Evening Passage – Mount Rainier National Park

Evening Passage. Upper Tipsoo Lake, Mount Rainier National Park, Fall 2011, by Gavin Seim.

We made a trip this fall into the forests above Yakima, below the rear entrance of Mount Rainier national park. It’s a breathtaking view up here if the weather favors you. And while it was pretty grey on this evening around sunset, the sky had it’s moments and beauty. There was indeed a gentle subtlety singing in those peaks, hidden away within the folds of light and shadow,

The result is Evening passage, a silent reflection in the upper lake, made calmer my the gentle passing of clouds and ripples in this long sunset exposure.

Release Details: Prints Currently available. Contact the Studio for availability and ordering.

For Photographers. How it was made… Canon MK2, 17-40 @40mm f13, 60sec, ISO200.

I was tripod mounted with a low perspective, the long exposure gave me the nicely streaking clouds and made the refection even smoother. I started the development process with the Super Simple and Equalizer X presets from Power Workflow 3. Then going into further refinements and some brushwork to control tonal range and get things looking reasonably refined.

Next I went into PS. The key to this one seemed to be a subtle touch. It was was of those days where the light is not screaming at you. Demanding your notice of it’s radiance. And yet there can be a gentle subtly to that sort of light. Something you often have to work a bit to reveal, but light that is there. . Mainly I used careful burning and dodging and a bit of pixel painting to bring in some highlight and color from the sky.

After that I headed back into LR for a few final tweaks and to very carefully think out my crop. Trimming a bit of extra sky and considering where the frame should break on the right and the left. The result is above. Could the light have been “better?” perhaps by the standard we normally use. But then it would have been different. I’m happy with this frame and I think it tells a little story about the uncertain whether of the mounts,

 

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About the Author

Glad you're here.

I'm from WA State USA and started studying photography in 97. I started work as a pro (using that word loosely because I sucked) using film at age 16. I learned fast but was not as easy to find training then. Sometimes I beat my head against the wall until I figured stuff out.

As digital dawned I went all in and got to study with masters like Ken Whitmire. In 09 I founded the Pro Photo Show podcast. I started promoting tone-focused editing. When Lightroom arrived, I started developing tools to make editing and workflow better.

20 years of study and photography around the country earned me a Master of Photography (M.Photog) from PPA. I got to see my workshops and tools featured in publications across the industry. Once I even won the prestigious HotOne award for my "EXposed" light and tone workshop.

Wanting something calmer, I moved to Mexico in 2017. It's a land of magical light. I'm here now exploring light and trying to master my weak areas. I make videos of that for my Youtube channel, sharing what I learn. I hope you'll stick around and be part of Light Hunters Tribe... Gavin

Gavin Seim

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