Paradoxical Warmth of an Alpine Sunrise

[ccd333]

An early morning in Rocky Mountain National Park belies the cold of the remaining snow.

Panasonic Lumix FZ5
ISO 80
f/5.6
1/25s
Warming filter
Manfrotto 676B monopod

 

[Raindog]

I love the feel of this shot. Very nicely done.

 

[railman44]

Sorry, I don't like it. The rocks look great but brownish snow and the sky isn't right. If you meant this to be a shot from another world than you were successful.

 

[ccd333]

Thanks Raindog and railman. The warming filters have a tendency to do that....enhance the more subtle tones. However, the sky and snow was not too disimilar from this anyway.....this early in the morning there are some very warm, peaceful tones in the Colorado Rockies. I did in post processing cool the temperature of the color....but it didn't have the same feel to it. I'll take "other worldly" in this sense to mean that I did well to create that effect on someone.....but I understand the criticism and it is a fair one.

 

[mentos_007]

well I like it. I really like the colours and I think that in the morning, when the sun is rising everything has such warm colour. I also like the crop here and how the snow quides my sight straight to the mountains in the background.

 

[Artemis]

I was about to say you used a warm up filter, before you posted.
Its too obvious to be honest...I think maybe you should have tried a blue filter, the etherial look is strong but is a great picture, with the sun shining blue light across the icy snow.

Maybe try and get rid of the warm up filter and re post?

Ohh, and great shot!

 

[nannabug]

I agree. Too warm. Great shot, though.

 

[Hertz van Rental]

Well it does say 'paradoxical' in the title.
I don't have a problem with the colours - if it looks too ginger on your monitor it may be out of calibration - but it does look more of an evening shot than a morning. The light is much redder at sunset.
Good use of a subtle diagonal. Nice eye candy.

 

[ThatCameraThingy]

Agreed Hertz

I like the shot , my first thought was of sunset and not sunrise though.

even so , Nice shot, Wish I could have been there to push the button.


Hanno

 

[ccd333]

Sorry, I'm not buying the redder sunset thing. I think it sounds like it makes sense on the surface (no pun intended!), but I know I have taken the most vivid shots in Colorado as sunrises, not sunsets. This would ancedotally at least in my experience refute the notion that dust, smoke, other particles of matter in the air create more vivid sunsets than the typically more settled air of sunrises. In fact from what I understand they do not. They soften the light....perhaps make it more illuminating from the standpoint of wavelength of travel....but the things I've read and the many experiences I have had suggest that the CLEARER the air is the more vivid, brilliant, vibrant (whatever adjective you want to use!) it becomes when the sun fading or rising hits.

Think about it....if that wasn't true then Los Angeles and Mexico City would have the most spectacular sunsets, no? Not to say they don't have some.....but I know Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico.....some of the southwestern states have the reputation for having the best sunsets or sunrises. One of the things those states by and large have in common (among other things) is very clean air (except around Denver in the winter!).

 

[ccd333]

I would be happy to post all of my sunrise shots versus sunset shots that I've taken from all over the state. Beyond just the random nature of different scenarios that could take place for each.....at some point one would think that if the differences from several shots were that noticeable then there must be something to it, IMHO.

 

[ccd333]

Here's just a quick example to support my theory. Granted this is only one shot, but I can tell you that I don't have a sunset shot that even comes close to being this vivid. This is with NO post processing whatsoever....shot on a point and shoot (albeit with an excellent lens) with just the default settings. This is sunrise over a reservoir near my home in Windsor, Colorado. And you oughta see this shot at full resolution and a slight saturation boost....oh my!

 

[ccd333]

Okay a couple more.....sorry if I've taken the liberty to display all of these.....but I think this is a wonderful topic of discussion. I think more than anything I wanted to show that sunrises can be quite vivid! Though I'll confess I've seen some very vivid sunsets here too....consistently the sunrises are more vivid and the sunsets look more diffused and broader.

Again, same camera and absolutely no post processing. People were literally driving off the road to see this morning develop. These are both of the same sky just a couple of minutes apart. And even these shots cannot properly depict how vivid it truly was.

 

[Hertz van Rental]

I actualy said the light was redder, I wasn't talking about the sunrise or sunset effects but the colour temp of sunlight.
And psychologicaly we tend to think of morning light as blue and evening as red.
But if you react like this when someone says they like one of your pictures (which is what TCT and I were saying) what do you do if someone says they hate it? ;-)

 

[ccd333]

No, please don't misinterpret......I wasn't reacting negatively. I was just responding (enthusiastically) to a notion that sunset shots are more intense....redder....whatever you want to say...it's still more "er". I probably went a little overboard in responding.....but I felt strongly that it's a myth that sunsets are more "whatever". I've heard it before (okay, so I sort of used a tortured relationship to your comments to get to the full breadth of the topic) and I wouldn't have reacted if I hadn't had consistently the inverse experiences.

I do understand your point about the blue and red....and generally I agree. I suppose that has more to do with the matter (dust, smoke, etc.) that's stirred up in the air throughout the course of the day.....though I wonder about how smoke from fires (ie forest fires or from fireplaces) makes a differentiation between sunrise and sunset. Often there is more smoke in the mornings.....at least from people's homes in winter. Not looking for too technical an answer (I'm not that smart....and the ones who are often disagree!)....I'm satisfied with my own views on it anecdotally. I'll jump off my box now....thanks for the indulgence.