The Salutation of the Dawn

by morpheus71

“Listen to the Exhortation of the Dawn! Look to this Day! For it is Life, the very Life of Life. In its brief course lie all the Verities and Realities of your Existence. The Bliss of Growth, The Glory of Action, The Splendor of Beauty; For Yesterday is but a Dream, And To-morrow is only a Vision; But To-day well lived makes Every Yesterday a Dream of Happiness, And every Tomorrow a Vision of Hope. Look well therefore to this Day! Such is the Salutation of the Dawn!”

Kalidasa (Indian sanskrit poet in the 5th century A.D.)



Mists shrouding the plains below Blakemore Ridge, with the tower of St Mary's Church at Dartington bathed in the first light of a winter’s morning.

The sun had just risen over Blakemore ridge and for a few moments bathed some of the tree canopies with golden light and added a hint of gentle warmth to the mists.


Technical info:

Pentax K-X
Sigma 55-200mm DC lens

Manfrotto 190XProB tripod
Manfrotto 498RC2 panoramic ball-head

Cromatek circular polarizer

Aperture = f/22
Exposure durations = 1/30, 0.25, 0.5, 0.7 and 1.5 seconds
Focal length = 200mm
ISO = 200
(Manual mode & Spot-metering pattern)

HDR from 5 RAW files (manual bracketing) – using Photomatix Pro 3.27

Finished in Lightroom 3.6 and Photoshop 6.0
Uploaded11/01/2013 - 00:45
CategoryLandscape / Travel
BodyN/A
Shutter SpeedN/A
ApertureN/A
LensN/A
ISON/A
Focal LengthN/A

morpheus71
Posted 11/01/2013 - 00:49 Link
Best viewed large
Lü
Posted 11/01/2013 - 02:42 Link
Love the picture. Love the quote.
As for me, all I know is that I know nothing.
mohammad
Posted 11/01/2013 - 05:07 Link
Tender colors and nice atmosphere.
regards
GIULIO57
Posted 11/01/2013 - 07:17 Link
Superb work
PPG
alfpics
Posted 11/01/2013 - 10:04 Link
An absolute beauty!

Andy
Andy
morpheus71
Posted 11/01/2013 - 10:36 Link
Many thanks for the encouraging comments from Lü, Mohammad, Giulio and Andy It was an uplifting start to the day to see that light upon the mists
Blaze
Posted 11/01/2013 - 16:08 Link
Beautiful photograph - such soft light and mists.
autumnlight
Posted 11/01/2013 - 17:00 Link
Simply stunning and of course, beautiful.
Northgrain
Posted 11/01/2013 - 17:26 Link
Wonderful layers of landscape through the mist.
Stuey
Posted 11/01/2013 - 20:08 Link
Very nice
K10D, K5 plus plenty of clueless enthusiasm.

My Flickr site link
Posted 11/01/2013 - 21:41 Link
Really nice... Reminds me of a far off time and place...

Best
WaypointCharlie
Posted 12/01/2013 - 16:43 Link
Lovely. What a wonderful opportunity you found. An English landscape with an oriental look!

What made you choose those settings? I can't imagine stopping down to f/22 and the four shadow exposures are relatively closely spaced. It seems to work well and it's refreshing to see you haven't gone for an 'in your face' HDR process.
pauljay
Posted 12/01/2013 - 16:59 Link
Magical! Wish I took poetic photos!
Paul.

Photography is not a sport. It has no rules. Everything must be dared and tried! (Bill Brandt)
PPG
szgabor
Posted 12/01/2013 - 22:21 Link
This is a great atmospheric capture. I do like it.
Regards,
Gábor
My website
morpheus71
Posted 15/01/2013 - 10:44 Link
Thanks very much for the generous comments from Blaze, Maria, Tim, Stuey, Bill, WaypointCharlie, Paul and Gabor.

To answer WaypointCharlie's comments I think there is much hype about diffraction over f/16 and as there was so many layers of hidden and revealed countryside it seemed worth the risk to get decent front-to-back sharpness. Various 'zones' were spot metered and assessed to allow me to make the bracketed exposures I felt best represented the scene's dynamic range by later HDR processing... quick decisions in rapidly changing light, as the sun rose over the hills.

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