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Diablo Dusk
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Diablo Dusk by PatrickSmith
I've been waiting an entire year to get this shot! First in a set of two.
This was taken on the hill behind my house, 20 miles east of San Francisco. A small but unusual May storm passed through the area, and as it left, a hole opened up in the clouds allowing Mt. Diablo to spend some time in the spotlight. I saw that this was going to happen by watching the satellite movies on a local weather website, so it was just a matter of waiting for it to happen.
The clouds were moving from right to left, so I waited for those dark clouds to move behind the mountian in order to highlight it even further. To get the full effect, see it at 1,000 pixels and turn off the lights.
I also had another shot planned with a grassy path as the foreground just a few hundred feet away. I ran over to that spot and took that photo 2 minutes after this one. I'll show that one next time.
This was taken in the opposite direction of my shot called 'The backbone.' My house is below the trees on the left side of the frame.
2 second exposure @F16 with ND grad 0.9 + 0.3 It was calm so the grasses are still sharp.
Related Technique, Article, Review
| Date Added: | 22 May 2006 - 04:51 |
| Camera: | Canon 5D |
| Lens: | Canon 17-40L @28 |
| Film: | RAW ISO 50 |
| Categories: | Landscape / Travel |
| Tags: | |
| Readers' Votes: | 164 |

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Conrad

Yes Conrad, and have another one that has a more classic look to it.
That's the idea Keith. And yes, it is not a typical English landscape. There are shots of this mountian everywhere, but they are the typical mid-day blue sky shots. Let's see a shot taken from behind your house!
Patrick
Sue



This is a stunner. Must be viewed large for the full impact.
Take care.
Mike
Mike, I've been sitting around watching endless days of completely blue sky with no atmosphere whatsoever. This was a lucky 'bad' weather break!
Patrick

I hope i can take some stunning shots like this when i come to the USA. I am going to Dallas, so if you know any good places to go let know, i will there for one week only.
I will visting my son and seeing my frist granddaughter.
Brian.
P.S. This is my frist trip out in the big wide world,so wish me luck.
Jennnnnnnnnn

Well, its about time you to get some clouds!
Fabulous light on those distant mountains!
Lucky you, having all this at your door step!
If I would take shot RIGHT NOW, the lake is calm as Lordi after the ESC victory! LOL...
Have to wait about four hours untill the sun goes down here...its 6.45 PM here...
Jouko


. . our weather sat is showing Rain . . .Rain,Rain,Rain,Rain,Rain,Rain,Rain,Rain,Rain,Rain,Rain,Rain,Rain,Rain,Rain,Rain,Rain,Rain,Rain,Rain,Rain,Rain,Rain,Rain,Rain,Rain,Rain,Rain,Rain,Rain, and more rain . 
. .if we/ I get any opprortunities in the next month or so? I will be happy to post um! . . LOL

. .great image bye the way

Mike.W
Ade
Chris

Wow Jennnnnnnnn, that is so nice to hear. it was an amazing 10 minutes or so!
Brian, have a great time in Dallas! I don't know much about it photographically. I know there are some lakes that make good shots. Look on Google/Images and search for 'Dallas' and see what comes up. Then look for those spots on a map.
LOL Jouko, you and those Lordis! Are those your average Finns? You seem to get these skies every day, but It has been over a month for me. Good luck with tonight's sunset. And 10:45 too. Soon you can take a sunset and just wait for the sunrise.. then go home!
LOL Ade, no frilly flowers then! You know you want them!
Patrick
Mark

hayley

Antonio

Peter

Jim


thankyou for your kind comments and advice,much appreciated.


Excellent composition, Superb light conditions, Amazing colours.
Best regards.
Jan






Also thanks for the comment and advice spot on
Brian....
I really like your description of approach to getting this shot. Haven't heard of someone tracking the view to get the right conditions for a shot, but the results wow. Haven't read all the comments but I guess most has been said. Must have been as you said impressively calm.
Impressive.
Ken


To get the full effect, see it at 1,000 pixels and turn off the lights.
Oh yes.
Another cracker Patrick.
--Den--

Dot
Gwyn

Ted
Doug.


