autumn dawn with moon
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Category Archives: Lions Head
clouds and snow at sunrise
moon and lions head
This was yesterday morning in which two of my favorite subjects offered an image I could not ignore! I woke at sunrise and grabbed tripod and camera and hit the deck barefoot. The temperature was 49 degrees F, but I didn’t notice my cold feet until I’d spent 25 min. watching and photographing the moon setting alongside lions head. I love the way the shadow of the mountains behind me slip away to reveal the a radiant lion as the sun rises.
Some people say they can’t see the lion in this over 9,000 ft rock outcrop, but I know he’s there for he motivates me to get out of my warm bed and photograph. The lion performs well with clouds and fog, snow and trees, and early light. I adore him with the moon. Some people do morning yoga salutations to the sun, but my morning salutations often point to the lion on my western horizon.
cloud filled valley
bright clouds at sunrise
In the sky last week: a bright wave above the treetops.
I loved the tiny, thin line of cloud stretched out beside lions head. Named it, “lions breath”.
I can’t get away from the moon.
I’ve got the moon in my head. I listened to an old song with a line about the moon and the line played over and again in my mind for a week. Cured the condition by listening to lots of other music, but am being careful with that song from now on. Won’t even type the title. 😉
lions head with snow and moon
A New Page
My new portfolio page was created with Picturesurf Gallery. I filled gallery with images I’ve been printing on fine art paper. Not all the images that I print appear in the gallery at this time, but many of the popular and/or recent ones are there.
storm cloud over lions head
Lions Head
Each day it’s a new view.
Today I took my dog out to get a different morning view of Lions Head. But the aspens I was hoping to capture were still green and it was windy and the dog just wanted to go for a walk. Why do we always have to stop and photograph, he must wonder.
The image below shows this morning’s view from lions foot in the creek valley.
Lion’s Sunrise
I like to capture images of Lions Head when the first rays of morning sunlight are striking its top and clouds in the west are lit with early colorful light.
The challenge with this scene is losing the trees in the foreground to deep shadows. The light reaches Lions Head a long time before it illuminates the trees. The range from highlights to shadows make this image a good choice for multiple exposure composites.
The 9,000+ ft. Lions Head is part of the forbidden park, closed to the public while in the planning stages. I wait impatiently for its opening. When that happens I may have to start a blog just for park photos.
Colorful Landscape – It’s All About Light
The photos in this post were all taken this morning within about two hours time. Up before dawn and watching the pretty clouds in the west, I thought it might be a good morning for a colorful dawn light glowing on the clouds and Lions Head. I put the wide angle on the camera and positioned the tripod as the first of the pink began to show up in the clouds.
Later, with early sunlight on Lions Head I changed position to photographed trees still in shadow against the brightly lit rock of Cathedral and Lions Head. Where the earliest sunlight on Lions Head produces red and orange, a bit later the light reflected from the rocks is more yellow in color as seen below.
An hour later heavy clouds almost fill the sky and filter the light. The color in the photo below is so muted I could have got almost the same shot in black and white. 
Yet, the day is still good for color photography. When zooming in to photograph birds or flowers, or just about any close up of a subject, better color and detail is possible with overcast skies or filtered light rather than direct lighting. I put the wide angle lens away and switched to a macro lens to photograph orchids blooming in the house in the soft, cloud-filtered light from a window.
Dramatic Morning Clouds over Lions Head
When I’m up before sunrise and clouds are in the west, I’m rewarded with a view like this to photograph. (click image for larger view) This morning, when I looked out the window, the clouds were already pink over lions head so I ran with the camera and tripod out in my pajamas to capture the color that never lasts long. A few seconds of barefoot on the cold deck was all I could stand and the color was disappearing fast, so I didn’t take the time to set mirror lockup, but did use the tripod to steady the camera for the low light shot. 1/8 second at F11 with the ISO set at 400 and a focal length of 10mm. Canon 30d with canon ef-s 10-22mm lens.