Mark Metternich wrote:
Can be viewed on BLACK by clicking on it.
Having been to Glacier National Park nearly 20 times in 20 years (of which 13 of those years have been concentrating on photography) I knew in my gut that the light was setting itself up for an explosion of color. Pre-visualized, I ran up to this spot and just as I set up my gear, the light exploded! I literally took 485 images back to back over the course of 40 minutes. This is near the end of that sequence, the 402nd image.
Even now spending over 200 days a year in the field full time, it is not usual to know what is going to happen before it happens nor getting an image you know in your heart you are going to be happy with even before looking at the LCD. This is one of those few fortunate times.
Huge thanks to great photographer friends Peter Coskun, Ryan Engstrom, Ted Gore, Alex Noriega, Erin Babnik, Nick Diggins and Andrew Mitchel for great feedback before posting this.
If you so desire, feel free to Facebook me. I share a lot of miscellaneous information there.
THANK YOU for looking.
Great light to you!
Canon 5D Mark2
Canon 16-35L2@16
f/8
100ISO
0.3 shutter speed
Single shot...Show more →
The water came out perfect. Spot on. The green on the foliage is a bit overdone but should look good in print. Overall a really good shot. Its tough to get flowing water to look just right a lot of people use too low a shutter. Also it looks like you used a polarizer? The rocks under the water are showing nicely and add another layer of interest in the image.
A very gracious thank you to all. Sorry my replies are really hit and miss right now, I have been on the road almost completely since Mayish leading back to back workshops (by far the busiest season of my life) and then shooting here and there in between. It will be this way far into fall and even beyond with both Hawaii in mind and also an awesome Patagonia workshop in April. I really need a laptop soon to stay up on all this social media!!!
I will try to address a few comments or questions...
MrBurger wrote:
Doesn't get much better than this!
Interested to hear why you went with this shot, and was it much different to the other 400 or so images?
They were all very different as the clouds were just ripping by. Also earlier the light was not hitting the Mt. As well as the sort of color variation in the cloud here. There was a slight rosiness to the color I liked. But basically in Adobe Bridge I just did a basic exposure adjustment to them all and them thumbed through them using a rating system. This won the rating.
Sneakyracer wrote:
The water came out perfect. Spot on. The green on the foliage is a bit overdone but should look good in print. Overall a really good shot. Its tough to get flowing water to look just right a lot of people use too low a shutter. Also it looks like you used a polarizer? The rocks under the water are showing nicely and add another layer of interest in the image.
Thank you Sneakyracer. With over 400 shots and checking the LCD for feedback I found that I liked a 0.3 shutter speed for water the best. So f/8 did the trick. Since f/8 is close to the sweet spot (f5.6 the sharpest f/stop for the lens) it just so happened that I could get it all in one shot (and great detail as well). On my calibrated Dell Wide Gamut monitor (Dell U2413) on Chrome I'm not sure what you are considering overdone in the greens. As far as print, I have found matching web images for masterful prints mainly an exercise in futility. So when I go for an actual master quality Fuji Flex /Acrylic mount print, they never look like the web shots on screen. So I do them from scratch soft proofing them from raw to finish on a monitor that is specifically calibrated for print (not web). All this is coming out in my new Photoshop Video Tutorial about mastering printing and color management. Lastly, good eye, yes I used a polarizer on some of the shots, not on others. This one I had it on there.
Ylwstonegirl wrote:
Absolutely stunning, Mark. Makes me miss Glacier (I won't get to go this year because I'm going to southern Utah).
Kristine
Actually me too. I will miss Glacier this year for the first time in about 20 years. In a way I am bummed, but I am doing it to be leading tours in the SW which I am very excited for!!! So, it is a trade off. I hope you can get back soon!!!!
Danpbphoto wrote:
Mark, This is 1 hellova composition!!!! WOW!!!!! Clicking on it, however you did that, made it spectacular!!
This is a prize winner. Did you submit it to any publications? Outdoor Photog is having a contest. You should submit it..It is a winner!
Just excellant!! And yes I agree that your landscape work is truly amazing!!!!
Dan
Massive Thank You Dan! Thank you for the encouragement. I will submit it. I have a few this year to submit. I sat on far too many images (backlog) this last year that I will get done this year.
tjny wrote:
Stunning image, like a lot of your work Mark, that I have admired in past. I just came back from Glacier, my first visit ( inspired by your comments on GNP) and I read you have been there 20 times!
Talking about timing and luck, I met a fellow in Many Glacier Hotel's lobby who got a room there without prior reservation and shot a fine image from his balcony of some fantastic morning light with an i pad, while wind was howling at 100 miles an hour outside.
Thank you! If someone went to Glacier inspired by some of my comments, that means a lot to me!!! Yes, they have those winds! Once I heard Adamus shot in them so the next year I did as well. Some thought I was exaggerating, but we were getting like 70 MPH gusts. I shot with my Suburban parked right next to me on the bridge at Many G. It was rockin and rollin. But it kept it from hitting me. It can get crazy in Glacier once in a while. Have fun out there and be safe!
quickking wrote:
#1 on 500px. Great shot!
I am really happy about that! I think it is my first image to do that. I have hit #2 and #3 quite a few times but don't think (that I can recall) I have hit #1. It hung there for hours and made 99.8, my highest rating. Thank you for pointing that out.
roguecoolman wrote:
My jaw is still on the floor mark! Amazing amazing! Comp, light, water patterns, everything; it just all lined up for you.
I thought you switched over to the a7r? Was hoping to see some photos with the sony.
Voted!
Jason
Thank you Jason. I am shooting both Canon and Sony right now and tested out the D810 too. Love the D810!!! Might switch over. The A7R files are very nice. The cameras function-ability is frustrating. But I am shooting with it and sometimes like it. Tula Top and Ryan Dyar (both good friends of mine) are also using it and liking it so far. For a first generation camera, not too bad, but in need of a lot of improvements.
Nigel Turner wrote:
Very nice capture Mark and I like the natural looking PP.
Thanks very much Nigel. I know you have this thing about "natural."
Thanks for posting. Love all the detail front to back along with the colour.
Living on the prairies here in Manitoba Canada, we get some great sunsets, but to have the foreground, just adds the wow factor.
Thanks for posting the details of how you shot this.
Wonderful! I've stood on the summit of Mount Clements (here pictured) several times, the most interesting of which was right after a thunderstorm which interrupted my climb and forced me to drop down a few hundred feet before again climbing. It was a visual paradise, but did I have a camera? I did not. In any case, that was about 30 years ago ... Ha!
