volcán Parinacota Photo

Photographer’s Note

volcán Parinacota (6350m) (also seen in these three - one, two, three - photos by Kristaps) reflected in Lago Chungará with some flamingoes tossed in. lake Chungará is one of the world's highest lakes, 4500m above sea level, formed about 8000 years ago when lava flows damned a snowmelt from the volcano.

I was hoping for a mirror-smooth reflection, like you see in all travel books, but no such luck for me. but then again, it's already difficult to separate reality from reflection (philosophically speaking), so any little thing helps.

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RAW, ISO 100, 52mm focal length, spot metering.

francio64, Floydian, zmey, fulvio52, AROBN54, Wandering_Dan, luisafonso, Longroute, danos, lucasgalodoido, gunbud, ricochet, Dpbours, plimrn, feather, azaf1 has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

francio64 (11806) 2009-02-11 4:53

Ciao Kristine,
sono rimasto molto colpito da questa foto in quanto simile ad una mia recente su TE.

http://www.trekearth.com/viewphotos.php?l=3&p=1008122

Nel mio caso si tratta del vulcano Etna.
Non conoscevo questo Parinacota. Incredibile la sua altezza.
Sembra essere disabitato, mentre l'Etna è pieno di piccoli paesi.

Bella la vista della neve sulla cima a creare contrasto cromatico con il marrone della roccia.

Hai fatto un buon lavoro.

Francesco

smarcell (14653) 2009-02-11 5:21

I love this part of the planet. It has such strong colors and landscapes. This is well returned by your picture
Regards Stefano

silvan (949) 2009-02-11 5:24

Hi Kristine,

I understand that you would have preferred a mirror-smooth reflection (I have experimented the same), but frankly I much prefer your own way. This is well demonstrated by your beautifull shot. Thanks for sharing.
Silvan

tcgt1979 (153) 2009-02-11 5:48

Kristine,
I just spent a good 10 minutes browsing through all your pictures. Wow! You have a beautiful array of pictures with such clarity and sharpness. Amazing. The ones from Chile and Ecuador are fantastic! Lots of color and contrast. This one here of Parinacota is great, I wish the water had been still in order to capture the full reflection. I can only imagine what the original photo looks like without the mandatory "re-sizing"!! A few more pink flamingos would have brought out some more color to the image. Keep posting!

Greg1949 (8519) 2009-02-11 5:52

Kristine, another great one for you, the sights you see are truly magnificent and you (two) present them so well. All the technicals are perfect and the composition is great especially in not having the water surface too glassy, great capture.

Greg

Floydian (30970) 2009-02-11 6:23

Dear Kristine,

Yesterday i was browsing the internet and saw much more pictures from you on other websites, very interesting ;-) Okay, back to this one. The dark mood is set and the dark sky works pretty well in here. Maybe that i would to see some more soft warm toning light on the volcano, but the rest can leave untouched. The bright white top, the Flamingo's below in the water, small but very important details here...very nice.

Regards,

Henk

zmey (7282) 2009-02-11 6:41

a tad on the dark side (i remember the original being much brighter), but very pleasing indeed. the bright flamingos provide just the right accent: a treat for eyes.

hugs
k.

fulvio52 (8314) 2009-02-11 7:16

Hi, Kristine.
Never been here, but I think this one pretty much fulfils all of my photographic expectations concerning the Andes. In particular, I love the textures on those slopes and I'm sure I like it better the way it is now rather than having the water mirror-smooth à la plastic Pirelli Calender. IMNAAHO, those ripples much better fit location and mood. Dark, stark, barren... love it! Have a nice day, I'll be seeing you.
Fulvio.

BennyV (4919) 2009-02-11 8:19

Hello Kristine,

Crystal clear view, again with colourful birds to break the emptiness, a touch which I like, but what I like most is the cloud formation 'resting' on the volcano.

