Resilience

The “Glass Fire” burn scar on the forested hills above my neighborhood 3 months post fire. We watched through the night as the fire pushed by offshore winds would loft embers ahead of the main fire and ignite the hillside above our neighborhood. What was left after the fire was contained was a patchwork of burned, semi-burned and a few unburned douglas fir trees and oaks.

From a photography standpoint, this subject was very complex and challenging for me to find a clean composition that would convey what I was thinking and seeing. My intention was to show the random contrast between the landscape that was consumed vs. the survivors. Seemed apropos for what we have all been through these last 10 months.

Specific Feedback Requested: Watermark or no watermark? Any and all feedback is always welcome!

Pertinent technical details or techniques: Canon R5, RF 100-500mm @ f7.1, 1/250th sec, ISO 8000 with adjustments in Lightroom to add a bit more contrast to a very low contrast scene and final run through of the re-sized image in DeNoise AI.

Is this a composite? NO

Keith, you’ve done a fine job of extracting a view that works well as it tells a very dramatic story. The randomness of even the largest fires is always surprising, with total burns right next to unburned areas. You’ve got a good mix of greens and trunks that keep the eyes moving throughout the image. Given the subject, I’m thinking that a bit more drama seems appropriate, so here’s a look where I’ve burned the midtones slightly and combined that with some micro-contrast enhancement (unsharp mask with amount = 50, radius = 2. [A version of this is what Adobe calls clarity.] ). The watermark is strictly your choice.

Thanks Mark for the feedback, I like your enhancements, adds more of the contrast and punch I was shooting for.