A lush lupine-filled meadow along the outlet stream from Hungry Packer Lake near Picture Peak, high in the Sabrina Basin – John Muir Wilderness, Sierra Nevada, California.
We had hiked up through this meadow filled with plants and wildflowers earlier in the day while walking a circuit that included Hungry Packer Lake (beyond the saddle seen in the distance and below Picture Peak), Moonlight Lake, and Sailor Lake. At that time the early afternoon light had been far too harsh for photography, so I made plans to be back here early in the evening. I had hoped for some “golden hour” light, but I have to admit that I could see that a ridge to the right was going to cast a shadow here too early for that. Fortunately, the light on the peak came from the side such that it wasn’t as much brighter as it might otherwise have been, and it seemed like it might be possible to capture the huge dynamic range of this scene.
That last point brings up a difficult technical issue with this photograph – that tremendously large dynamic range. Although my eyes/brain could take in the full scene while standing there, no camera that I’d be carrying on the trail can possibly deal with this in a single shot. In the foreground the meadow plants were in early evening/late afternoon shade while the cloud above the peak was brightly lit by the direct sun. In the film days the only real option would have been to use a graduated neutral density (GND) filter to reduce the light from the sky. However, with digital capture we have another alternative – capturing several exposures of the scene optimized for the bright and dark areas and then combining them in post-production. That is precisely what I determined to do here.
In this case I made a main exposure that handled the middle of the dynamic range of the scene. I also made two more; one optimized to barely contain the brightest levels in the cloud and the second optimized to capture all of the details in the darker foreground meadow. The three versions of the scene were combined in post-processing to recreate something much closer to what I actually saw. (Yes, this was a complex photograph to realize!) in addition to using three exposures, I was also able to carefully customize the boundaries between them issuing masks – both of which would be impossible with a GND filter.
This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.
keywords: lupine, flower, wildflower, meadow, green, indian, paint brush, flora, summer, lush, growth, grass, sabrina, basic, creek, stream, cascade, outlet, hungry packer, lake, picture, peak, basin, john, muir, wilderness, sierra, nevada, california, usa, range, mountain, alpine, peak, ridge, snow, field, cloud, sky, evening, reflection, purple, pink, yellow, landscape, nature, scenic, travel, hike, backpack, camp, stock, trail, sailor
Beautiful – and yet another option …
I love this shot. Makes me feel like I am there looking at it all… Well done.
This was a wonderful find. We happened into this area just as the wildflower bloom was at its peak. I had seen this spot earlier in the day, so I went back up in the evening to shoot it in softer light.
I have used this same technique of manually blending different exposures with great results. It is just like using graduated neutral density filters.
Dave
Doug and David, thanks for commenting. You are absolutely right that my use of these post-processing techniques was intended to create an effect that is closer to what we actually see with our eyes – the camera actually cannot do this with a scene of such a wide dynamic range.
A small point – what I do is not technically HDR, at least as the term is usually used these days. That technique uses software to go through an original high dynamic range image (perhaps created by starting with three different exposures, as I did here) and apply some algorithms that adjust local brightness levels.
What I do is actually much more equivalent to use graduated neutral density filters, except that I essentially save the filtering until post. But conceptually it is really the same idea. Some sections of the final image came from the “dark scene” exposure while others came from the “light scene” version, and so forth.
Take care,
Dan
Great job post processing. If you didn’t point out this photograph was HDR, no one would know. That’s how it’s supposed to be. Beautiful photograph.
David
Good job of keeping it balanced Dan. Sometimes these HDR type shots look so unreal that its distracting to me.
It seems the processing sometimes brings out too much pop in the foreground.
Doug