5 Sep
2010

Posted in: Mt. Rainier
By Ian Plant    4 Comments

Mt. Adams from Mt. Rainier

Here’s the latest in my Mt. Rainier series. I made this image after scaling Pyramid Peak in the dark for a planned sunrise shoot of Mt. Rainier. I was hoping to catch glorious sunrise light on the great mountain from the rocky crags of Pyramid, but unfortunately, when I got to the top after an hour of hiking, I found the view north towards Rainier to be somewhat unremarkable—no clouds or anything else interesting going on. Lucky for me, I was able to look south towards Rainier’s distant neighbor Mt. Adams, and I was presented with much more exciting opportunities. Fog had gathered in the valleys overnight, and Adams and the clouds below it were glowing pink with the rosy light of dawn. So, instead of photographing Rainier, I took a few shots of Adams instead.  

"Dawn Surprise" - View of Mt. Adams from Pyramid Peak

After zooming in my short telephoto lens and setting focus, I slapped a 6-stop neutral density filter on the lens in order to lengthen my exposure time. I did this to capture the motion of the valley fog as it flowed around the mountains. A 2-stop reverse graduated neutral density filter was used to balance the exposure of the sky and mountain with the fog and landforms still in shadow. I cropped this to a panoramic format for web presentation, as some detail in the shadowed mountains that is apparent in the larger version gets lost in a web-sized version.  

The lesson I draw from this experience? It is important to stay flexible, and to adapt to changing conditions. If the scene you want to photograph doesn’t work out, look for something else instead. As the great Bard once sang, you can’t always get what you want, but sometimes you get what you need!   

Technical data: Canon 5D Mark II, 24-105mm lens (@88mm), f/14, ISO 100, 30 seconds. 

See other images from my Mt. Rainier series.

About Ian Plant  (259 Posts)

Ian Plant's photographs and instructional articles have appeared in a number of books, calendars, and magazines, including Outdoor Photographer and Popular Photography. Ian writes a regular blog column for Outdoor Photographer online, and he is the author of numerous instructional eBooks and digital processing tutorials. Ian leads several photo tours each year.