Saturday, April 27, 2013

Photo Series: Golden Morning

These two photos were taken only minutes apart in roughly the same location. It is incredible how quickly the light, and impression of the landscape, changes at sunrise!

Morning Glory
Copyright Laura A Knauth, All rights reserved.  
Please contact me for any usage or licensing options.

An early morning glow just before the sun blasts though the clouds to start a new day. This image is more subtle than the version below, but I love it for that quiet sense of expectation. It's the image I'm currently using as my desktop background. :)

Location
Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes at Sunrise
Death Valley National Park, CA

Technical Details
Canon 50d
Tokina 11-16mm lens, 11mm
f/13, 1/3s, ISO 100
Bracketed exposure for the sun detail + a Rev 3Stop ND Grad filter


Golden Morning
Copyright Laura A Knauth, All rights reserved.  
Please contact me for any usage or licensing options.

Sunrise shots are tricky because after the investment of an early wake-up, you largely have to compose in the dark and then scramble to adjust when the light starts to change. (Pre-scouting locations would definitely help.) This was unfortunately one of the days when it was a mad dash from ridge to ridge we spotted these ripples and a promising vista. All of my shots from this angle had strange lens flare artifacts, but thought in the end a few were interesting, so left them in!

Location
Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes at Sunrise 
Death Valley National Park, CA

Technical Details
Canon 50d 
Tokina 11-16mm lens, 11mm 
f/13, 1/30s, ISO 100

Bracketed exposure for the sky. 
No Filters - they were really scratched up by this point in the trip :\ Without direct sunlight (as in the first shot), you can still use scratched filters without causing too much trouble, but once direct sunlight hits, they really start producing messy artifacts.

Thanks for stopping by my blog!

by Laura A Knauth

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