An Early Morning Hike +edit

[AlanLichty]

The woods in the Pacific Northwest are fairly dark places but my favorite way to shoot them is to go out early in the morning when it's even darker. Direct sunlight in some places is a curse since it is too bright for the rest of whatever your scene might be. Shooting well before sunrise offers up more uniform light. This shot is from a visit last fall to Sweet Creek right near the lower trailhead at a point where it wasn't light enough yet to see the camera controls but the camera can record a uniform capture with a 2 second exposure.

C&C always welcome.

Edit: New 16x9 crop from Jim's suggestion:

 

[Ben Egbert]

Very nice Alan, and i do the same thing for the same reasons.

 

[Jameel Hyder]

A lot of nice elements here. The color on fallen leaves and they are spread out provide good leading lines. The choice of shutter gives a nice texture to the flowing water and the greens provide a contrasting backdrop.

 

[sweetgrass]

Very cool Alan, really digging on the rich tones.

 

[JimFox]

Yep, before sunrise is the way to go.

Looking at this some more, I think going to a 16:9 format and cropping off half of the bottom rock area so that the tree area and the rock area occupy the same amount of space in the photo.

 

[AlanLichty]

Yep, before sunrise is the way to go.

Looking at this some more, I think going to a 16:9 format and cropping off half of the bottom rock area so that the tree area and the rock area occupy the same amount of space in the photo.

Thanks - and good call on the crop. I added a new version at the top. This makes the creek much more prominent in the scene and I like the result.

 

[Douglas Sherman]

I like the cropped version as well, Alan. Sometimes I think the cloudy weather in the PNW was designed to allow photographers to make good images. Contrasting light just doesn't get it.

 

[Bart Carrig]

Great image, Al. The first post really makes me fell I am right there. But Jim's crop takes that great scene and makes it even more compelling. Loved it.

Bart