Storm Ridge
This is the last of the images I will post from the powerful storm of a week ago. Right now this is my favourite image from that day, though others are contenders for sure. This one is also a candidate for my Aerial Landscapes series, though perhaps more accurately as a mountain top view. To me it appears to be taken along a foggy ridge of waterfalls from very far away. For some reason the foggy waves and arrangement of the rocks really accentuates the angle of view, which was only slightly downwards.
I was quite lucky to get a shot as clear as this – it is the only one I took from this tripod location because it is looking right into the storm, though from a slightly higher vantage than my other shots, the air was still heavy with spray and the filter was coated at the end of this long exposure. I did not think the picture would turn out too well with all that spray so did not try for another. Possibly the spray was only blown onto the filter in the last few seconds of the shot and not visible for that reason. I sure am glad I got the exposure right first try.
The top photograph is a crop from a larger view – I just could not get much closer and feel comfortable doing so, and have a place to rest my tripod. This location is near to the dark blue adirondack chair which has showed up in other posts of mine. I like the crop a bit better than the original framing, but think that both stand on their own quite well. I would be interested to know whether I am on the right track with this crop, so I have included the original shot as well, below.
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And, just to show how much the storm has added to this view, I include below a shot that I took yesterday morning at sunrise, cropped to match the top photograph. The sea was calm, with some really small choppy waves. The more recent shot really has very little going for it when compared to last week’s one. And that, for me, is a great reminder about timing and finding the opportunities that are out there, as with other things in life.
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Canon EOS 5Dii, Canon 50mm/f1.4 lens. Cameron fader ND filter. Top: ISO100, f22, 25 seconds. Bottom: ISO1250 (oops), f-22, 30 seconds.
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burnt embers 
I am not sure how I missed this when you first posted. I like all of these but the middle one is particularly nice, with the contrast between the milky water and the rough rocks. Very well done, my friend!
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Thank you Melinda. I am glad you found this post. These are among my favourite shots
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I have to totally agree here! This is the best set from the storm series, my friend! To be perfectly honest, I prefer the second uncropped version, just because it adds a bit of context to the scene. But that’s not to say the first image isn’t absolutely wonderful; it truly is!! And the inclusion of the last image shares a COMPLETELY different scene of the same location with the viewer here; top drawer my friend!!
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Thank you Toad. I am glad you agree about this image. Also, I value your comment about the context for the scene. For me it’s a toss up, but when I look at the uncropped version, it’s the area in the cropped one that I really want to have a close look at, which drove the decision to crop. Sometimes I should be leaving that decision to the viewer, who can then do what they can to look more closely with the not very high resolution images I post.
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I see why this is your favorite image for the day! It came out beautifully. I like the tonality throughout the frame. It seems very well balanced. Nice work.
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Thanks a lot Ken. I find it a very satisfying image.
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gorgeous! The crop works very well
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Thanks Nick! I have been enjoying looking at your northern images – here I am describing the hardships of photography in a strong wind, one that would feel warm to you, while you are out as a matter of routine in cold and deeply frozen conditions. I hope I don’t sound like a wimp to people that live in places like you do.
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This is so beautiful; I can see why it stands out. I think your crop is perfect; it sets a deeper tone.
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Thank you Ryan. I think that visually the crop emphasises the potential size of the square area with waterfalls and makes it more likely to be a huge and deep montane feature.
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This has been a great series Ehpem! Braving the elements has been worth it. I especially like the third image in this post…love the light, color and textures!
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Thank you David. I am being surprised by the comments on that third image. I threw it in for comparison sake, not as an image to be seriously looked at, and yet it turns out that people are looking at it and liking what they see. It is from a different day when I was trying to capture the early morning light. I will show more pictures from that day, but I thought I should give long exposures, in any conditions, a bit of a rest.
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I love the layers of fog-like storm waves in the first shot, and I love the colours in the third. They’re wonderful!
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Hi Laurie – Thank you!. Those are sunrise colours in the last one, which do help make this photo more interesting. But, I like the colours of the first ones – there is a quality about them that seems to come with the long exposures. Not sure what it is, but the original image is quite saturated and I find I usually need to desaturate them a bit to make them ‘feel’ right.
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Wonderful shots; I have really enjoyed this series of photos. I love all 3 of these; the foreground texture in first two is fabulous but I love the light in the third. WInners, all!
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Hi composer – I am so glad you have been enjoying them. That last image would in other contexts could be just fine and stand alone, but for me in this context it is just a handy illustration of the difference that weather can make and not really interesting in its own right. But, I am glad you like it – it was taken at sunrise and the light was very nice.
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Yes, you hit the nail on the head with the crop. It brings the viewer in for a much more personal view. Love the shot — very painterly. Beautiful.
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Hi Danita – thanks for the vote of confidence in the crop, and your kind comments. I was beginning to wonder if I was the only one. But then, we do seem to overlap on these things quite often.
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All three very effective. I actually find the original storm image (no crop) the most seductive for some reason. I like all the texture in contrast to the softness from the flowing water.
Gorgeous either way.
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Hi Karen – thanks for your thoughts on this. I am a bit torn between those two versions, which is one of the reasons I posted both of them. I like that foreground as well, but there is a bit much of it for me since I was trying to photograph the water’s edge. But, that aside, it does have a special quality that seems to come with these long exposures and presumably the overcast and quite dark skies.
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The last 2 photos indicate how the seaside is ever changing. Every day, even every hour, shows a different scene. Going through these Storm posts again I like “fence down near” from the “Fence Stormed” post best. Great photo overall and the shutter speed worked just right to show the water realistically and the storm that swept it. Overall the photos you posted this week make for a real enjoyable spread. Thanks ehpem.
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Hi Joseph – thanks for your thoughtful comment, and for going through this series carefully 🙂 I like that photo too, but because I was really interested in smoothing the sharp edges of the storm away with long exposures, I have not really settled on that picture. I think on any other day I would have been very pleased with the picture. I took a lot from that angle but did not quite capture the way it felt to be there – I missed the big waves at their best (a problem with the shutter on a 2 second delay, leads to guessing when best to press the shutter, really must get a remote release). But I do love the colours in the photo, and the broken fence (that segment blew down after I was there, so very little remains now).
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I like the second pic best, the threatening streak of dark gray in the sky top left and the interplay between sharply focused lichens, grasses and moss on the rocks in the foreground.
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Thanks Mario – I worked at keeping that band of gray in the crop, but there was not way. It is the sky in this photo, but in reality it is the edge of water where there the waves are not breaking so much – that edge is a predominant part of the first photos in this series.
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The first 2 pictures remind me of the Dead Marshes in the Lord of the Ring !!!
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That same thought occured to me. Slightly ominous, but beautiful in their own way. And, it is very close to a cemetery. Actually it is between a formal Cemetery and an aboriginal shell midden which is bound to include human remains. So, like the dead marshes, if you stir the surface in this area, you could find faces staring out at you.
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Stunning photo’s
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Thank you maenamor!
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