A foggy sunrise from the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. The sun started to peek over the top of the mountains, creating a warm glow on the fog in the river valley below. I was standing at the top of a hill on the opposite side of the valley. I initially shot this scene with a wide angle lens to include the sky and show the sunstar as it crested the mountain. But I got a horrible case of lens flare. So I switched to a telephoto lens instead and concentrated on the fog, excluding the sun from the image.
Specific Feedback Requested
any critique or comment is welcome
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
multiple exposures blended manually for dynamic range .
Canon 5D MK4, Canon 70-200mm f4 lens, at 200mm, ISO 100, 0.3 sec at f22
Rework, suggested by Adhika Lie, to place the sun more in the center by cropping it. The processing is slightly different due to me starting back from the raw file, I also wanted to make the colors in the fog a bit richer too.
Wow, what an unusual and moody image. The light radiates from the sun (top) and from its spot in the fog to spotlight that middle tree. Images like this speak more and have more impact than grand landscapes often do. As always, you display your keen ability for seeing, which is what photography is about anyway. Wonderful, Ed.
Thanks Ben. This look of this light is not really processing driven either, the un-editted raw file looks very similar to this. I managed to catch it at just the right moment as the light started to hit the top of the fog bank.
Glorious atmosphere, Ed. I don’t think you can ask for anything better than this kind of condition. Not sure how I like the placement of the sun, I feel like I would prefer it to be more centered and evenly spread across the frame, but this last one may not even be a possibility given the distance with the trees, etc. I think the blending of the exposures is awesome though. Super super cool.
I think you have a good point here Adhika. I could not include much more to the left because on the that side the rounded mountain top curved down, and I would have included sky. I also liked the way the fog curled up on the right in the original. But I have done a rework with a crop centering the sun more (posted back up top for comparison). In the rework the tree on the right is slightly awkward, but I do like having the sun centered. What do you think ?
Great moment here Ed. I can see the challenges with framing/composition. I do like how the fog curls up and creates some component of balance to your first image. I also feel that the subtle drop in tree line on the first image is “held up” by the left-placed sun.
In your 2nd shot, you didn’t allow as much brightness in the cloud bank just below the sun…I prefer that treatment of the clouds better than your original as it allows greater visual weight to be applied to the curl of fog .
Finally, the lens flare was left alone. It is interesting and always a challenge to manage in post…I’m not sure it’s “fixable”, but your audience doesn’t seem to mind it at all! If it were mine, I’d be tempted to work some frequency separation, but would probably be unsuccessful and end up leaving it alone.
Hi Ed, I personally really like the original one the best, where the sun isn’t centered, and that’s coming from someone who centers everything! I think it balances out the upper pine trees on the right. I also really like the light and shadows better in the first, it just has a more soothing, calming feeling to it for me anyway. It would’ve been perfect if a vulture were gliding through the clouds/fog on the right side, maybe you can work on that for next time!
