A perfectly ordinary and yet quite painterly entrance to a field on the western edge of Enumclaw, WA. Mt. Rainier in the distance, and summertime “Gawd, the air is SOOOO wet!!!” sky.
Shot with the Phase One digital back on a technical camera, with a 32mm Rokinon lens. This is my very best kit; sharp, rich colors, very good control over depth of field. Shot at f/8, which allows the foreground to be in focus with a slight softness to the deep background.
Here is the exact opposite approach to the shot: a longer focal length lens (Sony 70-200mm, at 70mm f/2.8, for much more shallow focus zone, with focus on the furthest subject, Mt. Rainier. It has a completely different feel to it. The character of the scene is lot, but the details of the deep portion of the landscape is capture much more faithfully.
Both of these images have a dreamlike quality for me, but they are completely different dreams.
Zooming in fully, to 200mm, makes the story completely about the mountain, but the clouds and out-of-focus elements still give the result a dreamlike quality.
I drove a few miles to another favorite Mt. Rainier viewpoint, but by the time I got there, about 15 minutes later, the mountain was completely obscured by clouds.