Lupine Sunrise from Dalles Mountain Ranch

[mattpayne11]

I went out to Dalles Mountain Ranch with my friend Michael Bollino today to shoot sunrise and the lunar eclipse - while the clouds were no where to be seen and we arrived a tad too late for the eclipse, the sunrise was still quite fantastic!

The lupine and balsamroot were fabulous. They are still a good week or two away from peak; however, I think there are a ton of great compositions to be had this week up there. This was my first time going there and I was in heaven! This was a tough shot to execute and process due to the harsh light and the various elements in the frame. Hope you enjoy it.

 

[tirediron]

Nice.

 

[John Hunt]

Beautiful!

 

[NancyMoranG]

^
what they said plus...amazing! Focus stacking?

 

[Shipman]

Woooooooooow, beautiful. I wish I could take photos like this. I really need to learn more.

 

[kosta.kitov]

Fantastic photos. Can you explain shortly which settings you used?

 

[annamaria]

Very nice!!

 

[mattpayne11]

A little explanation on how I shot it and some general musings:

I did a focus blend of about 4 shots for the foreground and mid-ground at f/11. I then blended in the sky at f/22. Lastly, I blended in a shot that was with my hand over the sun to get rid of lens flare.

In retrospect, I would have liked to shot it a few seconds earlier to get a more controlled sunstar and at a faster shutter speed to get less sky blown out. I also think I would have liked to compose just a tad further to the right.

 

[BrickHouse]

That's a freaking amazing shot! I keep coming back to look at it.