Benny

AROBN54 (10791) 2009-02-11 8:46

Oh my, Kristine,
what a beautiful shot. The light and shadow is simply breathtaking and the colors are so wonderfully clear and natural. I love that snow covered mountain catching the light with the clouds hugging the top and reflected in the water. Just fabulous! Many thanks and warm regards,
Shelly

Wandering_Dan (3297) 2009-02-11 9:34

Hi, Kristine -

At first glance, I thought your title was "pannacotta" - which kind of fits the cream-like topping here!

Anyway, it's a beautiful shot, and the ripple reflections are more than adequate, philosophically speaking. Nice off-center positioning.

Best,
Dan

cdmonson (2769) 2009-02-11 18:59

Hi Kristine:

Lovely shot of Parinacota and Chungara. I like the off center composition (every other shot I've seen is dead center) and the cloud above the volcano. Nice job.

Clark

mkamionka (4990) 2009-02-12 1:45

Hi Kristine,
It is a spectacular view.
Good use of polarizer, you got wonderful colors.
The clouds are fantastic.
Very good job!
M

rey316 (1902) 2009-02-12 2:03

Hi Kristine
I love this picture. A beautiful mountain with a snowy peak in the hides of white clouds. Calm highlights freely walking flamingos.
Good job
Andrey

baba_flies (8115) 2009-02-12 6:38

Hello Kristine! Not that I miss snow :))) it has snowed the whole morning, but I still find it special to see it together with these earth tones. Wonderful the clouds, now hiding the peak a little but not too much but enough to make it mysterious. The birds are great how they stand in the water, cooling their legs maybe. Never look at travel books :))) We all should know how fast you can cheat a little bit and when you arrive it is totally or at least a little different. Each sees it differently but sometimes the weather does not help either or a huge cloud stands in the way. Something like that. Mirror effect or not, a wonderful post ... Barbara.

luisafonso (858) 2009-02-12 6:50

I am becoming more and more in love with Chile. And that's all because of TE and talented photographers like you. These natural parks are the dream of any landscape lover. I like your picture very much. Although it's a vista (I am missing something on the immediate foreground that holds my attention) it's a very beautiful and well composed view. The exposure is very good. Wouldn't mind see more light over the mountain though, but I guess we can't control Mother Nature yet... :) We have a fabulous gallery.

Longroute (9875) 2009-02-12 9:33

Quite a well balanced and adjusted composition with the volcano slighltly to the left and the long slope going down to the right. Then the lake with its reflections adds depth and movement, while the gorgious sky and clouds are the most interesting elements of contrast. The lit snow makes everything so bright and fresh and the flamingos -even so small, are another interesting point. A place I'd like to visit. Thank you for showing.
Donato

delkoo (34810) 2009-02-12 10:53

this one is also very attractive , Your photo has a pretty well chosen pov and an elaborated composition that helped to enhance the interest of the place, with also excellent exposure and sharpness!

didier

danos (33330) 2009-02-12 11:42

Hello Kristine,
great the view of this picturesque volcano with the snow on the top to creates an incredible scene.I like the superb reflections on the water,as the flamingos that are asset in the composition.The sharpness and the clarity are magnificent.Well done.

Regards,Danos

lucasgalodoido (16831) 2009-02-12 12:53

Hi Kristine,
nice view of this mountain, the lake reflections was great, and I´d like of the quality and sharpen of image. Great job.
Regards,
Lucas

gneufeld (15235) 2009-02-12 18:05

Hi Kristine,
Another fine perspective with the mountain view in the distance. The large birds are quite far out but the expansive view is impressive. Well seen and TFS. Gerald

gunbud (28165) 2009-02-12 19:33

Hi Kristine,
Love the glass surface of the shallow laked as it catches the beautiful blue sky and dramatic clouds in its riffling surface.
The beautiful snowcapped mount is seen in lovely texture and lines as it leads us up to those incredible clouds.
The flimingos adds some contrasting color and effect scale to this incredible alpine shot.
Regards, Tom

Waylim (11159) 2009-02-12 23:27

Kristine,
Another really beautiful shot, I like this vocanoe and looks like you're very fortunate with the weather to have fairly nice day but some cloud just enough to make the composition interesting and more drammatic. as I scroll down to write this critiques I can only see the bottom half of the image I realize also just how beautiful the reflection is wiht a few pink dots of flamingoes. That's kind of nice to enjoy just part of the image at a time and than as a whole. Anyway I look at it, simply beautiful.
Way

emka (22389) 2009-02-12 23:51

Hi Cristino, Very impressive photo even without clear reflection. 4500 m - it is high. And here it look like that it would be an easy task to ne on 6350 m :)). Fantastic place.

