Sunrise at Tipsoo Lake (DIAL-UP WARNING)

[regnaD kciN]

Is anything worth getting up at 2:45 on a Sunday morning to head off into the mountains? Judge for yourself...



(the above, by the way, was a thirty second exposure)



Twenty minutes later, the sun rose high enough to paint the top of Rainier in shades of flame.



Shortly thereafter, eastward-moving clouds shrouded the sun, daubing the mountain in highlights and shadows under a darkening sky.





For those who are curious, these images were taken during a period from 4:43 to 6:05 A.M. I was back home and in bed by 7:30. (Hey, I'm not a complete masochist!)

[usedtobesick]

1. stunning! Incredible!

These were great! I look forward to seeing WA mountains this weekend! Great pictures!

[Gregorian]

2. What a nice sequence.

I love your website.

I started out with an Argus C-3. Then I "stole" my dad's Nikkomat. I also got away from photography for years. But when the E-10 came out, I had to have one. I just got a D200 a month ago, and it feels like my old Nikkomat all over again. Except it has a brain. I am dying to capture more of the incredible things that are happening on this planet.

I'm still just learning after 30 years. I am used to just snapping what looks good. Now I'm paying attention to ISO and unsharp mask and white balance... However, to me, it's not the camera, but the person behind it. The personality. The eye combined with the mind.

I guess I had to say all of that, because last night I was lying in bed thinking about a photo that could only be taken by setting the alarm and being there when the light was right.

[regnaD kciN]

9. That's a nice story about your progression through cameras...

When I was first looking at 35mm SLRs, the local dealer showed me a Nikkomat, but it was way too expensive for me at the time, so I decided to get a Minolta SR-T200 instead.

Flash forward to 2006. I'm wanting to get a D200, but decide it's way too expensive for me at this time, so I decide to get a Konica Minolta Maxxum 5D instead.

The more things change...

[priller]

3. Fantastic!

Especially the shot with the orange light hitting the top.

[regnaD kciN]

5. Believe it or not...

...the reduction in color space from AdobeRGB to sRGB (the standard for web display) actually muted the colors you see there!

I went back and reprocessed a shot I took just afterwards, boosting the saturation so that the sRGB version matched the duplicate JPEG recorded by the camera. The following should look almost right on the web.

[ConsAreLiars]

6. Wonderful images of The Mountain. Here's a variation using the

Picture Windows Pro Transformation/Gray/Brightness Curve tool. (As you may have noticed, every time I see black I wonder if there is more detail there than the eye first sees.) Usually the answer is yes, and this program makes it very easy to find out. The silhouetted trees may be better as a matter of aesthetics, but this would be another option, or maybe something in between.
edit for dropped close parenthesis)

[regnaD kciN]

8. That curve tool...

...seems to be a lot like Photoshop's Highlight/Shadow control. It can bring out a lot of what was in the shadows, but I find it difficult to use without "overdoing it" and winding up with an image with not enough true black. It looks like you've got the use of PWP's tool well in hand -- a lot better than I've done with the Photoshop equivalent.

In this case, although I knew from Adobe Camera Raw that there was detail in the shadows, I opted to keep the trees as silhouettes because that's the way I experienced them that morning. I may revise the image later on, when I've had a bit more distance from the actual shoot.

[ConsAreLiars]

12. Right. The choice to use a silhouette is a legitimate decision.

I wasn't sure if you knew that there was color data in the blacks, so posted that variant. The PWP Brightnes Curve tool allows setting as many adjustment points as one finds useful, so it makes control much more precise and easier. The screenshot below may give an idea of how it works. (Shift-click to add one, Ctrl-click to remove one. Drag around to modify.)

[Gregorian]

15. Thanks for posting that. I'm just learning about color spaces.

I didn't realize it made that much difference though. Wow. I still don't know how to use the color spaces. I'm using the Adobe. But I don't know the unseen things that happen. Maybe it's best to just play around and post, and look at the results?

Now I see why you got up so early. This is far more dramatic.

[Blue_In_AK]

4. Beautiful, regnaD kciN

You inspire me - guess I'll have to start doing some early rising (or staying up late) myself. These are gorgeous.

[regnaD kciN]

10. And, of course...

...you and I are the two people for whom "getting up early" in summer means "getting up really early." ;-)

[RagingInMiami]

7. Nice

Some of my best shots were taken at twilight and dawn. And that is usually when I've been up all night and just decided to stick out for a few more hours.

[regnaD kciN]

11. I see we're alike...

And that is usually when I've been up all night and just decided to stick out for a few more hours.

I'm not a morning person -- which makes being a nature photographer quite a challenge. Especially when it comes to photographing around Mount Rainier, where most of the scenic overlooks are on the east side of the mountain, meaning that you can only get good photos in the early morning; sunset images would put the sun behind the mountain, so you would only be able to get silhouettes with all the scenic features in darkness.

[RagingInMiami]

17. I'm a night owl

Or an insomiac.

It all depends on whether I have to be up in the morning.

[regnaD kciN]

13. I guess I should throw in this one as well...

This is of (I believe) Natches Peak, a smaller mountain about 110 degrees northeast of Rainier from where I was standing.

[priller]

16. Beautiful!

I'm going to go to Yellowstone for a few days soon, I hope to get some good mountain and landscape shots then. These are very inspiring.

[Whoa_Nelly]

14. You are one motivated photographer!

And you make it all worth it! Beautiful photos, and the "fire" on Ranier (#3) is exceptional.

Thanks, for sharing these :)