Don't say a word...

Yes, it was an epic sunset tonight. Yes, I happened to go out to shoot the Bridgers... the sun was just bathing the mountains in this blood red light that I couldn't pass up.

I actually almost missed the light. As I was driving out, the sun dipped below the clouds, and I thought I'd lost the light. It's happened before, and it kinda sucks. There will always be those moments in life that you miss. That the timing just isn't right for. But I saw a break in the clouds that might, might let the sun through. So I kept driving, and sure enough the sun did come out again. I pulled over and grabbed my camera. There was just enough time to capture the light on the mountain before it faded away. So I guess the moral of the story is...

leave the house a few minutes before you think you should.


As far as exposures went, I was pretty telephoto so I was opened up at f/5.6. To get a shutter speed I needed for frozen shots, I had to jack the ISO up to 400 and only then could I get to 1/100. I was shooting handheld at 80mm, so about 120mm on a 35mm camera, so to get stable shots I needed to be shooting at at least 1/100 of a second. Preferable faster. If I had time to put down a tripod, that would be nice, but I was in a rush.

Editing was done in three parts tonight. First, I did some basic stuff in Lr like expo adjustment up a hair, as well as highlights and whites. I just like having bright whites in my photos. Don't know why. I think it might be so that they don't feel flat. I also did some lens correction so that the photos would blend nicely together.

In Ps, I just stitched everything, then cropped it down so there was no white blank space. I also removed an antenna by using the stamp tool. Just cloned areas that looked similar, and used a big soft brush so everything would blend well.


Back in Lr, I raised the clarity just a hair, as well as the shadows. I liked the extra bit of contrast it gave the scene. I also lowered the blacks a bit to get those rich tones back. No color altering took place. Except for in the grass, because it was an ugly yellow so I added some warmth to it. No much, still looks ugly, but it's better now.

That's about it folks, this is pretty much straight out of the camera as far as color goes. Contrast is adjusted, but not very much. This photo is as true to life as any photo really is.

See you tomorrow!