Before Dawn

Jeff Canes · Sep 24, 2008

wow i like this one, is that before the dawn of man or of the day?

Zada · Sep 24, 2008

Wow, that is stunning! Looks like fire

THORHAMMER · Sep 25, 2008

Wow, great color and I like the really wide on this a lot. Good comp

abraxas · Sep 25, 2008

Jeff Canes said:
wow i like this one, is that before the dawn of man or of the day?

Just the day. This is what I woke up to this morning (9/24), about 30 feet from my cot. It felt timeless though- I didn't see another human being for nearly 48 hours.

Zada said:
Wow, that is stunning! Looks like fire

Thanks.

THORHAMMER said:
Wow, great color and I like the really wide on this a lot. Good comp

Thank you. Ambient light, even on a cloudless morning, has such an effect on the granite and desert vegetation. I'm already planning my next trip.

rjackjames · Sep 25, 2008

Awesome shot.....how do u get such great colours??

abraxas · Sep 25, 2008

rjackjames said:
Awesome shot.....how do u get such great colours??

Thank you.

The properties of the landscape;
The granite in this area is pink (apelite?). The weathering tends to darken this to a reddish color.

Shoot before sunlight;
The biotite mica content is highly reflectant. Ambient light (before the direct sun rises) will bounce off the glassy mica particles. This was shot probably 15-20 minutes before actual sunrise.

Long exposure;
This was 13 seconds at f25. Slightly underexposed is better to retain the colors.

Post;
Slight levels and curve adjustments. Some dodging and burning for feature relief. You may notice there are no hard shadows.

Maybe use a warming filter on the foreground. The more I do these, the less I need to adjust with that.

IMO, the hardest thing about doing these is to get the focus right in near-dark conditions. I was thinking about carrying a flashlight, but I never remember, and they're too heavy anyhow, plus, I'd only need it for maybe 20 minutes. Once I start, I'm usually weighed down with my d80, d300, tripod, and canteen full of water (because it can get very hot, very fast). I go for about an hour after sunrise and spend about 30 minutes walking back.