A day (or so) at Mount Rainier

ksproul · August 22, 2010

My wife and I got back last night from a couple days hanging around Mount Rainier and Mount Saint Helens. We got to Mount Rainier on Thursday night just in time for sunset. We hopped around between Paradise, Sunrise, and Tipsoo Lake for the next 24 hours or so (along with some sleep at a motel in Packwood). The next day, we headed to Mount Saint Helens, but the weather didn't really cooperate, so I'm focusing on my Mount Rainier photos here.

Since this is my first image post here, I looked around but didn't see any guidelines for how many photos I'm supposed to post in a thread. Here are my top 8 of the 15 I finished processing. If you want to see more, just let me know!

Comments and criticism are appreciated!

01. Sunset at Reflection Lakes:

02. Just after sunrise at Reflection Lakes:

03. Edith Creek at Paradise:

04. Wildflowers at Paradise:

05. Midday at Sunrise:

06. Fawn at Paradise:

07. Sunset at Upper Tipsoo Lake:

08. Sunset at Upper Tipsoo Lake:

sgonen · August 22, 2010

Wow, everyone is taking shots of Mt. Rainier (It's even on the front cover of Outdoor Photographer). All these look so familiar and bring back memories (I was there couple of weeks ago) - these are really good!

bryanj87 · August 22, 2010

Welcome to dgrin! Great series of shots for your first post! I really like 5 and 8.

dlplumer · August 22, 2010

Excellent set. Love the fawn capture. Interesting comp at Edith Creek

ksproul · August 22, 2010

Thanks for the comments!

As for the composition at Edith Creek, I would've loved to have gotten right down near the water to shoot a shot like the one that was on the cover of Outdoor Photographer this month, but the last time I was there shooting, I saw people get yelled at and threatened with fines twice for being off the trail right there, and additionally, they had it roped off this time. So I got as low as I could and decided to incorporate some of the flowers on the left-hand bank of the creek. Looking at it now, I wish the waterfall was more prominent, but I'm not sure how I could've accomplished that.

I'll probably be back there again for more shooting either one evening this week or this weekend though, so I'll see what else I can do.

squirl033 · August 23, 2010

that last shot of sunset from Tipsoo Lake is wonderful... terrific colors, and the lake cooperated with a nice reflection. well done!

WillCAD · August 23, 2010

sgonen wrote: »

Wow, everyone is taking shots of Mt. Rainier (It's even on the front cover of Outdoor Photographer). All these look so familiar and bring back memories (I was there couple of weeks ago) - these are really good!

Yeah, with all those Dgrinner up there, I'm surprised that there aren't huge crowds in every shot.

Then again, Dgrinners are probably much more considerate than the average tourist: "Everybody take two steps back! It's Kris' turn to shoot!"

Chrissiebeez_NL · August 23, 2010

The first shots kinda gave me that 'meh' feeling (mostly because this mountain has been covered extensively lately

) but then the shots kept getting better and better, ending in the grand finale!

Wowzers, what photo's those last three!

schmoo · August 23, 2010

The last three in particular are stunning. I think my favorite is the sunset from Tipsoo Lake. What an incredible light show you had!

Roaddog 52 · August 23, 2010

Some great images, the last three are stand outs. Mt Rainier has been done and done again, but I never tire of seeing new interpretations and new lighting situations.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
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As a matter of fact, I will be trying to sneak away from work a couple of days this week to return to the Mountain.<o:p></o:p>

ksproul · August 23, 2010

squirl033 wrote: »

that last shot of sunset from Tipsoo Lake is wonderful... terrific colors, and the lake cooperated with a nice reflection. well done!

schmoo wrote: »

The last three in particular are stunning. I think my favorite is the sunset from Tipsoo Lake. What an incredible light show you had!

Thank you! We felt extremely fortunate to be at Tipsoo Lake for that amazing sunset. Being Friday night, I figured we'd have the company of some other photographers there (as I've seen for a few sunrises there), but my wife and I were the only ones there. We definitely felt like we were at the right place at the right time!

ksproul · August 24, 2010

Roaddog 52 wrote: »

Some great images, the last three are stand outs. Mt Rainier has been done and done again, but I never tire of seeing new interpretations and new lighting situations.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
As a matter of fact, I will be trying to sneak away from work a couple of days this week to return to the Mountain.<o:p></o:p>

Thanks for the comments! I don't think I could ever get sick of visiting and photographing the area around that mountain. In fact, I'm hoping to head back out there sometime this week to get some more shots as well. I figure if I head straight out after work, I can get in a little bit of shooting before the sun goes down, as we did on Thursday night at Reflection Lakes. This time, I think I'd head straight to the wildflowers at Paradise to get some golden hour shots there, as we didn't really do that on this trip (since we headed out to Tipsoo Lake for that sunset). I'm thinking about checking out Mazama Ridge, as I keep hearing that the meadows there are great, and we didn't make it there this time. From what I understand, it's a short hike from the Paradise area.

scole · August 24, 2010

Welcome. Really fine shots with #1,6, and 8 being standouts for me. My only nit is with #1. Is it a ND Grad or Photoshop exposure blend? The foreground just seems oddly lit compared to the rest of the scene. It's like you pushed the levels just a tad too much. That said, #8 is WOW quality. That deserves a large print size in your home. Well done with the capture and processing.

ksproul · August 24, 2010

scole wrote: »

Welcome. Really fine shots with #1,6, and 8 being standouts for me. My only nit is with #1. Is it a ND Grad or Photoshop exposure blend? The foreground just seems oddly lit compared to the rest of the scene. It's like you pushed the levels just a tad too much. That said, #8 is WOW quality. That deserves a large print size in your home. Well done with the capture and processing.

Thanks for the feedback. For #1, I did use a 3-stop grad ND and I also bumped up the "fill" when processing the raw file in ACR/Photoshop. I will say that it was my first time using a grad ND filter, which I had just purchased that day. I definitely need to do some experimenting and learning before I'll feel comfortable with those. Still, I thought I'd try it out, as the sky was way brighter than the foreground (although the reflection in the lake made the filter difficult to work with). Still, I think most of what you're seeing is due to the raw processing and not the filter. When processing the image yesterday, I just wanted to make the foreground brighter so the flowers wouldn't be in the dark, but I may have gone a tad too far with it. I appreciate the feedback.

As for printing the last one, I definitely want to do that. I haven't gotten into making my own prints yet, so I'll have to have it done somewhere, but I definitely want to do it.

Speaking of that photo (pink sunset), does anyone have any feedback on the composition? I really wanted to show the full reflection without cutting the tops of the trees off, but that led to the horizon being near the dead center. I think it works for this one, but I'd still like some other opinions. I considered cropping it a bit closer and filling more of the frame with the pink color, but opted not to. I probably have 50 or so pictures of this sunset (I was bracketing: -2, 0, +2) while it was pink out, with varied compositions. I think this one was cropped a little, but is pretty close to how I framed it in the camera. I chose it because of the intense pink color (this was pretty much the peak) and because the composition was just about my favorite. Any thoughts? I'm always looking for any feedback to help improve. Thanks!

Dimitri_V · August 24, 2010

Excellent series, last one is stunning.

BenA2 · August 25, 2010

No. 7 is the real winner for me. It's very moving. Nice work.

quark · August 26, 2010

I agree, the last one is amazing!

Oobers · August 27, 2010

This is a superb set of landscapes, beautifully lit, composed and exposed.
Guy

ksproul · August 27, 2010

Thank you all for the kind words!

On that note, I'm headed back out to Mount Rainier in the morning to hopefully get some more shots. It's looking like the morning weather might cooperate.