Mtn ash berries frame a foggy valley

Took this last September 17th. Autumn starts early on the mountaintops. This is a full day backpack to get here, camp overnight and then wake up at 5am to crawl on the rocks to get this shot. This is on the cliff edge of Roaring Plains, WV - highest plateaus in the eastern US. Taken using tripod, canon rebel 300d. Love this place...

Posted by Jonathan P Jessup on Wed, 03/14/07 14:14
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Comments by Jonathan P Jessup on Wed, 03/14/07 14:37

Okay there is some loss of color saturation due to photocritique's image compression. :(


Comments by Jan Bjorklund on Wed, 03/14/07 14:47

I like the contrast in coloring between the more vivid hues of the mountain ash foliage and the white of the distant clouds (especially when one sets the image against a black background), the sense of flow that is created by both the mountain ash and the clouds which lead the eyes of the viewer vertically through the image, and the quality of the lighting (especially noticeable, for me, with a black background). Well worth getting up at 5AM to get this sunrise image.


Comments by Ruth Rittichier on Wed, 03/14/07 15:27

Exquisite shot. The tones are so beautifully varied, it almost looks like HDR. It was worth all the work.


Comments by Rick Longworth on Wed, 03/14/07 15:32

Well done and, yes, worth the climb.
I feel I am used to compression now. I look past it and imagine the original data array. 8-)


Comments by G.B. SHETTLER on Wed, 03/14/07 18:57

Wonderful journey to get the shot to remember your journey. Wonderful photo ! Thanks for sharing it with us.


Comments by Jeff Dye on Wed, 03/14/07 20:19

Great light all around, especially the foreground bush with the eye catching red flowers. When I have a pretty much blank sky I've been cropping about half of it. This comp. seems to consist of equal halves. Cropping some sky might get it out of the 50-50 or the entire upper area could be left alone with a small crop from the bottom. Or being that you work so hard it could be left alone.


Comments by Jonathan P Jessup on Wed, 03/14/07 22:14

Thanks guys. Jeff yes I'd probably crop some of the bottom of the frame firstly, if needed. For many images the 50/50 thing might bother me but for this one its not so much though. Yes good idea to crop some though.

Glad you guys like it. The red berries are the fruit of the Mountain Ash tree. It looks like a bush because of the extreme weather up here (~70 mph winds, heavy rime ice, frigid winter temps, year-round frosts, etc) and poor soils that stunts tree growth.


Comments by Jason D. Miller on Wed, 03/14/07 22:26

I agree with Jeff about the 50% … cropping off more of the for-ground and leaving more sky would make for a more interesting composition. Also, I would suggest a ND filter to bring out more of the detail in the sky and fog. Great elements to work with here though … I would be interested in seeing more variations that you came up with.


Comments by Steve Owen on Wed, 03/14/07 23:05

Beautiful!


Comments by John Wise on Wed, 03/14/07 23:38

Works fine for me as is. I really like the foreground! Nice work!


Comments by Jonathan P Jessup on Thu, 03/15/07 00:11

Glad for the feedback. Yes I also feel the foreground is powerful, without which I would not feel as I do about the shot.

Jason actually I forgot to say that I did use a digital ND filter to darken the sky. It's quite bright in the original. Yes I took a horizontal shot of this a few minutes later (brighter sun). Here it is.


Comments by Jonathan P Jessup on Thu, 03/15/07 00:29

Jeff here's another. I warmed this one up a bit and saturated it about +23 in PS CS2's raw converter.


Comments by Jonathan P Jessup on Thu, 03/15/07 00:31

And here is another horizontal.


Comments by Jonathan P Jessup on Thu, 03/15/07 00:47

Hehe,, here is another before the sun rose above the horizon.


Comments by Michael Hibbitts on Thu, 03/15/07 07:02

All are nice scenics - I'll vote for the coloration in the first!


Comments by Mo Fridlich on Thu, 03/15/07 08:16

I agree with Michael!


Comments by Maria Salvador on Thu, 03/15/07 15:47

Another agreement with Michael, from here!


Comments by Dave Lavash on Thu, 03/15/07 17:52

Wow. Didn't realise what a great shot this was until I opened it up. Amazing slanting light, greenery, bits of red, great boulders and with mountains and clouds in the distance. what more do you want? ;-)


Comments by Linda Frey on Thu, 03/15/07 18:26

Love that fog lying in the valley. Nice colourful mountain ash, too.


Comments by Bill Leggett on Thu, 03/15/07 21:09

Excellent. I like the OP but only wish for a bit more room at the LHS.


Comments by Garry Schaefer on Fri, 03/16/07 13:19

Each member of the set stands up well on its own. A well justified excursion. The op is still my favourite but maybe only because I saw it first.


Comments by Julie M. Dant on Sat, 03/24/07 15:01

Jonathan, I love them all, but the OP is probably my fave too. The sunlight on the Mountain Ash really makes it.
On the 2nd horizontal the mountain range in the far distance (up next to the top) almost looks like the waves of the ocean during a storm and the sea is pooring between the two hills on either side. That was my first impression. All great and beautiful photos.