Morning Glory

Some days you capture a bit of nature, some days nature captures a bit of you... Despite several attempts, Mount Adams had been shrouded in clouds when I had tried to photograph it from this location in the past. On this morning though, nature gave the gift. I had arrived at Trout Lake the night before, only to find the mountain shrouded in clouds yet again. Reminding myself that the only way to have “a shot at the shot” was to be ready when the light arrived, I struggled out of my sleeping bag well before dawn and broke camp. It was still dark, but as I waded out into the waist-high grass I could see the mountain shadowing the stars beyond! Despite being soaked from the wet grass, I was enjoying the peaceful fall morning as I excitedly fine-tuned my composition in the half-light. No sooner had I set up when, much to my dismay, clouds swept back in and the mountain disappeared. I stayed and waited for dawn, hoping against hope. Fortunately, the photography gods decided to be merciful. The low clouds swept away as quickly as they had come, and as the sun began to light the distant sky I saw this glorious scene. To record this image, I used a tripod mounted Nikon D80 digital camera with a Nikon f/1.8 50mm prime lens. I took one photograph exposed for the bright mountain and sky. To help minimize noise I also took two photographs exposed for the darker area below the mountain, one focused near and one focused far. After converting the raw images using Adobe Camera Raw, I used Adobe Photoshop to both hand-blend the photographs into a single image and then make contrast and saturation adjustments.

Equipment: Nikon D80 digital camera with a Nikon f/1.8 50mm prime lens