This morning I had three compositions figured out in Rocky but then the weather went and did something different than I planned so I once again found myself out at Sprague Lake for sunrise as that seemed like where I would get the best view of this morning's lighting conditions. Being a Saturday morning there were quite a few other photographers out there already so I didn't have many compositional options to choose from by the time I got there. Anyway, here are a couple from this morning. As always, I benefit from your honest input.
#3 This one feels a bit static to me with the central placement of the land, but my wife thinks this is the best from this morning so I'll post it here despite my misgivings. This one too has been de-saturated quite a bit (-9 satuation -4 vibrance).
Posted by Bill Brennan on June 18, 2011 at 1:23 PM
Erik, a very nice series. #2 gets vote. Consider a crop of the sky to strengthen #3.
I especially like # 3 but maybe with some sky cropped as Bill suggested. Killer color!
Sorry I didn't get a chance to drop in your gallery last weekend, but the wedding and its activities took up too much time. Guess where the happy couple got married? Yup, Sprague Lake. Definitely a beautiful spot for 2 young people to start a life together.
Posted by Kurt Bowman on June 18, 2011 at 11:00 PM
I really like the whole set Erik and it is hard to choose. I think 1 is my favorite with 2 right behind it.
Posted by Russ Shugart on June 18, 2011 at 11:25 PM
Number 2 gets my vote as well but all three are beautiful. You've really captured some amazing sunrises over the years. At the risk of total pomposity, (I don't know the etiquette here yet so my apologies in advance for editing and reposting someone's else's work, if it's over the line please let me know) what I might do to number 2. Use the graduated filter in camera raw, with blue selected, applied to both top and bottom.
Russ, I don't think it's a big deal among friends, but you're gonna need to do a better job of re-doing it next time. The color just died here, almost like it's got some funky color profile attached.
Erik, these are all great, and I agree that lopping off a bunch from the top of #3 would improve it, although I don't think Jo's off base too far. I love how the distant mountainside forest is being lit in the first one.
# 3 is my fav as well, probably due to the inclusion of the foreground grasses; I might be tempted to lightly dodge the bottom to bring a little more attention to them. I agree with the crop suggestions; just enough to eliminate the clear portions of sky.
Russ - not sure how the redo looks on your monitor, but on mine it looks like something went very wrong. Way too dark.
Posted by Rod Chandler on June 20, 2011 at 12:47 PM
Beautiful Erik. Desaturated? Yikes! If only I could have been there. Thanks for sharing. Don't change a thing.
2 & 3 are awesome, Erik!! Id crop the blue top from #3, then it would beat #2 slightly...
Posted by Doug Koepsel on June 22, 2011 at 9:18 PM
What a fiery beginning to a day. Wonder if #3 with the grass would look like in a horizontal, as opposed to vertical, frame. I like the inclusion of the grass along the bottom edge.
Discussion
16 repliesI've actually de-saturated this image quite a bit but on here it looks a bit over-the-top. Perhaps it needs to be brought down even more.
Bill Brennan
Oh, and dropped into your gallery and from what I saw you recently got some killer Sprague shots, so not sure why you even bothered returning.
Very well done.
Sorry I didn't get a chance to drop in your gallery last weekend, but the wedding and its activities took up too much time. Guess where the happy couple got married? Yup, Sprague Lake. Definitely a beautiful spot for 2 young people to start a life together.
Russ
www.AlpineGalleria.com
Erik, these are all great, and I agree that lopping off a bunch from the top of #3 would improve it, although I don't think Jo's off base too far. I love how the distant mountainside forest is being lit in the first one.
Russ - not sure how the redo looks on your monitor, but on mine it looks like something went very wrong. Way too dark.
I also like #3 the best for the inclusion of the grasses and mo' cloud.