Skagit Valley Dawn
Tulip Festival in the Skagit Valley, WA
Tulip Festival in the Skagit Valley, WA
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Feb, 2015Views
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Awards
Legendary Award
Contest Finalist in City or Country Photo Contest
Featured
Contest Finalist in HDR Landscapes Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Lines In Nature Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in VIP Members Photo Contest Vol 2
Contest Finalist in Agriculture Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Photographer Of The Month Photo Contest Vol 10
Contest Finalist in Monthly Pro Vol 11 Photo Contest
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Peer Award
Superb Composition
Absolute Masterpiece
Top Choice
Outstanding Creativity
Magnificent Capture
All Star
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aprilrena
June 15, 2015
So beautiful! Reminds me of "Tulip Mania" where in the mid-seventeenth century they were so popular they could be used as money!
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RDVPhotography
June 17, 2015
Came across your entry to Monthly Pro Vol 11 while looking at the competition. Congratulations. I see several folks I am following also in the finals :D
Platinum
p_eileenbaltz
September 15, 2015
This is a gorgeous image! Congratulations on being chosen as a finalist in the Agriculture Contest.....and, good luck.:)
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RDVPhotography
September 18, 2015
Congratulations Kathy and good luck, beautiful image and no my entry did not make the finals this time : D
tamell23
October 02, 2015
Join the conversation. Add a comment or even better, a critique. Let's get better together!
Platinum
GayleLucci
March 29, 2016
Congratulations! Indisputable masterpiece. I'm headed to Mt. Vernon Tulip Fest. in a couple weeks. Tulips are early this year so may miss prime time...Looks like you timed it perfectly.
jamiemackrill
April 06, 2016
Literally one of the best and most beautiful photographs I've seen on here. I love the crates, the water reflection, the sky and the lines of flowers. So much depth in this. I've got a lot of work to do! :)
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Platinum
edj41
August 15, 2016
Beautiful capture! Sure do miss being in the great Northwest Skagit Valley was always a yearly shoot. Have you tried the Snow Geese. They are truly beautiful.
Great work!
Great work!
Platinum
GayleLucci
November 19, 2016
Congratulations, Kathy. A huge fav for me!!!! Every detail done to perfection.
jeffswanson
January 31, 2017
Outstanding image. Very beautiful shot. I should be up there in April 2017.
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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Behind The Lens
Location
In the Skagit Valley, WA, about an hour N of Seattle. They have a tulip festival every year, and allow the public to wander in the huge tulip fields during that time.Time
I arrived at the fields before dawn to find a good composition as the sun rose. This image was shot just after sunrise, but the sun was softened by cloud layers. I had scouted the fields the afternoon before to find the fields that looked most photogenic. In some the tulips hadn't really started opening, and I really liked the picking boxes & water between some of the rows.Lighting
I used a graduated ND filter despite the cloud cover, as the sky was very bright compared to the tulip fields. I looked for a row that water down it to draw the viewer's eye into the picture and towards the sunrise.Equipment
I used my Nikon D300 with an 18-200mm lens and graduated ND filer and tripod.Inspiration
I love flowers and I love sheets of flowers. Acres and acres of tulips are such a visual and sensory treat! I loved the geometry of the rows, and liked the human dimension provided by the picking boxes at the end of some rows. I chose this location to shoot because of the combination of the wooden boxes and the water down the middle of the far right rows. The light was just enough to give the sky great color & light the tulip tips & water. That made the image for me.Editing
I took 3 images and merged them in Photomatix. I adjusted the darker RAW image again, and manually layered that into the image I made through Photomatix. So the final image is a mixture of a processed HDR image and a manually created HDR image.In my camera bag
I travel light because I can't physically carry a lot of weight. So I usually just have the camera I'm going to shoot with & my chosen lens (which with the D300 is the 18-200mm). If I'm out on a longer shoot, I might also bring my 70-200mm lens. If I'm shooting dawn/dusk, I have a granduated ND filter, and of course always carry lens cleaning cloths, a shower cap (to protect the camera in case of rain) and dental floss (amazing how useful that has been!).Feedback
Mornings are frequently chilly and often foggy in this part of the world at tulip time, so make sure you have a lens hood, small towel etc. Always case out your shooting options the day before so you know in advance the kind of compositions you can make. Also, fields like this, especially in the Pacific NW, are usually VERY muddy even if it's not raining, so have appropriate foot gear & perhaps rain gear!
