Wichita Sunrise 2 Photo

Photographer’s Note

A foil to my last picture, depicting a blue sunrise, this picture, taken 28 minutes later, shows a climber watching the sunrise, now filled with yellows and oranges, from the subsummit of Baldy Point.

I had just finished reading "Galen Rowell's Inner Game of Outdoor Photography" a week or two before I took this picture, and in one of the articles entitled "Demystifying the Diffraction Fringe" he discussed different light effects, among them the diffraction fringe. He included a fairly detailed description of necessary conditions, and as I stood about 60 feet behind the other climber, just low enough to be in the shadow of his head, I ran through the checklist mentally--I was just about 60 feet away, the sun just about fit behind my pinkie, I could just about get it to fit behind his head, and the sky certainly wasn't clear.

Conditions being slightly less than favorable for the diffraction fringe, I realized that my placing myself in a position to take the diffraction fringe had composed an interesting shot of its own. I went ahead and took three or four, and have been more than pleased with them, and did manage to get a weak diffraction fringe lower on the figure where the mountains blocked some of the excess light that washed the fringe out near his head.

The mountain that is mostly covered up by the figure is Mount Lugert, just to the figure's right is Williams Peak, the long flat-topped mountain is...well...Flat Top Mountain, with Soldiers Peak appearing as a small summit of Flat Top on its right side. King Mountain leads out of the frame.

moroskat, Robbienight, mlopes, martou, erthmuffin, yazdi, Mistral, kludwig20, joelvoortman83, quillo, marknunnerley, Jason_teale, faganrodney, happypoppeye, touristdidi, essie has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

moroskat (46) 2006-02-02 19:48

Beautiful photo. The oranges are very deep, and the silhouette is nice. Thanks,
mike.

Robbienight (613) 2006-02-02 19:55

Nice shot, well done. And the note too is very good.
I like the warmth of the sunset and the black silhouette contrasting with it.

klennon79 (0) 2006-02-02 19:59

Hi Sam.
Really amazing vertical shot. It reminds me of a cowboy riding off into the sunset--without the horse of course- oh, and it's actually sunrise :)
The view is beautiful. Great colors and sillouette. Nice job.

mlopes (492) 2006-02-02 20:23

Great note Sam, well done :))) i like this shot, somehow it reminds me a scene taken from a western movie.
Mario

Cormac (26455) 2006-02-02 20:46

Great shot! I like the outline of the figure, with the sun just behind him, but still giving an outline of light around his body (is the that the diffraction fringe? I'm not familiar with the term). The sky is quite interesting too. How did you enjoy the book? I saw it recently in a book store, but didn't buy it - now I regret it because I can't seem to find it again. It looked interesting. Excellent work!

martou (1672) 2006-02-02 20:52

bonjour Sam,
another amazing silhouette shot, the vertical framing is very well balanced on this scene, good work,
félicitation Martin

dHitman (0) 2006-02-02 22:27

Hi Sam,
Lovely composition and colors. The silhouette with litle highlights around him is just great. TFS!

Regards, Jino.

kaud (1838) 2006-02-03 0:11

Beautiful color.
Great silhouette.
Should have tried another less exposed shot.

erthmuffin (1537) 2006-02-03 1:06

beautiful colors! well done! it almost looks as if he's standing on the edge of the grand canyon.

kdien (9261) 2006-02-03 1:41

Hi Sam,
Splendid frame, beautiful idea and realization. Good utilization lighting. Cool.
Regards, Krzysztof

[workshop] [compare]

yazdi (412) 2006-02-03 4:11

Hi Sam;
Great work, very creative, very cool!
Regards!
Jamal

Framboisilla (5402) 2006-02-03 5:42

Hello Sam,

Beautiful shot on this nice sunshine ! The composition is very good with this man in the first plan and the contrasts and colors are wonderful.

Best regards,
Stéphanie.

jbweasle (9294) 2006-02-03 14:14

Sam, this is a great silhouette - the hat directly in front of the sun is superb! Wonderful colours too.

izmirli (3287) 2006-02-03 15:02

merhaba my friend sam
very nice pitcure.very good colours.very good composition. gürkan

ilheu (130) 2006-02-03 15:59

hi
nice photo, nice colour, nice angle
:)

gilbriones2002 (930) 2006-02-03 16:43

i love this phot sam, i think better than the other one, i love the way the ray of light from the sun surrounds his head, very well composed, it gives it a mystical touch, as i said before you are getting better and better, so how do you like the d50 so far?

fmfelman (118) 2006-02-11 7:56

I too thought this was a cowboy heading into the sunset, but your detailed note told us otherwise. It looks like a movie poster and if that was the case, I would want to run right out and see the movie. I am going to head to Amazon after this to order Golden Rowell's book. What you've learned from it seems to have given you a lot of great information for setting up a great shot. Very nice work and I look forward to seeing more.

Mistral (13798) 2006-02-18 11:35

Hi Sam,
great silhouette with wonderful sky!
Your composition is also very good as your note!
Thanks a lot in appreciating my images with really flattery note! I will do my best to post always nicer images.
A smile
Luca

jsec (2074) 2006-03-03 22:28

Great picture, although I dont quite get the diffraction fringe thing. Perhaps I`m tired and its late. Super job anyway.

