I took this shot in late August in 2012. I have not seen the mix of wildflowers all in bloom at the same time since. I was at this spot at 6 am to set up. This is a photo stacked image of about 6 shots to capture the foreground, so the raw image is the result of the stack. During the shoot, the morning sun caught the clouds on the top of the mountain and it lit it up for about 5 or 10 minutes and then was gone. To me, this was a once in a lifetime shot and though I have many shots of Mt Rainier, this remains one of my favorites. It also received a perfect score in a judged photo contest.
Taken with my trusty D800 and Nikkor 14-24 f2.8 at f11 and 19 mm. ISO was 200 and 1/30 sec. PP was done in PS6 and included Dfine, Color Effects Pro, and Viveza for color enhancement, sky color and noise reduction. Also used Sharpen AI to bring out the detail in the wildflowers.
This round’s discussion is now closed! 6 comments posted
Bruce Benson
Walt, another great image. I look forward to seeing your post every month and have not been disappointed yet. I can see why it got a perfect score. Was this from the Sunrise side? You were lucky to have great flowers. I can not really find anything to make it better. Bruce Posted: 12/02/2020 21:09:34
Marie Costanza
Walt, WOW! This image certainly deserves the perfect score that you achieved in a competition. What a double bonus to catch that sunlight as well as all the flowers in bloom. Such an effective image. Marie Posted: 12/04/2020 04:50:43
Dr Isaac Vaisman
Walt, I also agree that this is another one of your WOW images collection. We do not have any mountains nor wild flowers in Florida. The light crowning the mountain is the cherry on the whipped cream. Beautiful colors, and great composition. Nothing to change. Posted: 12/05/2020 07:09:37
Larry Treadwell
(Groups 36 & 67)
You have done an excellent job of focus stacking with this. I doubt you would have gotten this sharpness any other way.
The colors and the clouds produce real Impact on this image. Posted: 12/07/2020 13:01:10
Mary Frost
Walt, I appreciate that all of your processing is not visible in this super image! It speaks well of your skill, both to capture and process such a magnificent image. Posted: 12/20/2020 13:27:55
Adrian Binney
Yes, Walt this truly is a WOW image! A unique situation captured with exceptional skill! A privilege to view - thank you. Posted: 12/21/2020 12:08:05
