Artist Point Meadow, Mount Shuksan. Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, Washington. August 28, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
The view of cloud-shrouded Mount Shuksan from a heather-filled sub-alpine meadow at Artist Point, Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, Washington.
As my brother and I came around the corner of this trail along the side of the Artist Point ridge, it took our breath away. I arrived a moment after he did, and found him already down among the heather flowers near the small run-off creek setting up his tilt-shift lens to make a close-up photograph of the flowers with the mountains in the distance. Once he finished, I went to work on this wider view of the scene, including the nearby foreground meadow and flowers, the trees along the edge of the drop-off, the pool of light in the valley beyond, and the shoulder of cloud-rimmed Mt. Shuksan with a dramatic sky beyond.
On a technical note, this was a very difficult exposure. When I looked down at the flowers and plants I saw what you see here, and when I looked up I saw the cloud-filled sky roughly as it appears in this photograph – but the dynamic range was so wide (ranging from parts of the foreground trees in deep shadow to distant snow fields in direct sun) that one exposure could not capture all of the scene data… so I used three which were then combined in post using masked layers and blended manually.
This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.
G Dan Mitchell Photography | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email
Thanks, Cynthia – for the comments on both photos. Despite the exposure complexities, this is such a beautiful place that one almost can’t help but photograph something wonderful!
Oh my Dan, this is utterly beautiful. It stands as one of my favorite images from your blog. And your processing is wonderful! Great shot! Right on Dan!
koalaflashboy, I actually don’t use ND grads. Although they could be simpler in some cases, I find that I have more control with the exposure blending method.
Now I really need to write the article on this! :-)
Dan
“Wow” I said upon visiting today. I would certainly like to be there right now.
Lovely shot Dan. The Cascades in WA are really something – the alpine landscape without the struggle of the thin atmosphere, plus a lot more of the graceful glacier carved landscape!
I should try and make a trip here for the fall!
Didn’t just slap on a grad?
Beautiful image Dan and nice subtle use of HDR. It’s one of my favorite places in the Pacific Northwest.
Thanks for the comments. I certainly do appreciate the thicker air of the Cascades, and the glaciers are stunning. There really isn’t anything quite like that in my beloved Sierra. Russ, I don’t actually use HDR in these photos, though people sometimes do confuse exposure blending and HDR and I can understand why. What I do has more in common with the use of graduated neutral density filters.
I have a plan to write a blog article on this soon, and I’ll try to clarify the difference.
Take care,
Dan