The Needle

[Ken Rennie]

Up before 05:00 to drive and then walk to the Quiraing on Skye for sunrise. Unfortunately heavy low level cloud produced a very dull spectacle and the poor visibility that dogged my stay on the island is all too visible in this image. I then went for a vigorous walk and scramble to this spot and was lucky that the sun broke through and lit up the 120 foot high needle. This is a 5 shot HDR merge, lightroom produces realistic results without the previous common artefacts. Comments welcome Ken

 

[Jim Dockery]

I really like this - you are right on the good HDR result. In this case I actually think the soft haze makes the sharp rock stand out more, emphasizing it's texture. You lucked out with that bit of light right when you were there on your walk - I love serendipity like that. I often set off on a hike with a photography goal, but stay flexible with my eyes open along the way and often find my best shots that way.

 

[Ben Egbert]

Jim's comments are perfect, nothing to add except that I like it a lot.

 

[AlanLichty]

That needle is a rather unique spire to be still standing with this level of exposure to the elements. This is a neat view of it and the valley/mountains beyond.

I can't see any of the artifacts I typically associate with HDR processing. Nice to see how much better the technique is getting since it always had promise to help with scenes like this one. I might have to go back and play with this in Lightroom a bit after seeing results like this.

 

[JimFox]

Hey Ken,

Being as I live in SoCal with the most boring blue skies very common here, I would gladly trade for a bit of haze.

That is one really cool looking spire! And the I think the haze in the background is effective in helping that spire to stand out as the sun broke through and lit it up. As they say, Luck favors the Prepared.

 

[Bob Denton]

This is great