I was searching for a different take for a sunset of the Watchman one day doing some scouting along the river. On the way back from the river I came across this and thought I could use this for a sunrise the next morning. It is a simple comp in some respects. I passed it by and came back because of the way the tree framed the mountain. So the next morning I was lucky in that I had some color in the sky. But unfortunately I had 20 -25 mph winds and had to bump up the shutter speed to 1/100th of a second with a higher ISO. Thank goodness for those new sensors. This is a 3 exposure manual blend because of the 25 mph winds and the early morning light.
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Indeed a new and different perspective on this somewhat famous peak. Great job using and positioning the tree beneath the rock - although that aspect doesn’t jump out at me right away, but is an added bonus after exploring the image.
I really like both the beautiful sky (colors, clouds) AND the sage (or is that rabbit brush?) Here in lies the dilemma though; it’s almost now an either or… which is more important, the sunrise sky? or the foreground? I think you’ve captured both quite nicely actually, but if anything I would drop down on the sky a bit. For me anyway, with vertical formats, I prefer something closer to the 4:5 ratio… but that’s just me.
Thats a very pretty image love the textures of the brush and the position of the tree. The sky colour is excellent too but I do tend to agree with Lons thoughts on verticals in the 3:2 ratio and as a consequence I do think a slight trim of the sky is a worthwhile idea. You could actually lose a fraction off the bottom too without doing any harm to your composition.
Greg, kudos on not shooting the Watchman from the “Bridge of the Un-Imaginative” (as I like to call it), and instead wandering around to find a different view. On my trips to Zion, I have had some success shooting the Watchman at sunset from the same general area this image appears to be from. I love the sense of depth created by the rabbitbrush leading to the tree, leading to the Watchman. The hint of light hitting the top of the Watchman is marvelous too. I agree with @Ian_Cameron suggestion to crop some from both the top and the bottom of the image. If the sky was filled with colorful clouds, a 3:2 vertical might have worked, but with what you had here, I think a 5:7 makes more sense.
This comp works for me and I like the processing of colours in your image.
The top of the watch man seems really dark, almost black on a phone and much darker than the rock face just below. It looks like a reverse halo. Could this be a masking issue from your exposure blend?
Thanks @Paul_Breitkreuz, @Lon_Overacker, @Ian_Cameron, @Ed_McGuirk, @Nathan_Klein for all the input. I whole heartily agree on taking out some of the sky and lower part of the image. I think it helps refocus on the subject. Thanks Nathan for pointing out the peak right side being to dark. That right side is suppose to be a little darker because the top starts to “curl around” . So there should be a little shade there but not like that. I think when I was trying to enhance the alpine glow I didn’t drag by brush over far enough. So hopefully this will look better. Thanks again and Happy New Year!
