Awe Struck + Crop

[JimFox]

I was at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison in Colorado for a couple of days just a few days ago. I was at the Fissure Overlook as my scouting had this overlook as the best place to get the Milky Way. So my intention was to shoot the sunset there and then on into twilight to get some ground images at a lower ISO to possibly use with the Milky Way images I would take later that night.

But as it was nearing sunset, I noticed that the best clouds seemed to be to the west a bit and would line up really well over at the Painted Wall overlook. So I grabbed my stuff ran back to my Jeep which was about 300 yards away, and quickly drove over to the Painted Wall and then ran another 300 yards and got my cameras and tripods setup just as the setting sun was turning the clouds golden. The clouds ended up lining up really nicely, and when I glanced to the direction of where I had been, the clouds were not looking good at all.

So the clouds and the canyon colors got pretty crazy, and I was really happy I took the chance and ran over to this overlook. As the last colors were fading, I jumped back into my jeep and high tailed it back over to the Fissure Overlook and set up and got things in place for the coming Milky Way. Now at this spot I had a really cool cloud that was mesmorizing during twilight and then faded as the stars and Milky Way started to make their appearance.

All thoughts are welcome,

Jim

Original

Cropped

 

[AlanLichty]

I love the visibility of the veins in the rock formations along the walls of this canyon. This shot highlights that quite well and a great sunset to boot.

 

[Bob]

Jim,
This is an awesome shot I am jealous.
Bob

 

[Ben Egbert]

If there was ever a time when all your running paid off, this is it. Great shot and I am looking forward to seeing the MW shots from here.

 

[Douglas Sherman]

That is one of the best, if not the best Black Canyon Painted Wall image I have seen, Jim.

 

[Luvwine]

Really wonderful shot. Congrats! Persistence paid off!

 

[Jim Dockery]

Great shot, but I want to see the bottom of the canyon. Did you also shoot a vertical or do a pano?

 

[JimFox]

I love the visibility of the veins in the rock formations along the walls of this canyon. This shot highlights that quite well and a great sunset to boot.

Thanks Alan, it turned out nicely. Especially since there was like 5 stops of Dynamic range I had to work with.

 

[Guy Schmickle]

Spectacular conditions and shot! Those veins are so cool. The only nit would be too clean up the dark horizon line on the right hand side which I'm sure was a byproduct of blending images.

 

[JimFox]

Great shot, but I want to see the bottom of the canyon. Did you also shoot a vertical or do a pano?

Thanks Jim, that is the bottom, the river is running off in the distance. The vertical will show a little more of it, but not a lot more as there are rocks that poke out from close to the view point.

 

[JimFox]

Spectacular conditions and shot! Those veins are so cool. The only nit would be too clean up the dark horizon line on the right hand side which I'm sure was a byproduct of blending images.

Thanks Guy! Those veins are really cool. Actually that dark stripe on the edge isn’t from blending. I saw it before I did any blending, not sure if it’s something from ACR or simply it’s darker along that line. I did think about cleaning it up, but babysitting 4 of the grandkids I decided I would see if it was as noticeable to anyone else besides me.

I will touch that up when I get back home in another week. So thanks for mentioning it.

 

[AlanLichty]

Thanks Guy! Those veins are really cool. Actually that dark stripe on the edge isn’t from blending. I saw it before I did any blending, not sure if it’s something from ACR or simply it’s darker along that line. I did think about cleaning it up, but babysitting 4 of the grandkids I decided I would see if it was as noticeable to anyone else besides me.

I will touch that up when I get back home in another week. So thanks for mentioning it.

It is noticeable and my first guess was a slip up with masking but I knew you are on the road where conditions for handling complex masks can be difficult.

 

[Todd H]

I was at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison in Colorado for a couple of days just a few days ago. I was at the Fissure Overlook as my scouting had this overlook as the best place to get the Milky Way. So my intention was to shoot the sunset there and then on into twilight to get some ground images at a lower ISO to possibly use with the Milky Way images I would take later that night.

