Look to the East

Down in the bowl carved out by centuries, even millennia of a raging river, the Cradle of Forestry is a gem in the Pisgah National Forest. The testing grounds for what became the very roots in which forestry in the United States, a titan within the rolling mountains of Appalachia. This is the first glimmer of the morning sun rising up over those hallowed hills, covered by a low hanging morning mist in the late summer, early fall, the cloud tops catching the morning glow, as the sky burns above. At dawn, look to the east, perhaps you too will find relief.

Shot from the Blue Ridge Parkway back in September, this particular composition has given me trouble since I took it. Finding the right way to combine the images, to pull detail from the shadows, and breath life into a dark and brooding sunrise scene. That, of course, was the problem. Sunrise shouldn’t be dark and brooding, it should bring joy, and calm. The long dark is over, and now we are refreshed from the struggles of the day before.

Editing this photo was a test of my patience in the most complete sense. Fifteen different versions, variations and edits were attempted before I got to this one. Managing to combine three exposure values was only the first part of the troubles, next I had to figure out how to bring details out of the shadows, and breathe just a little life into this morning scene. Deepening the sky, painting over the greens, and reducing the intrusive blues. While I have a loving appreciation for the blue haze, in this case it was too much. Color correction on a photo such as this takes time, and in my case, I put no less than eight hours into this single image.

Until Next Time!

Aperture: f8
ISO: 1000
SS: 1/125th
Focal: 23mm

Fujinon 16-55mm