We were blessed with an amazing, cloud-free view of McKinley from our Bed and Breakfast in Alaska. Apparently it had been raining for weeks before we arrived. We were told that even on the clearest days that McKinley would often be covered by clouds. Needless to say, this is but one of many photos of the mountain that day. This trip to Alaska yielded so many great photos that it was quite hard to settle on this one. Unfortunately, the dock was built with a strange tilt which makes this photo look a little off. But I just loved the plants growing out of the water and the morning mist on the far end of the lake. And I might add, this VR lens is amazing!
This is a 5 exposure HDR shot at 6am, combined in Photoshop and tone-mapped with the Photomatix plugin. Minor cloning to remove dust. Bumped up the color with vibrance and saturation layers.
Statistics
Place: 216 out of 414 Avg (all users): 5.5224 Avg (commenters): 5.6667 Avg (participants): 5.5192 Avg (non-participants): 5.5333 Views since voting: 856 Views during voting: 219 Votes: 134 Comments: 6 Favorites: 1 (view)
bspurgeon, thanks for the great feedback. I have to confess that I'm still prone to shooting rapidly and without too much planning. This photo was one of numerous in a span of 5 minutes where I was trying to do panoramas and different angles, etc. The downside is that I could have framed the photo better and spent the time to adjust the camera for a good exposure in the ways you have commented. With the HDR, this is still very much an experiment. I had problems with the mountain having very strange, blown out looking highlights with the tone mapping and after your comment I can see that the sunny side is a bit overdone. I just loved the colors so much and wanted it to burst. Thanks again for the detailed comments. You can find that B&B here: North Country B&B, Trapper Creek, AK
Beautiful scene, certainly deserving of a higher score. I think the blown out sky, and the reflection, near the setting sun could be improved, particularly since you have 5 exposures to work with. Also, it appears you shot wide open for all five exposures, correct? I don't see any misalignment, so I'm guessing you used a tripod or something stationary, although I am surprised by the aperture of f/3.5 F/11-16 would have allowed for much greater depth of field, and possibly a cleaner sky and reflection. The DOF is also apparent with the dock, as the focal point appears to be about two-thirds down the dock, and at f/3.5 much of the dock is soft, as well as the distant trees.
With that said (I do like the photograph, that's why I'm commenting, etc!)you really captured the peace and serenity of the scene, I hope you get to go back! By the way, would you mind posting a link to the Bed and Breakfast, looks great!
Add photograph to your favorites
Add photographer to your favorites
Photographer found comment helpful.