We’ve had clear skies lately, but Mt. Rainer and the Cascade range are real cloud-makers. Air that flows over them rises, and makes clouds.
So although it’s been clear off and on, most days the mountain remains elusive. Today was typical: clear early, but the sun was behind the mountain and it was just…gray and featureless. Later, as the sun heated the air, it rose, and started to wrap the mountain in clouds just as it was starting to get properly illuminated by the southerly sun angle.
Here is a moment between: some clouds, some mountain, seen through a curtain of cottonwood trees along the Puyallup River.
Technical info: shot with the 135mm f/2.8 lens on the Sony. It’s a super sharp lens, so sharp in fact that as I was ‘developing’ this photo digitally, I didn’t notice for a long time that the foreground trees are not quite in focus! They are ever so slightly soft, while the middle ground and the mountain are super sharp.
This is a panorama, a combination of multiple shots taken when swinging the camera from left to right. (Did not have the bellows setup with me today.)
I love the delicacy of the bare branches, and texture of the sky, and the massive mount lurking behind it all, no doubt laughing at such scenic pretenders.
Note: I focused carefully on the mountain, sort of hoping that the trees would be a little out of focus, but at f/4, the depth of field is pretty big so I didn’t get the blur I would have liked. Next time I will play with that idea and see what it looks like.
Because this is a panorama, it’s actually a HUGE image, more than 100 megapixels. I can’t upload full-size images due to slow internet, but the actual image is about ¼ of full size, and full of details. I always try to upload the largest version of an image I can manage, please remember to click on the images so you can see the larger size—the default size on the page is pretty small.
Here is a panorama of the river. It doesn’t line up with the picture above, so I’m posting it separately.
These panos really need to be seen on a large screen to fully appreciate them. The level of detail that you’re getting just blows my mind. In addition to the texture that you mentioned I notice the warmth of the trees and the cool color of the mountain and sky. The ever so slightly gray clouds with all that texture is so interesting. I have to say I love the river picture. It puts me right there and remindsMe how much I love rivers.