Like the Sky Breathing on a Mirror

coscorrosa

Apologies to Joanna Newsom for bastardizing her wonderful lyrics, but they seemed appropriate.



This is the first shot with my new 24mm tilt-shift lens (three horizontal shots stitched together). I bought the lens mostly for increased DOF at low apertures, and also for perspective correction, but I might end up using it more for panoramas.

Now the story:

I slept in about 20 minutes longer than I intended to this morning (Saturday), and so had to change my plans on where to shoot at dawn, I decided for Lake Borst in Snoqualmie as I hadn't shot sunrise there in awhile. I arrived, and the light was crap, the clouds were too thick, and most of Mt. Si was obstructed (the cool part though: there were about a dozen bats flying around like swallows on crack).

When I got back home, I checked my e-mail and one of my photographer buddies who lives 10 minutes from Lake Borst let me know there was an awesome sunset the day before (Friday), but he had got there after the light had peaked.

He called me on Saturday, this time about 25 minutes before peak, and said it looked like there would be a repeat performance. I hestiated a bit as I had already been there in the morning and was disappointed. But I decided I might as well check it out, so I sped away, hoping for a good sunset opportunity but thinking that a speeding ticket was more likely, luckily I was wrong (on both counts). The light was awesome.

And... I know the trees on the right are black and in shadow, but that's how they were. I could have taken multiple exposures, masked it out, and etc. but if I'm going to spend 5 hours "correcting" a photo I might as well be a painter and save the equipment costs

eoren1

Great shot Ron! That is an incredible sunset and well worth the effort. The T/S is definitely proving itself to be the versatile lens in your hands.
The light has a 'pastel' color/quality to it (hint, hint - check out the newest Dgrin challenge theme).
Only nitpick is the dirt on the water near the edge of the bottom of the frame.
E

Cameron

It certainly paid off to go back! The lighting is fabulous. I'm not bothered by the lack of shadow detail in the trees - it's not detail that would add anything to the photo. I also love the stillness of the water - great shot.
It's nice to see shots like this that didn't require 5 hours of post-processing to "correct" - it's all about the light.
I don't think I'll get a view like that in Kansas at the moment, so I'll just stare at your photo for a bit longer.

Darren Troy C

Absolutely superb vista! Wonderful image indeed!

DaddyO

Pretty awesome. Well done.

Nikolai

Beautiful image, well done!

coscorrosa

Thanks to everyone for their comments!

Here's the standard non-pano version (taken with a 24-105, not the 24 t/s):



And for reference, this is what it looked like at dawn 15 hours before:



After the light went away, I traveled a great distance (5 minutes) and took a few shots of Snoqualmie Falls:

Elaine

Stunning! And your shots of the falls are as well!

Llywellyn

These are all just stunning. Beautiful work.

schmoo

Ron, you live my dream life. Why is it that every time I see a new post of yours I am reminded of the great workshops and shootouts that I had been on?

I love these shots and I think it's just fine that the trees are silhouettes. It looks natural that way - I wouldn't have squinted in the morning light to find detail.

Snoqualmie looks gorgeous in the morning, too.

eoren1

Wow Ron. That first waterfall photo is incredible. Perfect light, shutter speed and composition. I just added that part of Washington to my 'must see' list.
E

coscorrosa

Elaine wrote:

Stunning! And your shots of the falls are as well!

Thanks! The timing works out pretty well, once the peak light for for Lake Borst at sunset concludes, the falls are still good for another 25 minutes or so.

coscorrosa

schmoo wrote:

Ron, you live my dream life. Why is it that every time I see a new post of yours I am reminded of the great workshops and shootouts that I had been on?

I love these shots and I think it's just fine that the trees are silhouettes. It looks natural that way - I wouldn't have squinted in the morning light to find detail.

Snoqualmie looks gorgeous in the morning, too.

Thanks schmoo. If your dream life involves constant frustration because you can't shoot as often as you would like due to other commitments (read: day job) then, yes, I may be living your dream life I'm just fortunate I live in a place where I can still get to some great spots on weekends and evenings, unfortunately, all that does is leave me wanting more.

