As the late afternoon sun was getting lower in the western sky, I couldn’t help but notice this great display of light rays filtering over the mountains in Palm Desert, California. I decided it was best to compose this shot without including the sun itself as this would overwhelm the scene.
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Any helpful feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for looking.
Pertinent Technical Details
Canon R7, 100-400mm lens @ 200mm
f/8, 1/160 sec @ ISO 100
Processed in LR
Hi Ted,
The rays are flat out gorgeous and I think the layering with the ridgelines adds some wonderful depth to this scene. I think you made the right call on excluding the sun in this image. Who needs the sun when you have rays like these! While I quite like this as is I could also see a B&W here; a twofer if you will. Not necessarily better, just another option. I hope you do not mind, but here is a rework with what I was thinking. Just my opinion of course. Beautifully done.
A wonderful find!! The clouds look a bit over-processed to my taste – dominating the scene a bit. I wonder about backing off the local contrast adjustment on them.
Hi Ted,
I prefer the version in bnw. The drama is the light beams and everything else should take second place. I would make the foreground a complete silhouette or bring out all the shadows, not half-and-half. It must have felt like the heavens were calling.
Ted, you’ve got a fine mix of crepuscular rays and ridge layers. Definitely right to not include the sun. I prefer the color version and the fact that there are details to be found in the land.
The parallel rays and ridgelines are stunning. Color or B&W, I am agnostic on that. I agree the clouds seem a bit unreal, but I don’t mind that. They frame the image nicely–light on top, dark on bottom.
