Can't Help but Look Up* by Canon DSLR Challenge


29-JAN-2005	CindyD (Sis-Q)

Shot from my bedroom window this morning

Canon EOS 20D ,Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM
1/400s f/13.0 at 195.0mm iso100
In-Camera B&W hide exif

other sizes: small medium original auto

Please do not delete, update, or otherwise edit others' entries
* Submitter retains all copyrights *

cindyd		04-Feb-2005 15:22
Yep, skiers and boarders spend a lot of time up there. You really can't appreciate the size and steepness from a pic like this. I've stood at the point right where it really starts getting steep - just below the bottom line on this pic, at about 8500 feet (mountain is 14,162 feet and the road ends at 6,950 feet in the winter -- little higher in the summer). Sometimes you become aware of an "S" curve in the snow forming up really high, and coming down the mountain - you look closely and there is a black dot at the leading tip - reminds me of a tiny jet at the front of a contrail . . . lol. 5 minutes later that snow boarder wooshes past you at a very high rate of speed . . . carrying his 80 pound pack of gear on his back he hauled up there to reach the summit over a 2-day climb. CRAZY!

Canon DSLR Challenge		04-Feb-2005 03:01
Lovely! This is what skiers and "adventure junkies" dreams are made of... Thanks for sharing! :-D

Guest		02-Feb-2005 13:48
Striking image! The interplay of shadow and light is nice. One month 'til my ski trip and counting...

Canon DSLR Challenge		31-Jan-2005 05:38
Bad spelling on my part, I know. I realized after I had posted. In Danish (my native language, remember?) volcano is "vulkan". --Olaf.dk

ctfchallenge		31-Jan-2005 02:16
Silly me. At first I thought this was Earth but something didn't seem quite right about the sky. Thank you Olaf for the correction; I didn't realize it was Vulcan! ;) LOL! ~ Lonnit

Canon DSLR Challenge		30-Jan-2005 16:50
Oh - and Olaf - don't even think about this baby errupting! (USGS puts the odds at between 1:3 and 1:4 it will become active within 40-50 years :( RE: In-camera B&W. This is what I've discovered. If the shot is going to need any post processing that will increase noise - the in camera B&W seems to come out cleaner than converted RAWs. With these mountain shots nearly all needing contrasting to make them more dramatic - even at ISO 100 - I get banding when I start to darken the shadows through contrast or levels adjustments - even a little bit. When the shot is an in-camera B&W jpeg this seems to be avodied. Cindy

cindyd		30-Jan-2005 16:41
Thanks guys, regarding the filter . . . I'm embarrassed to admit this. I don't know much about the filters, but I think the red filter would have been correct for a shot like this. However, I had accidently left the blue filter on from a previous shoot. I actually had to do a color cast correction for a black and white image! lol. Post processing included the color cast correction, a fairly slight contrast believe it or not, and sharpening. Regarding the view . . .whomever designed our house made sure they put the master bedroom in a position to capture that fantastic view, helped it out by putting in an enormous window, then conveniently placed the closet in the only place you could put the bed to see it! So yes, I have a great view but I actually have to get my backside out of bed to see it :( . We have plans to rearrange that in stage 16 of the home remodeling or something. haha

Canon DSLR Challenge		30-Jan-2005 12:09
In-camera B/W, huh? I haven't even gotten around to play with that feature of my 20D yet. I reason if I shoot in color, I can always change to black and white (using the channel mixer) in post, whereas the opposite would be near impossible. Looks good though! Did you use the red filter effect (sky so dark)? --Olaf.dk

Canon DSLR Challenge		30-Jan-2005 10:39
Friday night was really an exception for me, in the sense that I sat down and watched TV. Saw a not very good movie with Pierce Brosnan: "Dante's Peak". Made me think of you Cindy, living at the foot of this vulcano... --Olaf.dk

Guest		30-Jan-2005 08:01
Crikey, with a view like that out of my bedroom window...? I'd never leave. * - would a yellow filter darken the sky above the mountain a little? The shadows on the left side of the ridge are nice and dark, but a darker sky would give it a little more.