From Behind the Clouds

Exploration is one of the joys of my life as a landscape photographer. Finding hidden hollows, or roadside gems, in this case, I knew that along Newfound Gap I would find something exciting, something worth the wait. When I had seen it previously in a dense cloud covered misty day I suspected there was more to it, and as you can see, I wasn’t disappointed. The sun dropped into the valley just shy of center, dipping from one cloud to the next until the illumination was just so. The last of the light in the valleys giving a faint glow as the sun appeared from behind the clouds before setting for the day. Truly a spectacular sight.

I had been up on this overlook the day before, scouting a promising location I hadn’t been to in ages. Close enough to home that I didn’t need to fret, but still requiring a bit of planning. Popular tourist location, as evident by the fact there were so many tourists there watching the sunset with me, enough I was pulling double duty. Some of them approaching me to gingerly ask me to use their cellphone to take their photos. I of course obliged, yes it’s a little annoying, no I don’t mind to do it as long as people are respectful when asking [everyone one on this day]. Strangely, I was the only actual photographer up there this evening, given the conditions, I can’t say I’m surprised though.

As far as this edit goes, I didn’t do anything truly fancy until the end. Of course my usual dodge and burn treatment along the mountains, and a little increase in the light along the far valley. The more technical parts of this edit included two linear gradients at the top and bottom, I lightened the bottom of the frame in a solid line, butt he top I did a little more gingerly with the luma tool. Darkening the sky just a smidge, adding a touch more contrast to the sky while giving a light bump to the saturation.

Until Next TIme!

Aperture: f10
ISO: 250
SS: 1/15th
Focal: 21mm

Fujinon 16-55 f2.8