Aug. 9, 2017. It was two days after the full moon. My friend Bill and I had gotten up at 3:30am to make the drive to Stony Pass Hill in anticipation of photographing Denali by moonlight. The plan was to capture the Denali range illuminated only by moonlight which we did. We then waited for the sunrise hoping for a strong Alpen glow on the mountain. Smoke from Wild fires in British Columbia, Canada had been providing some spectacular light at sunrise on previous mornings. This was the third day of my week long Professional Photographer’s Pass into Denali National Park. As the first light of the sunrise began to appear, the high clouds began to glow in unbelievable pink and orange light. I had my panoramic nodal head all setup ready for the Alpen glow to touch the peaks. As it did it was so spectacular I almost couldn’t take my eyes off of it to take my photos. I had never seen and haven’t since seen such a glorious Alpen Glow.
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This is set of 12 HDR images, 2 rows x 6 columns stitched using PTGui. Shot using Sony A7Rii, Canon EF70-200/2.8L IS USM lens using a MetaBones adaptor mounted on a Gigapan Epic Pro Nodal Head. 100mm, f/11, ISO 100, 0.4, 1/10th & 1.6 seconds.
John: A spectacular scene indeed and superbly captured and rendered. I was there about a month after you but was blessed with different conditions but at least we did see the mountain one day. My only tiny nit is the really bright cloud in the ULC which does grab my eye a bit and takes me away from the mountain. The FG and the road leading to the mountain are fine elements. Very nicely done and a testament to good planning and good fortune. >=))>
That kind of light is very rare, and you were in the right place and time. You might consider bringing down that bright cloud in the upper left quadrant. It catches my eye. Also, I know it’s part of the park, but the road is very distracting to me.
You were quite lucky to catch Denali without its usual cap cloud.
John, this is another outstanding look at Denali, with the nearly full moon “icing-on-the-cake”. I agree that the brightest yellow cloud looks saturated. I also know ,from shooting mountain sunrises, that the “dayglow” yellow is hard to avoid. While this is much more eye catching, I like the mood of your “Alpenglow” shot better…
This is an impressive scene. I was in Denali 40 years ago (can hardly imagine it) and was also lucky, no clouds. I remember that I was impressed by the huge size of the mountain. Glad to see that there still is a snow cap…
The sky is wonderful and I must say that I don’t really mind the very bright spot in the sky. In my view this is an image with 2 main subjects, the mountain and the sky.
The road is inevitable and it indeed leads the eye to the mountain.
I like it a lot.
