In the Field

From Marsh to Mountain Peak. Columbia Lake, BC, Canada. September 15, 2008.

I don't tend to shoot too many landscapes. On this morning I was working on capturing some flight shots of Great Blue Herons in the warm light of sunrise. We had a few forest fires burning in the region, which can produce warm colours when the sun hits the smokey, hazy sky. I looked up from the marsh I was standing in and was treated with this visual gourmet. Take this image as evidence that even a dumb wildlife photographer can recognize a gift when he/she is presented with it! There wasn't much this scene didn't give me - wispy fog, layers upon layers of near pastel-coloured mountains, contrast, hazy distant peaks (thanks to the early rays of sunrise mixing with the smoke of the forest fires), and even a final layer of thin clouds against the pale blue sky! I didn't have to work too hard to convince myself to take a few minutes off from my herons and have some fun with the vista that Photeus (that ancient pagan Greek goddess of digital photography) had bestowed upon me!

Behind the Camera

From Marsh to Mountain Peak. Columbia Lake, BC, Canada. September 15, 2008.

Digital Capture; Compressed RAW (NEF) 14-bit format; ISO 400.

Nikon D700 with Nikon 200-400 mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR lens @ 270 mm supported on Gitzo 1348 carbon fibre tripod with Wimberley head. VR turned to "On" and in "Normal" mode.

1/400s @ f11; no compensation from matrix-metered exposure setting.

At the Computer

From Marsh to Mountain Peak. Columbia Lake, BC, Canada. September 15, 2008.

RAW Conversion to 16-bit TIFF, including first-pass/capture sharpening and slight adjustment to shadow/highlight using Phase One's Capture One Pro 4.6.1. Two RAW conversion at different exposure settings: -0.5 stops and +0.8 stops (to recover shadow detail in foreground marsh, fog, and deciduous trees).

Further digital corrections on 16-bit TIFF file using Adobe's Photoshop CS4 and Light Craft's LightZone 3.6. Photoshop adjustments included compositing and masking of 2 exposure versions, selective colour saturation, and selective sharpening for web output. Final tonal adjustments performed in LightZone.

Conservation

From Marsh to Mountain Peak. Columbia Lake, BC, Canada. September 15, 2008.

Ten percent of the revenue generated by this image will be donated to Wildsight.

This shot was taken in the East Kootenays of British Columbia. While much of the East Kootenays seems quite pristine at first glance, many ecosystems within this region face development pressure, including pressure from logging operations. Wildsight is an effective conservation organization that protects biodiversity and promotes sustainable communities in Canada's Columbia and Rocky Mountains. Support for Wildsight, through donation or becoming a member, will help ensure that they remain effective in their efforts to conserve threatened or endangered species and ecosystems.