Posted by Phillip Noll on October 22, 2011 at 10:20 PM
I couldn't stand it anymore! I had to get out of the house and find a yellow aspen grove to sit under and restore my soul! I drove up to a little place called Camp May above Los Alamos and next to the Pajarito Ski Area. This area had been hit hard by the Las Conchas fire back in June and many of the beautiful aspen groves up there were toast. New aspen that sprouted right after the fire is already 2 ft. high! A few remnants survived the fire and I found just enough to lift my spirits! Thought I would share it with you all.
Posted by Jeremy Week on October 22, 2011 at 11:28 PM
Wonderful light Phillip! Great comp too, really makes me think of Fall.
Posted by Rohn B. McKee on October 22, 2011 at 11:31 PM
Beautiful, Phil, love how you handled the light here, and the sunstar is perfect. I haven't been over your way since the fire, but it's nice to hear at least a few patches made it through. And maybe in a decade or two the entire east slope of the Jemez will be covered in aspens.
Posted by John Mumaw on October 23, 2011 at 11:29 AM
Superb composition and light!
Aside from that, what I really like is how the sunstar complements the 4 tree shadows directly below it. That is a masterful stroke of serendipity!
And please tell me you didn't plan it that way!
My only suggestion would be to clone out the distracting sunlit portion of the rock in the lower left corner.
Posted by Russ Shugart on October 23, 2011 at 11:46 AM
WOW! You really nailed this, it's beautiful. The only possible improvement I could see is what John pointed out otherwise it's gorgeous. If you ever hold a "sun star" clinic, sign me up. And if you ever can't stand it, and have to get out of the house and find a winning lotto ticket sign me up for that also cause you sure brought home a winner!
Posted by Kane Engelbert on October 23, 2011 at 12:57 PM
Certainly an uplifting scene. Great color and excellent dynamic range.
Posted by Phillip Noll on October 23, 2011 at 1:09 PM
Thanks for the comments! What really drew me in were the shadows along the grass coming right towards me. Then looking up through the trees I thought a sunstar would really spice things up a bit. I took numerous shots both portrait and landscape. Haven't had a chance to work those up yet but will post them when I do. I was working on my sunstar technique so I have lots of sunstar images from yesterday!
Posted by Dan Walters on October 23, 2011 at 4:48 PM
Beautiful color!
Posted by Stan Rose on October 27, 2011 at 9:00 PM
Nice, Phillip! Great comp/light/clarity. I think i would have preferred it w/o the sunstar--it just feels a bit too intense/perfect to me, but not a deal breaker by any means.
Discussion
9 repliesAside from that, what I really like is how the sunstar complements the 4 tree shadows directly below it. That is a masterful stroke of serendipity!
And please tell me you didn't plan it that way!
My only suggestion would be to clone out the distracting sunlit portion of the rock in the lower left corner.
Russ
www.AlpineGalleria.com