Lenticular clouds at sunrise over the Presidential Range in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. This image was taken during our recent NPN meetup. Mike Lowe posted several shots recently from this sunrise, including one taken after sunrise titled “After the Thrill is Gone”. I thought about giving this image the title “While the Thrill Was Still Here”, but I decided instead for a more mundane title.
I have shot springtime lupines in New Hampshire many times over the past 20 years. But this sunrise was far and away the best one I’ve ever experienced during lupine shoots. I’m just glad that some other folks from NPN were able to be there for this. For the first two days of our meetup we had nothing but rain and overcast skies, but the Photo Gods finally smiled on us for the last morning of our meetup.
While the clouds in this image are very special, I feel especially fortunate that we had almost no wind, it doesn’t take much to get those lupines swaying. But on this morning it was very calm too, so we got really lucky on two counts.
What artistic feedback would you like if any?
Any and all comments or critique are appreciated.
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
Canon 5D MKIV, Canon 16-35mm f4 at 27mm.
This is a manual blend of multiple exposures using luminosity masks. Two exposures were taken for the sky at ISO 100 (to have low noise), and then 2 exposures were taken of the landscape at ISO 400 to have a shorter shutter speed to keep the lupines as sharp as possible. The 4 exposures were taken to handle the dynamic range of this scene.
Really nice, Ed. I might consider a top crop to eliminate the very top pink clouds left of center? Not a big deal, though. Processing looks spot on and a beautiful scene.
Stunning. The lupines arching in from the bottom making a line of sight to the tree line. Maybe a nice very large print.
I would also loose some sky. f4 ? Hope you had the DOF to have it all tack sharp.
TY for the Post
Another beauty from that wonderful morning, Ed. The processing and colors look spot on to me. The colors that morning were obviously outstanding, but I also enjoyed the cloud cover hovering over sections of the mountains as well as the few areas of fog along the tree tops. Those yellow buttercups were a nice color accent to the blues and purples of the lupines. Beautifully done!
The lens I used is 70-200mm f4, but this image was shot at f16 to get the DOF needed for this near/far composition. At f4 this never would have had everything sharp. I did not list aperture and shutter speed numbers used here, because this is a composite of multiple bracketed exposures for dynamic range and ISO (shutter speed to keep flowers sharp),
Eva, we’ll keep that in mind, @Patricia_Brundage organized this meetup and sent out numerous posts seeking members to attend, it’s too bad you weren’t able to make it this time.
@Harley_Goldman@Ed_Lowe@stevenm@Eva_McDermott thank you all for your comments, these were obviously some very special conditions, and I appreciate any input on tweaks that might help take this up another notch. Harley, here is a rework to crop in tighter and lose the pink cloud at the top, as you suggested.
@stevenm this means I used a Canon 16-35mm lens, and the lens has a maximum aperture of f4. I did not use the lenses maximum aperture of f4, instead I stopped the lens down to f16 to maximize DOF. Canon also sells a 16-35mm f2.8 max aperture lens, but I prefer the f4 version, I almost never would use f2.8 for landscapes, so I own the f4 version because it it less expensive and lighter in weight.
Glorious Ed! Colors are beautiful. What a grand scene.
Initially I didn’t think this needed a crop really, although I was thinking this was pretty close to a 50/50 split comp. Having seen your repost, I think that really took this one up a notch - as subtle and as small a change as it was. Excellent!
I like the way the colors of the flowers and of the clouds resonate and harmonize with each other… Beautiful image! I personally prefere the first version you posted…
This is gorgeous, Ed. Love the color palette. You hit the lottery with those clouds. Repost looks great. Only minor suggestion I have would be to raise the luminosity of the blue in the upper right to be closer to the upper left.