But as it was nearing sunset, I noticed that the best clouds seemed to be to the west a bit and would line up really well over at the Painted Wall overlook. So I grabbed my stuff ran back to my Jeep which was about 300 yards away, and quickly drove over to the Painted Wall and then ran another 300 yards and got my cameras and tripods setup just as the setting sun was turning the clouds golden. The clouds ended up lining up really nicely, and when I glanced to the direction of where I had been, the clouds were not looking good at all.

So the clouds and the canyon colors got pretty crazy, and I was really happy I took the chance and ran over to this overlook. As the last colors were fading, I jumped back into my jeep and high tailed it back over to the Fissure Overlook and set up and got things in place for the coming Milky Way. Now at this spot I had a really cool cloud that was mesmorizing during twilight and then faded as the stars and Milky Way started to make their appearance.

All thoughts are welcome,

Jim

View attachment 18618

Wow.. impressive! Your landscape photos are great. I’d love to travel and take photos, one day I suppose.

 

[JimFox]

It is noticeable and my first guess was a slip up with masking but I knew you are on the road where conditions for handling complex masks can be difficult.

I actually use very simple masks. I stopped using feathered masks long ago, which if used could cause a line like the one in this. The road conditions are fine because I have been at my daughters in Colorado the last 4 days, it's the grandkids conditions of keeping me extremely occupied from early morning until late that made me decide when I saw it to wait and just see if it was an issue for anyone else as I haven't had much free time to process here. It's been lot's of dance recitals, babysitting, playing in the park, playing fortnite, etc that has limited my time.

 

[JimFox]

Wow.. impressive! Your landscape photos are great. I’d love to travel and take photos, one day I suppose.

Thanks so much Todd! It definitely is fun to get out and about and travel.

 

[Dean]

Jim,
Very cool..I like this but I also think even though the sky is adding a bunch here I might crop 1/2 the sky and make this more about the canyon. It seems a bit 50/50 to me and with say a 16x9 crop and mostly canyon it makes the shot more dynamic ... but thats just me.
Regards,
Dean

 

[Alisa]

Wow. I like this! and agree with Dean about cropping part of the sky. Like maybe just a quarter off the top? Would be interesting to see...

 

[Mike Lewis]

I for one can vouch for the fact that this vantage point does not always look this amazing, as I have a number of forgettable images of it captured at a time of day that is not as conducive to the wonderful drama captured here. Great job seeing you were not in the best place, having the commitment to move even if it meant missing a shot, and then managing to get it all together at a better location to execute such a wonderful capture as this. Great stuff indeed.

ML

 

[JimFox]

Jim,
Very cool..I like this but I also think even though the sky is adding a bunch here I might crop 1/2 the sky and make this more about the canyon. It seems a bit 50/50 to me and with say a 16x9 crop and mostly canyon it makes the shot more dynamic ... but thats just me.
Regards,
Dean

Wow. I like this! and agree with Dean about cropping part of the sky. Like maybe just a quarter off the top? Would be interesting to see...

Thanks you two! I will crop some off the top and see how it looks.

While i typically avoid a 50/50 composition and try not to have the horizon in the middle, I try not to be totally rigid with that rule. But with that said, I will give it a bit of a hair cut at the top and see how it looks.

 

[JimFox]

I for one can vouch for the fact that this vantage point does not always look this amazing, as I have a number of forgettable images of it captured at a time of day that is not as conducive to the wonderful drama captured here. Great job seeing you were not in the best place, having the commitment to move even if it meant missing a shot, and then managing to get it all together at a better location to execute such a wonderful capture as this. Great stuff indeed.

ML

Thanks Mike! And the good news is I didn’t miss a shot because the clouds in the direction of the original view point never really got color and so looked bad compared to what I got. Now I did have to race back to the original view point as soon as the colors faded from sunset so that I could get some twilight shots that I could use later on with the Milky Way if needed. So it all worked out.

As to the look of this viewpoint, sadly I avoided Black Canyon for years because every time I googled it, the only photos that showed up for Black Canyon were boring and dull looking. It wasn’t until Alisa stopped by there a year or two ago and got some really sweet and colorful shots that I realized there was actually color there and decided I needed to see the place for myself instead of always driving by it. Not sure why all of the photos from there on Google looked so dull and boring for all of those year, but they sure were lacking.