mismadam

Mythical landscape

Weather in the Utah desert areas can be unpredictable. The conditions of this storm were so perfect for this shot.

Weather in the Utah desert areas can be unpredictable. The conditions of this storm were so perfect for this shot.
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NIKON D5000

settings

Aperture f/10 ISO 200 Shutter 10/2500 Focal Length 220/10

upload_date

Jul, 2015

Views

204

Likes

+19

Awards

Fall Award 2020

Outstanding Creativity

Superb Composition

Peer Award

Top Choice

Absolute Masterpiece

Magnificent Capture

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Top 10 rank

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Platinum

Nice shot, is this Goblin Valley?

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Behind The Lens

Location

I took this Photo at Goblin Valley State Park in Utah.

Time

My family and I were out hiking, there were storms passing through all afternoon. This particular storm approached us much quicker than we had thought it would. We started to head back to the car as this area is known to flash flood with lots of rain and I needed just one more minute with this beautiful landscape. I couldn't take my eyes off the way the clouds were moving so quickly changing the shades of the landscape every few minutes. The sun had a chance to shine through and when it did I just happened to look back over my shoulder for one more glance and it was at that moment I knew it was now or never with this "hoodoo". The weather really performed for me on this day and I couldn't appreciate it more. This is one of my all-time favorite landscape photographs I have ever had a chance to shoot.

Lighting

I love to capture light as it is. We all know that the camera doesn't always see the scene the way we do with our eyes. On this day the clouds were reflective and dark at the same time in some areas it would alternate. I was interested the most in the sun rays shining through the clouds. This was going to be my main subject but light sometimes tells us what it wants us to shoot not what we want. The sun never really came through the clouds but instead, it surrounded them like a halo, forcing the shimmering light above and out around the top edges of the gray clouds.

Equipment

I was using my Nikon D5000

Inspiration

I wanted to photograph the hoodoos of Goblin Valley for some time. I never had the opportunity to do so. We decided to take a drive and visit the hoodoos. I was in search of the perfect hoodoo I had seen in the State Park brochures but I wanted one for myself one from my own style. As we walked through the hoodoos and visualized the space filled with various sizes I wanted more than just a large backdrop of hoodoos. The sun performed in unison with the clouds I knew immediately the E.T. shaped hoodoo with open space around it was the hoodoo I wanted. I waited in the area hoping the dark clouds would pass and the sun would come back out. I was in luck, I received the best show of light in a short display of halo rays.

Editing

I used Nik Software, I used the glow filter and the pro contrast filter to help bring out some of the red sandstone and the gray in the clouds. other than those to filters I used a bit of the brightness and contrast to help pull in more detail of the rays.

In my camera bag

The few things I always make sure I have in my bag is my 50mm lens, my lens pen, and my ND filters. I usually carry two lenses with me; on this particular day, our road trip was not planned other than it was a spur of the moment grab and go kind of day. I only had the 50-300mm lens on it and I wasn't 100% sure of the scenery where we were headed. I had been trying to get a perfect moon shot the night prior so it was already on the camera.

Feedback

Patients for light is the biggest lesson I have been learning throughout all my photography. Sometimes the light will play for you and other times not so much. Being patient is the hardest lesson to learn for anything but the results leave so much for the imagination to concur. When we are silent and patient nature reveals her true self.

See more amazing photos, follow mismadam

mismadam

mismadam

Mythical landscape

Weather in the Utah desert areas can be unpredictable. The conditions of this storm were so perfect for this shot.

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow mismadam

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