Mt. Rainier without all the Snow
The air cleared and I grabbed a shot in Orting.
The state of Mt. Rainier has been the buzz of Washington state this summer. Thanks to the big heat wave and continued hot and dry weather, the snow pack has largely disappeared.
The snow that left is really ice, as in glaciers. There’s a lot of dust and rockfall visible as well, and the whole mountain looks darker than I’ve ever seen it.
The photo above has been specially processed to bring out as much detail as possible; the photo below is the actual view to the eye.
Technical info: Shot with a 120mm macro lens from Schneider-Kreuznach on the Phase One. Handheld, at ISO 50, 1/250th second, f/9.
Special processing means pretty significant sharpening using a special tool (Topaz Sharpen AI); it does a good job of revealing details (some software tends to create details, this is not that). I also did some haze removal (de-blue the mountain using algorithms that estimate distance) to reveal the color of the rocks. Yes, there is some guessing, which is why I’m mentioning that this is a heavily processed image. However, I was careful not to go crazy with it. :)
Here is a fuller view, with the usual processing to balance color, reveal details in the shadows, and other light-handed stuff. Well, it does include the de-hazing. I also cropped a bit to cut out unfocused grass blades at the bottom. Shot from a field in Orting, WA. Try to ignore the power lines; there is a big one through there and pretty much all the good views of Rainier catch the power lines. <shrug> I’m always looking for new viewpoints to shoot from…