Let me know when the next (first?) shootout/workshop in the Pacific Northwest is and I'd be more than willing to go along, I still don't know this place as well as I should (I've only lived here my entire life, though I've only been taking photos for three years or so, so I should be forgiven, at least a little).

coscorrosa

eoren1 wrote:

Wow Ron. That first waterfall photo is incredible. Perfect light, shutter speed and composition. I just added that part of Washington to my 'must see' list.
E

My 'must see' list is so long that I decided to keep a "must not see' list instead as that way I won't have to write as much down

That first shot is from the main viewing platform, the second is from a little path about 500 feet further away from the falls. The last time I was there the falls were flowing so violently that any attempt to shoot from the main platform would require about a two-minute lens drying off session (and result in a less than ideal photo).

If you do make it there I would suggest to go during off-peak hours as it's always packed with tourists (local and foreign). The good news is off-peak hours for most people equate to peak hours for photographers.

dlplumer

Absolutely gorgeous Ron; and a good story too.

Tango

eoren1 wrote:

The light has a 'pastel' color/quality to it (hint, hint - check out the newest Dgrin challenge theme).E

Ron dont listen to this guy...its just crazy talk....you saw nothing...noothhhhing....:D

Tango

btw, on the shots

Vycor

Yes its a bit dark like you said, but again like you said, your a photographer not a painter... this is an amazing shot its just so relaxing to look at. Good job, excellent photo.

coscorrosa

AaronNelson wrote:

Ron dont listen to this guy...its just crazy talk....you saw nothing...noothhhhing....:D

Don't worry, I'll leave the contest in your capable hands Aaron, do us landscapers proud

Tango

coscorrosa wrote:

Don't worry, I'll leave the contest in your capable hands Aaron, do us landscapers proud

i dont use landscape shots as often as i would like...
when i do, i hope not to embarrass the landscapers....

Awais Yaqub

woohoo beautiful photos !

cj99si

Wow dude! These are awesome! love the first pano as well as the falls shot! great area! How do you like the T/S I have been thinking about getting one.

Rhuarc

Wow! any chance of getting a google map with the location of the first pano pinpointed on it? I love that location you shot from!! I live north of Seattle in the northgate area and would love to make it out there for some shooting!

coscorrosa

cj99si wrote:

Wow dude! These are awesome! love the first pano as well as the falls shot! great area! How do you like the T/S I have been thinking about getting one.

Thanks! I've only had the 24 T/S for a few weeks, but it works as advertised. I haven't noticed any issues with the quality (but I'm not terribly picky). For panos it works really really well, unfortunately, since it's a prime, you're pretty much stuck (the longer focal lengths would often work better). For perspective correction it's really easy to use, the tricky part is tilting the plane of focus and gauging how that affects the DOF, here's an article about it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scheimpflug_principle

I'm still deciphering it

coscorrosa

Rhuarc wrote:

Wow! any chance of getting a google map with the location of the first pano pinpointed on it? I love that location you shot from!! I live north of Seattle in the northgate area and would love to make it out there for some shooting!

Here you go (Lake Borst):

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=lake+borst,+snoqualmie,+wa&sll=47.52702,-121.82474&sspn=0.076039,0.150375&ie=UTF8&layer=x&ll=47.535515,-121.811514&spn=0.038013,0.075188&z=14

It's on SE Mill Pond road, the mountain in the reflection (east of the lake) is Mt. Si.

Rhuarc

coscorrosa wrote:

Here you go (Lake Borst):

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=lake+borst,+snoqualmie,+wa&sll=47.52702,-121.82474&sspn=0.076039,0.150375&ie=UTF8&layer=x&ll=47.535515,-121.811514&spn=0.038013,0.075188&z=14

It's on SE Mill Pond road, the mountain in the reflection (east of the lake) is Mt. Si.

Great, thanks! I've started a My Maps at google maps with photography spots in the area, places that I want to go check out at some point!

Marc Muench

Ron,

Great image

Regarding the dark section, what happens usually to black areas is the outline becomes a first read. Therefore, if the shape created by that black negative space is pleasing then voila' success which is what I think is happening in your image. Once again beautiful image

coscorrosa

Marc Muench wrote:

Ron,

Great image

Regarding the dark section, what happens usually to black areas is the outline becomes a first read. Therefore, if the shape created by that black negative space is pleasing then voila' success which is what I think is happening in your image. Once again beautiful image

Thanks Marc, for the explanation and the comment, it's encouraging hearing positive feedback from people whose work I respect

BeemerChef

Great great shots!!!
Nothing bothers me!!! Ha!... It was "reality" when you took the shots... right? So it is reality now... as they say "Don't mess with Mother Nature"... stick with Photography... :photo not manipulation... :hide

Be well.... Ara & Spirit