The Early Bird Gets the Worm (sunrise this morning - DIAL UP WARN)

It is hard to beat a desert sunrise in central Oregon. This is a sequence I shot between about 5:15 and 5:25 AM (PDT) today (Saturday, 6/11). These were shot with a Canon 5D-Mk2 using a 70-200 f2.8 zoom with a 2X extender (400mm f5.6) on most of the shots. All shots were post-processed in PhotoShop CS-5.

This evening is looking like a winner for a sunset. I've got the Three Sisters and Broken Top with clouds spilling over the passes and a little drift smoke from Rx burns for color. Meanwhile, I'll post the most excellent sunset from two nights ago, again, below the sunrise photos.

I'm going with the large format photo files, just because they will view much better. Please fasten your seatbelt for takeoff.

Enjoy
Mac

Sunrise sequence:

















South Sister and Broken Top at sunset two nights ago:

WOW!

You sure know how to make the most of your surroundings!

Thank you.

I'm most distinctly not a morning person, but if I had sunrises like that to get up to, I'd become one!

Otherwise, I would have missed it.

Thank you!

and we're blessed to have you here sharing these with us.
Peace
rec so others can see the beauty

Peace, indeed. You and I are two lucky dudes to get to see our 63rd year, given the events of the late 60s that we were involved in. Let's make the most of the last few, OK?

Kids should not be used for cannon fodder as we were as the kids of today are. Let those who want to rain down death and destruction on others do the deed, not innocents as we were as the kids of today are.
We've never met and probably never will but today we're brothers, as strange as that may sound to some.
You are still out there watching over us same as you were back then and for that you deserve the highest honor one can be bestowed with. Sharing with us is the true nature of your being.
May peace and friendship always be by your side taking care of you as you take care of us.

Yes Peace indeed.

66 here, and proud to say. Yeah, where we've been - I hope new generations don't go. Not to say it wasn't an adventure, but rather, was it a worthy one for mankind.

Love your photos DT. I get some sunrise and sunset pics from my place, but they aren't as majestic as yours are!

I would like to think that hope isn't all we've got but with the present crop of congress critters I think maybe hope is indeed all we have.

As far as I can tell most all of them skated out when it was their turn, tucked tail and ran.

I feel good about myself that I stepped up to the plate even though now I don't feel it was the right thing to do, 'our country going into Vietnam like we did.' But as kids we or I didn't know better at the time. I realized it shortly after arriving in country but there wasn't anything I could do about it then. That time had passed

As I said to our friend I'll say to you, may peace and happiness always be by your side in these waning years, hopefully we'll all have many more to enjoy :hi:

When you say they were "post-processed in PhotoShop CS-5," can you tell us a little about what you did? Are these shots significantly "punched up," or would you say they are essentially au naturel?

That sunset shot is fantastic as well, really dreamlike. It's all I can do not to go crazy with envy.

Here is my process on these photos:
1. Open raw file and correct white balance
2. Open raw into CS-5 and crop
3. Correct levels
4. Correct exposure (usually up 0.25 with offset down about 0.25, with the way I shoot)
4. Shadows/Highlights (minor tweaking, if any)
5. Brightness/Contrast (up brightness about 10-15 and contrast the same)
6. Vibrance/Saturation (maybe push color vibrance up a few notches, but NO tweaks to saturation)
7. Curves (pick the best contrast curve or make your own)
8. Save as _____ file

DemoTex, do you realize how lucky you are?

Please?

Taken on my first day in the lookout my first fire season: 2009. Nick on my old pink Coleman sleeping bag. A SC artist did an oil from this photo - and knowlege of Nick - which I have on my wall back in South Carolina.


Slick, quick Nick.

I love his eyes. What a great picture !

Is that really a sleeping bag or the sunrise from your photos upthread?

I hope you cross posted this into the Photography forum, I'm sure they'd be glad you shared them:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=280

You are a real card!

splendor first thing in the morning. :0

Thx for the beautiful photos. :thumbsup:

But someone has to do it. How sweet it is!

As Ed Norton said to Ralph when Ralph was laid off:

"I know just how you feel because I went through the same thing two or three years ago when they laid me off from the sewer. I felt just like a fish out of water."

:)

Jaw dropping.

And that fourth shot looks absolutely stunning as my new desktop. Thanks!

"Red sky at morning," and all that?

Gorgeous pics. Thanks for posting! You're lucky to be out in a beautiful area.

Red sky in the morning, Sailors take warning...

Red sky at night, Sailors delight.

Sailors like 'windy'. 'Calm', not so much, as in a red morning sky.


.

Spectacular.

:thumbsup:

Gorgeous!

nice pix.

Sure feel sorry for the folks out there on dial-up. I thought I was the LAST one at 56K and I gave that up several years ago...

Dear me. Try HDR exposures next time and take it easy on the PS tricks. The 2x is only degrading your images. Do you live on Mars? Yuck.

Welcome to DU.

Of course he's talking about sunset but the imagery is the same...

If solitude hath ever led thy steps
To the wild ocean's echoing shore,
And thou has lingered there,
Until the sun's broad orb
Seemed resting on the burnished wave,
Thou must have marked the lines
Of purple gold, that motionless
Hung o'er the sinking sphere:
Thou must have marked the billowy clouds
Edged with intolerable radiancy
Towering like rocks of jet
Crowned with a diamond wreath.
And yet here is a moment,
When the sun's highest point
Peeps like a star o'er the ocean's western edge,
When those far clouds of feathery gold,
Shaded with the deepest purple gleam
Like islands on a dark blue sea;
Then has thy fancy soared above the earth,
And furled its wearied wing
Within the Fairy's fane.

I keed

I keed

how does that 2x impact the shutter/aperture/sharpness? i used one on a film camera years ago and found it grainy and slowed me down unless it was a bright day. nonetheless, i'm considering adding one to my canon.

I would call that a "Tequila Sunrise"... Thank you for sharing!!!

Makes me want to be there! :)

...thats about all the sun we get until July.

Okay, enough of my whining. Thanks for the great pics. Watched a show on PBS the other night about the Apache fire fighters and I thought of you and all of the work you do for us.:hug:

I always look forward to your posts.

When are you getting started on your book?

for selling sunset and sunrise pics. Really. :applause:

they are great... Keep up the good work :hi:

You're not a bad photographer ya know. Stunning.

for posting these!
I can't wait till you put them
all in a book! I want a copy :D

Keep 'em comming!

I'm always in awe of your photography, DemoTex. Great. Thanks so much for sharing.