The Big Three Photo

Photographer’s Note

These are the three main mountains around Swiftcurrent Lake (Mt. Gould at left, Grinnell Point in the middle, and I'm not sure of the mountain at the right). Given that the current difficulties of U.S. automakers are dominating the news here, the title seemed somewhat fitting.

The Going-to-the-Sun Road is the main tourist attraction in Glacier National Park, and I'll admit, there were some beautiful vistas on the road, but the Many Glacier area just north of it was far more beautiful, in my opinion. Some of the best day hikes in the park--including Grinnell Lake and Iceberg Lake--are found in this compact nugget of beauty. We didn't have much time for hiking, since we saw Glacier in all of a day. But we did have enough time to visit the Many Glacier area, and it was beautiful.

Swiftcurrent Lake isn't known for providing good reflections, but the current was fairly gentle, so I got a little bit of something.

Yes, yes, I know...f/5.6? I'd been shooting some beargrass and didn't adjust my aperture until later. Doesn't look the picture was any less sharp as a result though. Lucky me.

lc4giala, Dyerco has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Roly (1960) 2008-11-13 21:51

Pretty landscape with good, saturated colors. Nice technical execution and post-processing. The polarizer did a great job and the sky adds considerably to the appeal of the image. There is nothing wrong with f/5.6, because without foreground you don't need a considerable depth of field here and the lens should be pretty close to its sweet spot at that aperture.

ribeiroantonio (22056) 2008-11-13 21:56

The landscape is fantastic but it is the marvellous sky that impresses the most. I really love the colours and the sharpness is excellent too. Well done.
Antonio

lc4giala (2186) 2008-11-13 22:39

Hello Clark
Splendid natural landscape with exceptional reflections, light, colors, detail they compose very beautifully your photograph
regards
George

rgarrigus (0) 2008-11-13 23:10

Hi Clark,

Beautiful scene. I like the foreground here that shows just enough context but isn't a stock near/far construct. Maybe the wide aperture was a fortunate accident. Since you didn't have anything too close in the foreground it got the mountains nice and sharp but had the added effect of a fast shutter speed that froze the water and gave us those subtle ripples in the lower left third. A narrower aperture might have allowed that to blur which would have been a loss to the image.

Cheers!

Bob G.

HimalAnda (1076) 2008-11-13 23:11

Hello Clark,

Everything is good in this picture : wonderful landscape, great colors and excellent composition. The sky is amazing : its deep blue color (thanks to the polarizer) contrasts with these white clouds.

Stephane

Hellas (5125) 2008-11-13 23:34

Yes, you are right, f/5.6 wasn't the appropriate but made a quite good image. A lovely landscape full of beautiful elements inside! Great mountain formation and surely an also beautiful foreground! What to say about the impressive sky!

Thanks!
Best wishes,
Athanasios.

Dyerco (9380) 2008-11-13 23:50

Hi Clark
Lots of triangles happening here. Nicely exposed and well composed. I like the effect of the sky that can be had with the wide angle.
Phil

MarianneS (14652) 2008-11-14 0:36

Hello Clark,
Very nice sight, full of fresh air!
The sky is fantastic and it seems that although you forgot to change your settings, the result is very good.
Regards,
Marianne

ValS (39) 2008-11-14 1:15

Hello Clark,
Most of all I like sky on this picture. And of course overall composition is perfect.
regards,
Valentyn

gneufeld (15289) 2008-11-14 17:54

Hi Clark,
Great shot here with excellent depth, very good clarity and sharpness, and a fine composition in living color. Well done and TFS. Gerald

Waylim (11321) 2008-11-21 16:52

Clark
Once again, you have much better light here than when I was here. I have panoramic shot of this view in the morning as the cloud was moving in. This one is so lovely with the blue sky and puffy cloud for contrast. Good composition and lovely color and light. Thanks
Way

Leonie (8647) 2008-11-27 1:13

This is really faboulous, too! Amazing colours and landscape! Cheers, Léonie

stevesaba (3976) 2008-12-23 15:55

Hi Clark!
Just catching up on your gallery again....I have missed many wonderful shots. This one really stand out for me. Just a truly wonderful shot, with beautiful light, clarity, and compostion. I would be really proud of this one if it were mine! You are right, it is every bit as sharp as it should be even with the f/5.6! Lovely texture to the water. Great work, cheers,
Steve

tola_ch2004 (496) 2009-07-21 9:24 [Comment]