LOL Ann, so do I!
Ken, I guess it comes down to having a good list of future shots for when the weather is right. Then you just wait..and wait....
LOL Terry. The amazing thing about this one is I hardly had to do anything to it in PS. Just a small adjustment of the levels to get some contrast, then a small sharpen, resize and I was done. Good light makes things a lot easier.
Gwyn, it is just that I have nothing better to do than to wait a year for a shot!
I will Doug.
Patrick

PS.You should not have asked Mr H (keithh) for a shot from behind his house - He will put up that blxxdy awful Bluebell shot again.LOL
Happy holidays.
Brian.

A wonderful shot Patrick. There was you thinking you'd seen the end of clouds like that till autumn too.. The colours are just fabulous.?
Jeanie

The light on the far hill is the icing on the cake.
Simon

stay well
tonymarq
Susie :o)
PS Filters ordered!
Great shot!
Atu
Brian, I'll have to check this out. I did not know!
Jeanie, I thought the clouds were gone until fall too, but they came back for a rare late season appearance!
Patrick

Spot on! Click!!!Greg

Hope you have a splendid day.
Georg

Mark.

Chris


Mari




Im interested in the placement of grads did the sky require 4 stops or was the 1 stop grad placed over the foreground to bring that down and further highlight the light on the mountain?
LOL Greg, I think that pixel 457x731 has a bird in it. Notice the camoflagued plumage?
Alex (theimagepoint), maybe someday I'll open a gallery or something. I might start by having a booth at a local art festival. Do you do them?
Paul, I placed the soft ND 0.9 and the 0.3 so that the sky and mountian became dark but the flat land was left alone. Fortunately, the line between light and dark area was nearly a straight line, so it was an easy choice.
Patrick
(*.*)D
Marc
Daphne, if you set the aperture to F16 or a higher number and focus at or near infinity, everything from a few feet away to infinity will be in focus. Look up 'hyperfocal distance' in Google. And after doing a lot of testing I tend to set it closer to infinity that what they recommend. At F8, I would have to back up so that the closest part of the image is about 10 feet away. Experimient with your own setup while at your house using F22, F16 etc and then you don't have to worry when you go out shooting.
It sure does Marc! It doesn't always look like this. Right now it is sunset and the sky is clear and flat once again.
Patrick

Love the distant light on the mountains,excellent photography !
Janet

The composition is very good indeed and the sky is just fantastic. I'm mot 100% sure on the mountain though, it looks so saturated, almost to the point of being unreal. I had a similar experience in one of my shots a Lake Louise (in my folio), the sunrise took on such a strong colour when reflected in the glacier that in the end I toned it down before printing.
Bags of impact though and its certainly a unique moment in time which afterall is what this photography thing is all about!
Look forward, as ever, to the next one!
Ben
Ben (ghibby); yes, the light on the mountian was quite extraordinary. Behind the camera was a brilliant orange and red sunset and all of the colour focused itself into the mountian. I actually had to desaturate it a bit after adjusting the contrast etc. The sun was slightly dimmer in the next on that I'll upload perhaps on Monday, so you may like the subdued effect a little more.
Patrick

Hawk


Ricochico

Think I was in this spot roughly 2 weeks ago.....

Very Very Nice, lighting is exceptional!
Have a Wonderful Holiday,
Suze

PS: Project ended up at the top of the class...Thank You, P!
Well Chris, this doesn't happen very much. This was two weeks ago and not a single cloud since. Not even ocean fog! When I see clouds, I run outside with my camera and go somewhere.
LOL Rico, lets see if you like this next one as much. It has a different foreground.
No Suzan, *I* was at this spot two week ago! You were working on your award winning project. For some reason, I expect nothing less. You seem to be someone who succeeds at everything. Yes, today will be good. The whole Bay Area is deserted. Everybody is up at Tahoe or Yosemite. The freeways are empty and the weather is sunny as usual. You have a great one too.
Patrick
LOL Ian, it's probably just your internet connection, I have to keep resetting mine today!
Patrick




Charlotte

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Martin