Regards

Jeff

kludwig20 (395) 2006-03-12 10:14

Wow! Great shot, I love the halo created around the edge of the persons silhouette. Great exposure and colors. Nicely done!

euryan (8351) 2006-05-18 3:12

I had never heard of this "diffraction fringe" but it looks really cool on his lower jacket. I learn new things here at TE all the time. This is the kind of shot Marlboro would pay good money for. I did a workshop with a tighter crop just to see how it would look, and because I found the top of the clouds just a little bit distracting. I don't know why I waited so long to critique this photo. I kept seeing it and liking it, but never got around to it. Good job implementing the diffraction fringe technique after only having read about it.
Regards,
Ryan

joelvoortman83 (125) 2006-06-05 21:25

Beautiful!
When I was scanning your photos this one really stuck out to me, well done! A brilliant photo captured perfectly! I agree with Ryan though, I may have cropped off a bit of the top and bottom though to highlight the diffraction fringe a bit more though? Great note to accompany the picture too, helpful for me next time!
Great work and TFS with us here!
Joel

captainsgirl (3448) 2006-08-15 20:13

wow..I don't understand all that you wrote seeing as though I am a newbie here..but whatever you did..the photo is amazing....I love it..:o)
TFS!

darrasin (2860) 2006-08-15 20:27

Exceptional! It is perfect as is, but I would experiment with some different crops as well. Taking off maybe a third of the top would focus the eye more on the climber and still show a lot of the beautiful sky. It might also work as a landscape shot too.

Regards,
Doug

quillo (7348) 2006-09-07 7:23

Hi Sam, a spectacular image with the silhouette trimmed in a the center of the sun, is a photo either captured with colors or balances with the light.
Congratulations and thanks to share it.

A hug.

saeedabbasi (294) 2006-11-29 3:21 [Comment]

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flosoup (563) 2006-11-30 14:44

You ever read Stephen King's Dark Tower series, this is defintely Roland of Gilead. Beautiful soft colours and great composition. TFS

zizzer77 (721) 2006-12-08 4:08

very good composition

this photo could be the cover of a film of SERGIO LEONE.

tfs

dcawker (5691) 2006-12-10 10:54

Beautiful light and nice tones as well! Regards, Doug

Zepi (22848) 2006-12-28 1:52

Hello Sam,
Superbe prise de vue, on se croirait à la rencontre d’Indiana Jones !:-)
Chouette lumière, excellent rendu
Beau travail
Joyeuses fêtes de fin d’année
Amicalement
Sébastien

marknunnerley (2768) 2006-12-28 3:06

Hi Sam,
very good composition here. Like the light fringe around your subject as it really adds a great touch. Don't think there is a need for a crop as have been done in the workshops, but it's all personal taste.
Best wishes,
Mark

rj2747 (526) 2006-12-29 18:55

In a world of endless featureless sunsets/sunrises, this stands head and shoulders above the rest. My sole minor criticism is the slightly overblown sun but that is splitting hairs with what is just a stunning and inspiring shot. For me, the original composition works perfectly. Totally warmed me up on a cold winter's evening.

capthaddock (28640) 2007-02-05 11:22

Hi Sam - a random find today, the placement of the head is perfect, clever shot, right out of a western movie, I didn't know there was such hilly terrain in Oklahoma.

Jason_teale (703) 2007-02-05 20:13

To me this is the definitive American west shot. It is really well composed. There is a great silhouette and an amazing sunrise.

faganrodney (496) 2007-02-08 18:03

Great example of a bright colorful silhouette. I learned alot from the image and note, TFS Rodney

paido (944) 2007-04-09 22:05

Great Silhouette shot Sam!

The colors mixed with the mountains are great, but with the silhouette makes it special. I love the hat!

happypoppeye (4064) 2007-09-04 18:39

This is a great shot Sam. A little fringing around the hat, maybe due to overexposure, but hey, that's what you get when you put it right against the sun. Plus, your POV creates a good light fringe around the rest of the man's bdoy. Nice color and a great silhouette...good note also.

Great work.
John

touristdidi (8561) 2007-09-07 17:21 [Comment]

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snoopyphoto (44) 2007-09-10 16:17

The colours and the way the silhouetted subject is placed in the frame makes this shot just right for my sunset-loving eye.
If it was for me, I would have cropped out the upper (blue sky) part, but that's just a personal choice and nothing that inconveniences the image in any way. Beautiful!

cepekdong (3668) 2007-09-19 0:07

nice silhouette ! very well seen ! you placed the guy also well

daniel

bcarlier (106) 2007-12-17 2:20

really fantastic photo!
the misty panorama, the sunset, the silhouette..it's great!

livinitout (938) 2007-12-17 2:27

That is a very cool looking picture. Reminds me of the old western movies. Great work. the light is extraordinary as is the positioning of the subject. really well done.

essie (125) 2008-03-02 22:53

Awesome colors and silhouette here. Very nicely done!

sn00zie (2384) 2008-07-07 2:15

this is a beautiful capture. love the silhoutte as your motif.. and the luminous effect, like a halo around it is a brilliant catch! way to go!

Mcalado (21) 2009-11-30 16:46 [Comment]

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