Great Basin Country

The Great Basin is defined as the areas of Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Arizona and Colorado within which no river or stream reaches the sea. A mostly arid land containing range after range of high peaks and narrow Sage Brush valleys. I've always found the open ruggedness of this country to be extremely inviting. I've always been lured to explore the high country of the Great Basin for its remarkable contrasts, its sprawling views and its solitude. Few areas are protected as wilderness but almost all the high ranges have a very pristine feel. They are seldom visited and much less photographed. This is the american West I love most. Not the national parks, monuments, canyonlands, etc. But the Great Basin. I've been attracted to this place all my life and I can't think of any Fall or Winter in which I haven't made a trip to spend time with it. In fact, I'm making a backpacking trip through Oregon's Hart Mountain in a few weeks and planning my annual January ascent of the Steens range. Usually my highlight of the Winter season.

I captured this image at about 8500 feet in the Toiyabe Range, in Central Nevada. You probably wouldn't guess it was only about 5 degrees at the time, but the crisp mornings are another thing I love about this place. I ventured outside the tent to catch the moon setting and the skies glowing over this beautiful stand of Aspens. I enjoy the image because it really captures the look and feel of the Great Basin lands.

Thanks for comment/critique. 5D, 16-35 II at 16mm, 2-stop GND, 2 seconds at f13.

Marc,

Thanks for posting. I really enjoy your work and this is another excellent image. I especially like the wonderful detail in the foreground darkness. You have a gift for this time of day, the exposure could not be better.

Was the vignette in the sky is really supportive of the image. Was that natural, added in post?

On a side note, my staff does a puzzle every year in December. When it arrived I immediately recognized it as one of your images.

Hi Ed. Thanks for checking out one of my Masterpieces puzzles.
The vignette was caused by two things: The natural light fall off with the wide angle lens encompassing a lot of sky and also by the grad filter. Personally, I like it. I always get mixed reviews on vignettes though. Thanks.

Marc, that is an awesome image! You really have a way of catching the light..I like how it just begins to highlight the foreground. I have a question...with a 5D, how large can you make an image like this and still maintain sharpness and clarity?

Depends how you would define sharpness and clarity. Based on the standard for High Resolution Images - 300dpi, the 5D supplies files at native resolution of optimal sharpness up to 14.5 inches on the long side. For every size larger than this there may be some discernable loss of detail. In other words, at this size, you probabaly couldn't tell the difference between a 5D print and large format image if processed correctly. But this is not a perfect system for determining maximum detail - it's quite an inexact science. I believe I could supply a 20x30 inch print of this image that most viewers would determine to have excellent detail. I'd have no problem putting one up at a gallery to be scrutinized. Last week, I did some 40x60 inch prints for a medical center. The details weren't perfect, but they weren't supposed to be viewed very closely either.

Wonder captured essence of the area, Marc. Another signature image.

While I love this type of country as it brings back great memories of my upland bird hunting days this image doesn't have the WOW factor for me that most of yours do. Perhaps it's just my monitor but I find that everything but the sky is too dark....I realize that this time of day doesn't impart much light on the land but I'm having too much trouble picking out that fine detail in the foliage that would hold my interest.

Hi Marc, great shot!

Hey, can you just set up a tent anywhere out there? Do you ever get hassled? How do you decide on a campsite? Just curious, thanks!

Mark, the darkness is very intentional. Bringing up the exposure levels on the foliage greatly reduced its impact for me. I don't want a lot of detail. Just a few highlights. It helps simplify things a lot. It's a mess of detail down there with more exposure. I used the darkness up top as it would be appropriate to the time of day, to give a twilight feel to the shot. I now feel the very top may be a hair too dark though.

Edward - it's BLM land, so you can camp anywhere you want. I prefer aspen stands, personally. I try to find locations that have been used before to reduce my impact, which is extremely easy to do, as ranchers and hunters often develop sites near the 4x4 roads. When backpacking I just find some grassy areas or flat rocks to pitch the tent on. I've spent several hundred nights of my life camping in BLM natural lands and have never been hassled once.

Marc, I personally like everything about this image. Before I even read your temp info I felt like it was a cold winter sunrise, not 5 degrees, but cold. The darker FG is good for this piece, just enough detail to see the frigid foliage. The sky could go either way, yet the vignetting does not bother me either. Nothing to really nit on here!

I love this - the mood is prefect and I agree with not bringing up the FG or the image gets a lot busier than it needs to be to really sing. One clarification, are you saying that no post Vignetting process was applied to this image ? This is all in camera even at f/13? I only have a 20D so I don't use the edges of the lens so I don't see this.

We all have to speak from personal experience and preference, and I don't feel this image as much as I usually feel your images. I've come back and looked at it several times to try and figure out why. I really like the trees and the intriguing diagonal they form through the photo, and enjoy the color of the sky with the moon being a nice touch. I don't mind the overall darkness and vignetting, feeling that they add to the "mood" of the shot. The foreground, however, my eye sees as a brushy slope that leaves me wanting more. Part of my lack of interest may be that I don't have much personal experience with this area, so lack a shared connection with this vegetation.

Interestingly, to me at least, on the monitors at work I see slight haloing around the trees where they silhouette against the sky on the center and right. At home, on my calibrated monitor, it is much less noticeable.

Very cool shot Marc, especially with the extra touch of the moon. Great job of showing the beauty of a place rarely visited.

Thanks for the info Marc, I appreciate it!