Mt. Toll Sunrise

Mt. Toll & Blue Lake, Indian Peaks Wilderness

This one's got some weird angles goin' on (just like my last image post ). The far shoreline of Blue Lake is receding into the distance. The outlet stream in the foreground is curving towards the camera. And, if you've never been there, Mt. Toll is kinda tilted in real-life. I tried to make the best of the crop/tilt because I like the light (quite interesting this morning) on the peak and in the water.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

It was extremely windy this morning - easily 20-30 mph and gusty - zippo on clear reflections. But otherwise, it was a beautiful morning with some nice clouds (not shown here). And better yet, I had the place all to myself.

Canon 30D, Tokina 12-24mm @ 15mm, combined 2 & 3-stop GNDs, 1/2 sec. @ f/22, left hand holding onto hat...

This is really sweet, Scott! Beautiful light and great colors. For me personally, I'll take the mottled colors in the water over a perfect reflection any day. The 1/2" exposure creates some nice movement in the stream, which is a bonus. Nice grad work, too.

My only nit is the "sloping" lake; it's in that range where it's not severe enough that the mind immediately recognizes it as a receding shoreline, but it's too severe to ignore. In this case, I would have shot it with the camera tilted to make it appear level - I leveled it in Picasa and Toll and the stream still look good - or shot it both ways and waited until I got it on the PC to choose. I have trouble getting a good sense of these things on the LCD.

The tilted lakeshore is a little bit of a distraction but when the rest of the image is as strong as this it's easy to overlook. I really wouldn't worry too much about it. Killer photo with some killer light!

Scott, so that was you that I saw just below the waterfall this morning as I was leaving the lake? I'm thinking about going back up there tomorrow morning and maybe stopping at the last couple of lakes before the final climb up to Blue Lake.

I can second that it was incredibly windy up there this morning. The forecast had called for winds in the range of 11-15 mph, but they were definitely gusting much higher than that. I'm curious to see how some of the longer exposures I took on Velvia turn out from the rocky shoreline area. I thought the clouds behind Toll were going to stick around, but they ended up burning off just before the light hit.

I reached the shoreline at 5:50 AM. Were you up there already?

Aside from the roll of Velvia I shot, I only fired the shutter a few times with my crappy Fuji digital that only goes to 33mm on the wide end...definitely not enough DOF for that cirque. But, this is an example on the light:

Light on Toll

You know, so many elements in this make me think it should look tilted, but somehow it doesn't. I think the mountain stabilizes everything. I'd maybe lighten up the grass a bit, and that's about it. It's a really nice shot.

Thanks for the comments, so far. Rick, I've spent about an hour tilting this one back and forth, trying to determine what looks best.

Josh wrote:
I reached the shoreline at 5:50 AM. Were you up there already?

Ha! So much for my self-deluded sense of having the place to myself! I got up there just after 5:30am - too early really. I sat around for a while watching the sky lighten. I, too, was hoping for those clouds to stick around. They did turn nice over Mt. Audubon though. Ya, I was working the waterfall after the sun got higher. But I didn't really get much worth keeping. The light turned harsh pretty quick. I agree the lower lakes would be worth exploring. And there is a nicer waterfall down a little lower from where you saw me. Have fun if you go agian tomorrow.

I'm usually pretty aware of my surroundings, but I didn't see you at all...

Here's a quick process of those morning clouds over Mt. Audubon (the actual summit is hidden from view).

It doesn't feel too tilted to me. I like the light and the feel of the stream water. Nice shot.

I like the clouds in the second shot but the foreground and peak aren't doing much for me. Looks like a nice sunrise. Having clouds can be a rarity.

The Indian Peaks were popular today. I was at Brainard for sunrise and I headed up to Lake Isabelle right after. I saw those clouds too, but they were moving really fast out of my frame during sunrise. There were a lot of clouds making interesting shadows over the peaks above Isabelle later in the morning though. I hear you about the wind, it was incredibly blistering. I love the glow on the outlet (who needs a reflection when you got this?) Although I agree with Rick that the image could be tilted for the shoreline of the lake. Nice shot!

The reflection of Toll in the outlet stream is a gorgeous touch that brings the elements together. The various tilts tend to cancel each other out, I would think this version would work as well as a tilt to the right.

I really like the light and the comp in the first image.

Very nice photo. I would darken and warm up the top portion, but everything else is fine.

Sweet images, Scott! Yes, the tilted (receding) shoreline is a bit distracting.....but, I didnt really notice it until I read your post. So next time don't say anything

You certainly made the best of your morning! Beautiful. Love the reflection in the outlet stream. I swear it's titled 1 degree, but nothing like the shoreline suggests. If it were mine, I'd tilt a couple degrees CW, just to offset the effect of the angles.