Mt. Rainer

[knobspinner]

Taken from Yelm, Washington. Canon 5D, 400mm f5.6 L, Tripod, remote release. I have heard that this is the largest fresh water reserve in North America. Picture taken from about 100 ft. above sea level. Top of mountian is 14,400 ft. and 20 miles away.

[Donald]

That is a very nice image, Jim. I think you've placed the trees very well. Just that line of the tops gives us context and contrast in the image. The contrast is, of course, with that lovely paleness of snow and sky. Tp my eye, you've made an excellent job of the exposure.

[FrankMi]

Hi Jim, this is one of the most stunning photographs I've seen of Mt Rainer and far better than any I have taken of it. Together with perennial snow patches, the 26 major glaciers cover about 36 square miles of the mountain's surface and have a volume of about 1 cubic mile.

It is a scary place to live. My youngest son lives in Gig harbor, hopefully far enough away when this stratovolcano next erupts.

Mt. Rainier is considered one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world, and it is on the Decade Volcano list. Because of its large amount of glacial ice, Mt. Rainier could potentially produce massive lahars (volcanic mudflows) that would threaten the whole Puyallup River valley. Its lahars have reached all the way to Puget Sound, a distance of more than 30 miles. Last time I checked, there were over 150,000 people living ON TOP OF the lahars created by the last major eruption.

Not only is there much ice atop the volcano, as you can see, the volcano is also slowly being weakened by hydrothermal activity. According to Geoff Clayton, a geologist with a Washington State Geology firm, a repeat of the Osceola mudflow would destroy Enumclaw, Orting, Kent, Auburn, Puyallup, Sumner and all of Renton. Such a mudflow might also reach down the Duwamish estuary and destroy parts of downtown Seattle, and cause tsunamis in Puget Sound and Lake Washington. Rainier is also capable of producing pyroclastic flows as well as lava.

This is gorgeous place to visit and photograph but I wouldn't want live close by!

[rpcrowe]

I spent two weeks in that area in July-August several years ago and the Ranier was partially or totally obscurred by haze every day. This is a gorgeous and clear shot...

Frank, you are perfectly correct in the danger of living in the shadow of Ranier. It's like living in the shadow of Vesuvius and other volcanoes.

[speedneeder]

I dunno. For me the contrast is a little low for Ranier. I visited there years ago, it is a beautiful sight.

[knobspinner]

Thanks for the kind words everyone, volcanoes, tornadoes, hurricanes, freezing cold, heat stroke, nukes, terrorists, politicians, if it kills you, you're dead!

[dje]

Hi Jim

I also think it's a great image. It shows very competent photography skills to me.

I don't know if you've done any pp work on it but I tried a couple of simple things with your image and posted the results below. I hope you don't mind.

You and others can decide for yourselves whether this extra pp is worthwhile.

Cheers Dave

Unsharp Mask Applied



Duplicate layer added with Colour Burn Blending Mode set to 15% Opacity.

[knobspinner]

Your version looks very nice. Sometimes I don't trust myself, afraid I'll overdo it. Thanks for the positive comments.

[KeithH]

Simply stunning

[Donald]

It's good to see other perspectives and suggestions coming in. I still prefer the original.

But the most important thing of all, I suggest, is that the image needs to represent what you, Jim, saw and felt at the time you pressed the shutter. What did that picture look like in your head at that moment?

I know that some people maybe write this sort of thinking off as nonsensical twaddle and think, 'Just take the photo and we'll work it out in PP later'. But if that final image is really going to sing, then it's going to have your stamp all over it. It's going to be you. And that's going to come from you translating the image that's behind your eyeballs at the time (as Pops Carter used to say on here a lot) into what we see on the screen or in print.