Sierra de Lujar Photo

Photographer’s Note

This is my second posting from Spain – the first one received very good response and I'm very pleased.

South from Granada, the mountains of the Sierra Nevada rise breathtakingly and are snow capped for most of the year offering alpine sports. The Alpujarras stretch down to the coastal ranges of the Sierra de Lujar, the Sierra de Contraviesa, and touching the Sierra de Gador to the East and finish on the Mediterranean coastline.

In the mountains the air is the cleanest in Europe and, because of the altitude, the heat in mid-summer is not as oppressive as it can be on the coast. This area is also a paradise for walking and trekking with a myriad of footpaths snaking their way through the mountain range.

This image was taken from Castel de Ferro – a little village on the coast that is called Costa Tropical. It was late afternoon and beside low sunlight there were dark clouds formatting around the peak… as the time was passing the clouds were becoming thicker and darker. But still allowing some sunrays to break through.

What you have in front of you is the first of high peaks of Sierra de Lujar, which have to be crossed if you want to go to Granada or visit the rest of Alpujarras and Sierra Nevada. Of course, this way you'll have to cope with steep and narrow roads and thousands of curves but the journey is much more spectacular than driving on motorway towards Motril and driving through tunnels.

Hope you like the moment of interesting lighting I chose to introduce you with this beautiful mountain chain.

Camera settings:
- metering mode: multi-segment
- saturation: high
- sharpness: hard
- exposure compensation: 0.0
- ISO: 100

davidao25, Homerhomer, rage_tm, paguru, pamastro, mumek, ChristianS, hojper, JesusV, saintclaude, hispic, chinchini, ckuhn55 has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

davidao25 (409) 2004-11-24 21:05

great photo Robert. I would crop a lot in the top and a little on the right. The first thing I saw here was to many irregular pixels. The exagerated sharpness (probably due to the hard sharpening on camera) wasn't a good idea I guess. What I love here is the clouds shadows in the bottom of the mountain.

Homerhomer (4005) 2004-11-24 21:27

Robert, there isn't one thing I don't like about this image, it's moody, beautifull, I like how you exposed this image, the dark areas are very well presented. If it wasn't for your note I would have thought that maybe this image doesn't belong to trekearth, because it could have just as well been taken on Mars or another planet lol, it is so full of mystique.
Peter

rage_tm (623) 2004-11-25 2:48

Hi Robert, this is an excellent capture of mountains and lights. I like the POV of this shot and the contrast produced by the clouds over the landscapes. Good job here.

wilkinsonsg (8646) 2004-11-25 7:38

Very dark brooding and moody - I like it :)

paguru (1052) 2004-11-25 16:54

A mysterious view: dark sky and bright patches of sunlight. Summits and deep gorges are hidden from the view. I like the way you filled the photo area with this great scenery, and I like the atmosphere in your shot. Very good piece of work!
Regards,
Oliver

waskahegan (0) 2004-11-25 20:41

The light gives a superb effect here, I like the sharp erosion and the shadows.

pamastro (7213) 2004-11-26 2:06

The lighting here is amazing. It's almost like the reflections of windows onto other buildings in a downtown. But here instead it is completely natural filtered through the clouds. The colors are nice. The sharpness is very nice throughout. The ridges all lead nicely from foreground to background and back with the focal point being in the lowest area. But again it's the lighting and the clouds that really are impressive here. Nicely captured.

mumek (17506) 2004-11-26 16:47

The light is excellent, making this picture very mysterious. This is super beautiful picture.

ChristianS (2997) 2004-11-28 3:44

Wow, beautiful scenery! I like how the low sun light penetrates through the clouds and creates these beautiful patches of light on the mountain slope. And I like how the light brings out the rugged texture of the terrain. It's a favourite! Well done Robert!

hojper (2830) 2004-11-29 11:31

I do like this. It is very difficult to take this kind of landscape without any layers to show the depth and still get a feeling for it. This one has that great light and it actually has two layers: far away and very far away. And all incredibly sharp. It even reminds me slightly of a famous painting of Goya's of a thunderstorm over some Spanish city.

JesusV (922) 2004-11-30 14:22

Amazing light, it gives a total different dimension to the shot. Jesus

commenta (1145) 2005-01-16 14:40

Super impressionnant que cette menace qui pèse sur ce paysage ; C'est un très beau cliché avec une netteté à toute épreuve et une saturation non excessive.
claude

kikvel (4772) 2005-01-27 19:18

very good one Robi!

I would only suggest a crop on top but its a minor detail
very sharp image
the light is great!

K.

chinchini (27789) 2005-02-27 1:58

Bonjour Robert,
Excellente image, très profonde, qui présente une région désertique et aride, qui ressemble par beaucoup à certains endroits de Corse où j'habite.
J'aime les jeux d'ombres et de lumières sur le relief très découpé. Les couleurs sont superbes.
La présence de l'homme se manisfeste par quelques rares maisons.
Bien vu !
Bon dimanche/Pierre

ckuhn55 (2270) 2006-02-24 16:46

Dark shadows and just enough light makes this shot...thanks

crhieatt (5145) 2007-03-12 13:22

Robert,
The totally incomprehensible thumbnail leads me on to a magical surprise - in this instance! :>
(Often, of course, the incomprehensible thumbnail just leads to something incomprehensible, but larger).
Fascinating landscape, caught at a great moment.
Regards
Colin

Photo Information

Copyright: Robert Janovski (robiuk) (10763)
Genre: Places
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2004-11-11
Categories: Nature
Camera: Minolta Dimage 7Hi, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L USM, Jessops Circular Polariser
Exposure: f/3.5, 1/1500 seconds
Photo Version: Original Version
Date Submitted: 2004-11-24 17:07
Favorites: 3 [view]