This Morning's Sunrise Above Donner Lake
It was another beautiful morning here in Truckee, California! Last night, the Skyfire app forecast was for a good sunrise so I woke up at 4:30am and headed up to Rainbow Bridge. It's a favorite local spot of mine. When the road is plowed it is fairly easy access. I was glad I had spiked crampons attached to my boots for a bit more grip on the icy snow, but I would have probably been fine without them.
The first photos I shot were pre-dawn, the colors started early. They kept getting better and eventually exploded with the oranges and yellows that I love. Those colors always look great when printed.
I was concerned that this area would have a lot of foot prints in the snow as it often does. There's a small parking lot nearby and a lot of people stop there for Donner selfies and maybe a quick hike. Fortunately, the snow looked perfect and I'm very happy with the smooth cool foreground in this shot.
An inversion caused some clouds to settle over Donner Lake. The lake is mostly covered but you can see a bit of it still. Usually the inversions completely cover the lake. Another win!
The yellow streak in the lower center is a "light trail" from a driving car. I took some shots without cars but I like how the light emphasized the bend in the road and I thought it went well with the arc of the bridge.
Shot on a Canon 5DS R with a 16-35mm lens set at 16mm. A graduated neutral density filter was used on the front of the lens in order to balance out the foreground light with the sky exposure. ISO 400, the lens aperture was f/6.3, and it was a 30 second exposure.
And of course, I usually try to get that selfie... The Samsung S22 was struggling with focus for some reason, this is obviously a bit soft but I wanted to share how happy I was looking. It was worth the early wake up!
Thanks for looking and I hope you all are having a great day too. Cheers!
Scott Thompson
Scott Shots Photography
www.ScottShotsPhoto.com
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Great shot. I like how the car lights kind of mimic the sky.
Ah, nice. I didn't even realize the colors were similar and was just happy about the two arcs. Cheers!
Do you always use a filter on the lens?
For some reason I don't use filters. But I have them in stock.
I'm surprised you use Samsung S22. I thought all Americans use an iPhone
I took the Samsung A22s as my second smartphone last summer. Now Samsung have disappeared from our stores... China rejoices. It occupies all our markets of electronics, automotive and so on.
Do you also like to wake up early and wander in the bosom of nature?
Not always but I often do use a graduated neutral density filter at sunrise or sunset. It helps balance the sky exposure with the foreground and gives me a more evenly lit RAW image to work on. But with Adobe's tools these days, using filters to achieve exposure balance isn't really necessary. I just still like it.
Yup, Mac computer but I still like Android phones. The Samsungs for the whole family was a decent deal. Interesting that Samsung has disappeared from your stores. I've been considering an iphone for my next upgrade but we will see...
No. I don't like waking up early at all, lol. But, it can be worth it for catching sunrises, or fish. Cheers!
We have a lot of things that disappeared from stores last year. We are Russia. Our president believes that our balls are the steelest and we are the coolest. But in fact, we have been living with a bare ass for a long time. And our President lives in a different reality. He doesn't buy anything for himself, he's on full state support. And the prices of imported goods through intermediaries of other countries have increased significantly.
Photoshop is good, but the best thing is to actually have the right picture initially in order to make fewer corrections. It all takes a lot of time.
It's hard to beat that morning light. And yes, less is more when it comes to correction, for sure.
I appreciate hearing your opinion as I never know what to believe these days. Russia has always seemed kind of cool, but it's because of the people not the government (not that ours is really any better...) Hopefully times get easier for everyone in your area soon.
I hope so too. And my wife and my children. But it's not that simple. Many consider all non-Russians to be enemies of Russia. This is constantly being talked about on TV and radio - America and Europe have attacked Russia!
we cannot say out loud about our thoughts and feelings. This threatens with a fine and jail.
3 days ago in our city, 10-year-old children beat up their peer for the fact that the boy had an ice rink for riding down a slide in the color "yellow-blue".
Dang, that's sad about the kids. I fear that as humans, we are deep in the early stages of the Idiocracy. So many amazing things are being done by many people, at the same time, many people seem to be broken and unfixable. I wish I was smart enough to be able to offer solutions but all I am good at is running to the woods with my camera.
Oh, I also run into the woods with a camera.
The wife refused to pay money for the war at her job. She and another girl. After a while, we will find out what their punishment will be.
No one in my office is collecting money yet.
Wow, they are collecting extra tax to support the war? Sorry man. I'm glad your wife is staying strong, you guys seem like good people. Hope you have a bit of fun in the woods!
This is not a tax! This is called "voluntary donations", or "assistance to soldiers". Lots of names. all over the country, some incomprehensible funds that raise money "to help" have grown like mushrooms. It's all evil.
Ah, yes of course. We have plenty of those kind of organizations here too, for all kinds of causes. Only a small fraction, if any, actually goes to helping. I hope they don't try to "peer pressure" you too much.
I would certainly still be dreaming to take that kind of shot at 4.30 am. 😅
beautiful shots, love the arch and the orange sky color.
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Ha! Yeah, I've shut the early alarm off and said "nope" plenty of times. But glad I actually got up today. Thanks!
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Those low clouds over the lake tho!
Hey, you know that spot! The inversions are fun this time of year.
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Yessir! Need to get back out and visit!
Indeed. I re-watched that vid, incredible sunrise that morning! Definitely hit me up if you make it back out here. Always fun to go shooting with you. Cheers!
I bet Quill is somewhere down there playing in the snow, isn't he? haha. Nice shots!
Not this time. It's a bit of a sketchy spot with nearby cliff drops and a road. Thank you!
I tried before doing a landscape shooting and ding a shoot like these for me feels like going to go fishing. I had to set the timing and wait for the right time to take a photo. And not always getting the desired photo.
But this is an amazing shoot my friend. At first I thought the yellow area was the sun rise? but looking at the shadows it made me confused 😅
Glad you like it! Yes, the yellow area is from the sun rise, you were correct. The bridge shadow is from the bright moon that was setting behind me and the bridge. It was an odd shadow to see, but I like it!
Ahh I see, no wonder I got confuse. The photo was very unique. It has two natural light source at the same time :D great capture!
Perfect shot
Thank you! The perfect snow with no footprints really added to it. Cheers!
Amazing!