Uploaded 23-May-09
Taken 28-Feb-07
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12 of 17 photos

Diablo Alpenglow

After sunset following a winter storm, a snow-capped Mt Diablo is bathed in Alpenglow as the dark blue shadow of the earth rises into the evening sky. This phenomena occurs about 20 minutes after sunset when the air is extremely dry and clear. A long exposure shows movement in the clouds and foreground trees.
Canon EOS 5D, f/22 @ 73 mm, 13s, ISO 50, No Flash

Last comment by Jim on 8-Nov-10:
I think this is a great shot- I saw the last comment (re. 'unnatural' sky) - I don't really believe that it is such an odd color. The longer wavelengths are red, and cast this color both at dawn and at dusk. If someone thought this was unnatural, it shows they are not traveled very well. My only technical suggestion is that this photo looks like no polarizer was used, which if used should have helped eliminate some of the 'haziness' evident from water vapor in the air.
Last comment by Patrick Smith Photography on 24-Mar-10:
Thank you for your critique. You should provide an email address so I can reply. You are not logged in. Either that or email me directly.

While your observations are technically correct, this was taken after sunset and there are no shadows and the sky was really that unreal color. and it cast that unusual diffused glow over the landscape. This was meant to be a surreal and unusually composed scene instead of a common scene with classic light. Based on your comments, I've succeeded!
Last comment by iview1 on 24-Mar-10:
Color cast: Cyan is dominanance clashes against the warm orange sky. Tempted by a wide angle L-series lens, the scene is brimmed with clustered details yet lack impact. Foreground interest is not compelling/interesting and blends bleakly with the same tonal range as the middle foliage at a distance that forces the viewer to hunt for a leading lines and a detailed point to rest the eyes like a lens switched to AF mode, constantly searching for focus. The source of light is hard to determing at first glance due to the same tonal values accross scene. Everything in nature, indoor and out door, (as the eye is capabable to see within the norm lighting of EV-Exposorue value from the darkest blacks to the whitest white that translates to 1000.0000:1 contrast ratio), has three tonal range (values): Direct light>Difused Lihgt>And Shadows. Black has no value. It's zero. If one those values is missing, the scene will look flat, lacking in contrast an vibrancy(eg the hills on the foreground). Even on a overcast day; on the objects in your living room; everywhere but in pitch black, those values are present. The old Masters have exploited those values in painting, drawing and many other mediums, to create a depth of field and, unlike the Artists before the Renaissance whose works lacked linear perspective and tonal values in paintings, three dimesional effect...
Suggestion: A tighter crop from the lower skirts of the hills and a little from the right would do the composition and viewer a great favor. Needless to mention dodging and burning with curves> or layers >and blending modes in Ps. Ultra-wide angle lenses sometimes can be quite tempting to include more than needed in a composition, unless you have a very compelling/interesting foreground and background

Diablo Alpenglow