Church and Chapel
Rockledge Ranch, near Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs, CO
Rockledge Ranch, near Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs, CO
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Oct, 2013Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
I live within walking distance to a beautiful park and open space area called Garden of the Gods, one of the top tourist attractions in the United States. I go hiking through there often. The rock formation in the photo is one of the features of the park. This chapel is located adjacent to the park, in an area known as Rockledge Ranch, which is a public events center and also a historic tourist attraction. This is just to the west of Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA.Time
Being a photographer is what gets me out of bed very early in the morning. This gets me out and ready to go for the "golden hour" in the mornings. The Garden of the Gods is very photogenic right around sunrise. This photo was shot just at dawn, around 7:30 AM, if I remember correctly.Lighting
This is natural lighting, and takes great advantage of the "golden hour." The sunrise was directly behind my back.Equipment
I use a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XS, and an EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens. A tripod was used for this particular shoot.Inspiration
My plan was to use the setting full moon as a landscape background. The lighting was so amazing that morning, I wasn't about to wait for the moon to get closer to the horizon, at the expense of the way the scene was lit. I played with the zoom a little bit, and managed to get the rock, the chapel, the moon and the mountains all in the shot.Editing
I used bracketed exposures at +/- 2/3 EV. This was exposure blended in Photomatrix Pro, directly from RAW.In my camera bag
I'm very low budget, so I have the basic kit set with the Digital Rebel XS body, the EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens, and the EF75-300mm f/4-5.6 USM zoom lens, a set of neutral density filters, a circular polarizing filter, and a remote switch.Feedback
Of course I always recommend returning to a location several times throughout the year. Any landscape scene is never the same more than once. A photographer may take 1000 pictures of a scene, and there will always be something different, be it clouds, lighting, wind effects, and other weather effects. Always keep track of the phase and rise/set times of the moon, if you plan on using the moon in your photo. For mountain photography, and especially for rock formations, the golden hour at sunrise and sunset will never disappoint if you want dramatic color.
