Weekly Photo Challenge: The Golden Hour

It’s Lonely At The Top

This lonely tree grows on a rock outcropping in the Grand Canyon of The Yellowstone.  I photographed it one cloudy morning but the result was even, flat lighting, leaving the photo without much of a sense of perspective.  The next day I was lucky enough to return at just the right time.  The cliff face and tree were bathed in the warm, direct morning sunlight but the opposing canyon wall and the foreground elements were still in shadow.  As a result, the subject is literally highlighted.

Doyles River Upper Falls

When I reached the upper falls on the Doyles River in Shenandoah National Park, the lighting was horrible.  The foreground and most of the photo above and to the left of the falls were bathed in bright, direct sunlight.  The falls and most of the photo to the right of them were in dark shadow.  So I bracketed like crazy and combined two of the resulting photos to produce this HDR image of the scene.

Jones Run Falls Panorama

I stitched together 6 separate photos to create this panoramic view of the rock wall at Jones Run Falls in Shenandoah National Park.  The water seeping over the stone edifice makes it appear very dark, nearly black.  As with all of the photos on my blog, you can click on it to see a larger, more detailed image.