Ice Lake basin sunrise

First of all, I want to thank Jesse Speer for posting his trip report on Ice Lake basin.

The weather was very fall-like last weekend (cold and wet), but Sunday morning I had some good light to work with, so I got up for sunrise and found a couple of nice spots.

I really really enjoyed this place. The lakes, mountains, and flowers create a fantastic place to photograph! I hope my photos convey some of that.

http://www.wildwestgallery.com/NPN/SanJuans03.htm
http://www.wildwestgallery.com/NPN/SanJuans04.htm

SanJuans04 is fantastic Momo. Love the drops of water on the flowers. I think you could crop SanJuans03 into a nice panoramic. Too much sky and water at top and bottom for my tastes.

SanJuans04 is my favorite too. Great color and nice comp. Congrats.
I wish I'd managed to pull myself out of bed for sunrise up there. It is a great location!

I like 04 too. Nice color indeed. A few weeks ago I headed up there from the trailhead at about 4:45 in the morning hoping I could at least make it to the lower basin by sunrise. I started hiking too late and didn't make it. When the sunrise broke I was still under treeline and unable to get any good views of anything. I was beating myself up for sure because there were some nice clouds overhead and it looked like it would have been an incredible shot in the direction of the top lakes. Next time I am going to camp higher up for sure.

Really nice, Momo. I love the interplay of cloud shadows on the peaks in both photos. I do detect a slight reddish color cast to both (the sky looks like a slightly muddy blue, for instance, and that seems to carry through to the rest of the image), but that might just be me.

Thanks everyone for the comments.

Todd, we must have our monitors calibrated differently, but I bet it's mine that's not calibrated properly. Ever since I switched to an LCD monitor a couple of months ago, I have suspected that the colors are off slightly. I miss my CRT which had a built-in sRGB preset.

Excellent balance Momo!

Beautiful shots on both images! Really love the rich light and warm colors. You have some outstanding images!

Sweet shots Momo! I was actually hiking up on Sunday mid morning, so I bet we passed each other on the trail someplace. I like 4 the best as well, but 3 is nothing to sneeze at! I love that basin and the upper area was about peak I would say during last weekend. Good stuff.

I'd say that's a step or two above "good" light! Very nice work on both images.

Sweet sunrise!!

How early did you get up to make it there for sunrise?
One of these days I'm going to overnight in the lower basin - preferably NOT in the rain!

Both are outstanding shots, but the light in the second one is extraordinary! It looks like there's a giant diffuser. Excellent work!

Just a small thing on the second shot - I'd crop just a wink off the bottom to remove those two flower tips.

Thanks everyone for the comments.

Michael, we hiked out around 10AM on Sunday, so we must have passed each other somewhere. Your photo of Ice Lake basin is also nice, but your Moraine Lake sunrise is an amazing photograph. Wow!

Bill, we camped at Ice Lake, so I got up at 5:45 and walked around for awhile (took some pre-sunrise shots for fun). I think the Sun rose around 6:20, but I am not sure.

I like both, the light/shadows effect on the distant peaks makes both shots.

I agree--great stuff!

Hey Momo,
"Good light" is an understatement... it looks great! I like how the tips of some of the peaks are in shadow. Both shots are nice but I like the second one the most because there's (lots) more foreground interest. Awesome.