sunset

Mount Rainier and Observation Peak reflected in one of Spray Park's many alpine tarns at sunset.

5D, 17-40 at 20mm, 3-stop GND, polarizer, 1 second at F13.

Great reflection and I like the RGB color layout of the mountain, sky and FG...very primary. How were the flowers up there? I have heard it is a less than steallar year.

Lupines are almost non-existant. Other flowers are average, or a little below average. I visited all sides of Rainier last week. Thanks for the comment.

Beautiful.

It's a nice shot, Marc but it's kind of missing the elements that make shots above the very nice mark.... I hope you know what I'm saying. For a calendar or something like that, it's probably perfect and would sell better than hot cakes....

Guess I should have looked at your older posts first regarding the bloom this season. I just read your low lupine count post and it reflects what I had heard elsewhere. Thanks.

Nice alpenlight and reflection. I like the way the lake shape somewhat mimics the shape of the mountain that it's reflecting. Someday I'll be able to make these long treks again... Every time I see these shots I curse my knees

I do agree that it's not quite the stellar image you normally post, but it's better than any of mine!

I too noticed/enjoyed how the tarn seems to mimic the shape of Rainier. I actually think this image is quite stellar. I'd be interested to see what it looks like with the illuminated portion of the image (Rainier) cooled down a bit as the white balance looks too high. Hope that made sense...

Nice shot Marc. I was up there just last night, what a beautiful place, I think I found this very pond...lol. I unfortunately didn't have any clouds. I did however have some nice color on the mountain. There seemed to be quite a bit of lupine coming in up there from what I saw. It's patchy, but kinda thick in spots. I do think it is a bit early at Spray park, I may head up on Monday again and camp up there.

I couldn't agree more, John. This is pretty standard stuff. Not exciting or original enough for my taste, but still a keeper someone might enjoy at some point. Especially art directors and editors, who almost without fail settle on my second-rate stuff.

I think this is a great comp Mark. The alpenlight and refelction is what does it for me. I hope to get up to Rainier in the next week or so if I can make it work.

Hohum man if this is 2nd rate sign me up. Nice work Marc, no nits here!

A very pretty scene. Filled with emotion like a top rate Adamus shot-no, but nice just the same.

If I took this I'd be incredibly happy but, then again, I'm not Marc Adamus with a standard bar set at about 14,411 feet!

It would be better if:
a. The tarn was full - people don't like mud (surprised no one else mentioned this)
b. There were a few clouds above reflecting the sunset/late day sun (you always seem to get these and I either get too few or too many - a factor of time spent in the wilds I'm sure but still ... geez)
c. There were more flowers in the foreground.

Maybe next year ... two cents from the new guy.

Marc, whenever I see your images, I wonder why the heck I'm still shooting film. Typically, I prefer the look of Velvia over digital. It's just a personal bias, which, rightfully, few people care about. That said, your photographs take on all the clarity of digital without any of the tell-tale signs. I guess what I'm saying is that your images look kind of like they were shot on big pieces of transparency, which I like. This is all meant to be a big compliment, by the way, in case I'm rambling.

Marc, whenever I see your images, I wonder why the heck I'm still shooting film.

When I see Marc's images, I wonder why I still own a camera!

Ha! Well, photograpy is a life's work. Our great shots are fewer and farther between than those of the prolific among us. It's always been the case with art. Still, each of us (I'm assuming) derives a great deal of satisfaction from making a "great" photograph. If I could make one or two "great" photographs a year, I'd be pretty happy at the end of a decade.

Hi Marc,

This is Derek visiting from the RMNP forum. I really enjoy your work and have wondered what type of workflow you use. Several folks on our forum commented on the 'clarity' of your images.

This clarity appears to boil down to two main elements:
1. Beautiful locations - the 'f8 and be there' rule. You definately spend more time in the field than most mortals.
2. Post processing work in the Digital Darkroom - You do a very good job of bringing out color, contrast, saturation, sharpness and overall 'Pop' from your RAW images.

The assumptions here are correct exposure, great composition and quality equipment (eg - 5D + L glass or equivelant) - none of which are easily achieved BTW.

My question is have you written any articles on your digital workflow? It seems to be very effective.

Thanks for any tips on the process (without giving away any trade secrets of course).

- Derek

Wow - what a tough crowd!

I like it a lot, Marc. It works great as a centered composition (you picked a very natural spot to crop the trees on the right), and though I'm surprised nobody has pointed this out, the pond is an inverted outline of the mountain... with a reflection in it. That works really well for me - and I like the serenity of it. Not every image has to be high drama! This is a nice match for those beautiful rainforest "layers" you shot up in the Olympics last Spring. Definitely put this one in the coffee table book..!

Tom

Well, I guess if subpar translates to the best spray park image I've seen, consider yourself pretty damn good.

This photo does not have the dense wildflowers or a tumultuous sky as some of your better images do, but the intensity and contrast here are strong enough to still make it a stunner. As said above, the colors are so saturated as to almost look primary, yet still look natural. Because of this, it is sure to have broad appeal. I can understand what you mean by calling this subpar (relative to your other work) but don't really agree with the assessment.

It's awesome when the lighting is just right and the vegetation actually starts to flouresce like shown here...

Marc,
Not your best but still a pleasing image to look at.