Regards

Malgorzata

ricochet (4818) 2009-02-13 12:51

Bonjour Kristine
Fantastique cette photo comme à ton habitude avec une composition très percutante qui n'est pas sans rappeller le Mont kilimandjaro mais avec l'eau en plus qui apporte un joli reflet pour équiliber parfaitement l'ensemble et qui me plait beaucoup! Bravo à toi et bon WE!
Amicalement
Eric

Dpbours (220) 2009-02-13 23:22

Hello Kristine,

This is just wonderful and goes straight to my 'landscapes with WOW' theme. Another reason here to go to Chile one day...

What kind of birds are we looking at? Given the colour, I first thought it were flamingos, but then they are standing way too deep in the water :-).

Greetings! Dennis

batalay (21213) 2009-02-14 19:02

Hello Kristina,

4500 meters is serious altitude for a lake, and of course, it was created as the caldera of an old volcanic eruption. The flamingoes add an exotic touch, but the high contrast is what I like best in this image. The air must be so clear and crisp at this altitude.

Warm regards,

Bulent

plimrn (19740) 2009-02-15 7:04

Hi Kristine,
For me, the clarity carries the day here. I also love the shadow over the patch of snow. I'm with fulvio here on the reflection. I'm amazed to see flamingos at such a high elevation. I always thought of them as warm weather birds.
HLJ, Pat

COSTANTINO (23255) 2009-02-15 10:52

Hello Kristine
Your collection of photos is amazing
I like the most of them,you did the best and this one is a nice composition..
Splendid picture
You chose a very good angle
Excellent work from your part
Costantino

feather (50168) 2009-02-16 8:01

Beautiful shot of the volcano with the peak nicely off-centred. There is just enough cloud obscuring the peak to add interest without too much obstruction, plus there is a bonus with its shadow on the snow. I understand your disappointment to see the lake's surface rippled, but it's not too rippled to prevent a reflection altogether, which has happened to me more than once! Finally the red of the flamingos adds a wondrful extra touch.
Kath

Angshu (34141) 2009-02-17 0:26

Hello Kristine
The reflection of the volcano may not be perfect, strangely the reflections of the clouds are. But it does not bother me one bit...the volcano cone has a topping of snow like an icecream, capped by the clouds which hug it. There are shadows of the clouds as well in the snow. Light was not the best, as it appears, but those flamingoes are amazing...they seem to be small beacons of light. Excellent!
Best Regards
Angshu

azaf1 (15547) 2009-02-20 1:53

Good morning Kristine

Just a perfect reflection in extra sharp details and very good saturation and contrasts.

Have a great day and TFS
Argiris

mikeo (12117) 2009-02-22 12:33

Hello Kristine,

What a place and what a volcano! Great set of colours, from blue sky, throughwhite snow on the top, then lovely brown. Despite reflection on the water is not like you wished, the photo is really great.

Greetings,
Mikeo

racheltafoya (507) 2009-04-15 15:14

This is a beautiful shot, Kristine. I agree with Stefano that the little ripples in the water make for a more interesting image. Otherwise all thee textures would have perhaps been too similar, too 'smooth'. How cool that you got flamingoes!

Nice composition as usual, and great 'moment' with that tuft of cloud caressing the peak.

Best Regards,

Rachel

zumoduvas (1974) 2009-05-02 6:44

Hello Kristine.

Excellent picture, nice composition and colors.

Regards.
Jose Luis.