Mono Lake, CA Sunrise

[EasternSierra]

"Dragons Be Here"

Olympus E-520; Zuiko 14-42mm @ 14mm
ISO 100; f/22; 1.6s
3stop soft GND filter
Handheld strobe for fill

The idea was to accent the color and drama of the sky, the reflections, and the shore in front. I used a handheld strobe as fill flash midway through the exposure, otherwise there would have been no detail in the foreground. I didn't really want a silouhette...

Anyhow...I like this one, but I'm not really "convinced" entirely. So I want to hear your thoughts. Tell me what you think, in general, regarding composition, exposure, aesthetics, and your personal opinions/feelings.

Thanks in advance for any and all input!

[Peely22]

It looks an amazing site to photograph, and such a great sky!
I can't help but feel the lightening of the foreground has affected the balance of the shot, losing the mirroring effect.

[shphoto32]

Wow, that's a great shot. If I believed in backgrounds for my desktop I'd consider using that picture. Nice work!

[charlesj68]

Wow, do I ever like that shot! I like the foreground lighting, but it seems a bit too blue. All the reds in the photo make the blue seem out of place. Daylight white balance mixing badly with the flash? Maybe a bit of Photoshop filtering can orange the foreground up a bit.

[swedg]

I've looked at this a fair amount of time and what I feel is the foreground contradicts the background harshly and I don't quite understand why you feel you need it. Yes it locates the viewer and provides a kind of stage for looking into the frame, but the real subject is the sky, isn't it? and the foreground, which really doesn't have a lot of character, is distracting, even disturbing. Maybe that's what you wanted (looking through "harsh" reality into a fantasy world? is that what you mean by the dragons?). But I'd eliminate it or minimize it and then you have a lovely sunrise.

[EasternSierra]

No, I disagree entirely. The foreground element is absolutely necessary to the composition. It gives the viewer a place to stand. Otherwise, the viewer is floating above the lake looking out. With the foreground, it gives the viewer an anchor...a place to stand within the frame. That's a very basic and key compositional element.

As for the color...it wasn't set to daylight white balance, it was set to overcast/cloudy because...well...it was cloudy. And I suppose it is possible that this interfered with the flash strobe, but with a 1.6 second exposure and a single flash strobe, I doubt it. No, the color is actualy very close to what it looked like being there. There WAS a tone of blue. Yes, there was a ton of red, but there was a ton of blue as well. I have shots looking west (instead of east, as this one) where the entire sky is blue, and there is no sign of pink or red. That's often the nautre of sunrises...