This was shot at sunrise at a favorite location of mine in Arizona when the sky blew up absurdly on the right. It was so intense that I took my eyes off my composition to turn and look away for a mesmerizing moment. Then when I looked back I could not believe the intensity of blood red hitting the butte in the background of my composition! I both bracketed heavily for dynamic range (insurance) and did a 10 shot focus stack (Canon 11-24@11mm).
The finished result is quite close to what I witnessed but in post processing it was NOT easy to get everything just right. Separately the 10 image focus stack, then the land temperature and tonality, then the exact Red blasting the Butte, and then the sky all had to be separately processed and carefully masked into the scene (in Raw and Photoshop). Many techniques were employed here to overcome the severe limitations of the single shot. If you would like to see how this was processed from Raw to completion, just look me up...
Sony A7R2
Canon 11-24@11mm
f/8
200 ISO
Varying shutter speeds
10 image focus stack
All the best and Great Light to you!
I hope everyone is enjoying photographing Fall, and even more importantly experiencing the beauty out there!
Good effort pays off. This is a very solid image and I can see wonderful sharp detail in the cracks at my feet and in the distant cliffs. Nice job Mark!
beautiful image Mark, looks a lot crisper here than on 500px.....i've caught reds like that in Zion and i know how hard they are to get right and you nailed them here
That's really nice. I might've been tempted to shoot that crazy sunset sky, but I'm glad you stuck with your original comp. The mix of warm and cool tones here along with that austere sky is just superb.
First of all thank you everyone for taking the time to give your comments here. Sorry I am so hit and miss (seems to be the case a lot) not only am I moving into another house at the very moment, but I fly to Oregon for my Fall Workshops tomorrow/Monday and will be gone, on the road, 3 weeks, then back to Florida. I <b>LOVE</b> my job but it is a crazy lifestyle for sure! I feel like I am always running!
I hope everyone is enjoying their Fall shooting immensely...
Lynn Ross wrote:
Mark you sure have a lust for moody photo's, this is nice.
Lynn
Yes, I do. Doing this as a profession for over a decade now I know that some of the more subtle stuff just does not get the attention as the dramatic (even though I love it) so we are sort of forced to always be trying to shoot heroic moments of light. I love them when they come, but I love subtle work just as much honestly.
As per my Video Tutorial on this image, it was a bit of a challenge to get to look correct. Sometimes our cameras completely fail us in representing the powerful wonder we get to see/experience and we need special skills to get that back. Such was the case here big time.
gordon l wrote:
Good effort pays off. This is a very solid image and I can see wonderful sharp detail in the cracks at my feet and in the distant cliffs. Nice job Mark!
Thank you Gordon! Focus stacking + great lens + freakish moment of light = gratitude.
erielake wrote:
beautiful image Mark, looks a lot crisper here than on 500px.....i've caught reds like that in Zion and i know how hard they are to get right and you nailed them here
Thank you very much! It took a tweak or two as my "Complete Workflow From A to Z" discloses.
