Note: Edited and replaced image for exposure balance 8/19.
Been to this particular meadow many times over the years. Always has a great panoply of wildflowers in season but the skies are usually blank and featureless or else it's totally socked in at sunset and sunrise. (And of course Mother Nature likes to give with one hand and throw hundreds of ravenous mountain mosquitoes at you with the other.)
This time I had been hanging out for a couple days waiting for the weather to break and it was my second sunset attempt. To top it off, there was another guy right where I wanted to be. I negotiated for a position but ended up leaving for Plan B as the clouds still covered the mountain an hour before sunset.
I hung out shooting in the other direction 10 minutes down the trail, and here comes the other guy also bailing out and headed down. Sure enough, another ten minutes after that the clouds started to roll back and the light starts to get nice.
I hoofed it quickly back to the meadow and set up just in time to catch the peak of the light, which really didn't last for but a few minutes. I'm not real happy with my rushed composition and the sky forced me to go a lot wider than I had intended, but it is what it is and I was happy to finally catch a great sunset here, and in the therapeutic solitude I enjoy. Now that the wildflowers are well past their prime here, I'll have to wait for next year to try again.
Shot at about 20mm, used my "old skool" 3-stop hard graduated filter.
I'll bet you're happier than the other guy. You should be pleased with it. You seemed to avoid naming the location, why? I was there 7/23 until 7/29 and thought Chinook Pass was the best place I found.
stanparker wrote:
I'll bet you're happier than the other guy. You should be pleased with it. You seemed to avoid naming the location, why? I was there 7/23 until 7/29 and thought Chinook Pass was the best place I found.
Didn't think it was necessary. The general area is very well known and well photographed. Besides, someone always does it for me.
Geoffrey, I like your composition, wild flowers are difficult and you did a fine job here. Beautiful array of flowers and a very nice light show. Add one to the excellent capture column ! Regards,
Dean
Nice bowl full of colorful flowers here Colors look wonderful on them. Comp from a little lower angle as it looks makes for a nice look over the flowers straight on back to the distant mountains.
Very nice. I supposed there "might" have been a better comp... but this one looks pretty good to me.
You should be very happy with this. Besides, you showed the patience to wait for the possibility of good light.
Unless there is some real danger or the wife is going to be real mad if I'm late, I ALWAYS stay til the show is over.
Great shot. The only thing I would add is a bit more detail in the trees on the left. They just seem a tad to dark compared to the other side of the frame. I would have been jumping up and down from excitement with light like that on my trip...probably would have missed the shot too because of it
It's a very nice shot. The only thing that I could critique is I am curious what a shot from a bit higher would do for the pond. Right now it's kind of a little sliver and I wonder if I might like it better if the camera was up a couple of feet higher.
