Althouse: Catching the sun.

February 12, 2024

Catching the sun.

At 7:13 a.m.

31 comments:

Rusty said...: I like this one. Nice composition.
I'll make enemies for this, but out of all the sunrise photographs over the years this is one of a handful that isn't cliche'. In fact probably the best.; 2/12/24, 9:09 AM
Iman said...: Gorgeous!; 2/12/24, 9:10 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Nice catch.; 2/12/24, 9:12 AM
RigelDog said...: Love the photo! Mark this day, like an arboreal Stonehenge, so that you may return in the years to come.; 2/12/24, 9:14 AM
BUMBLE BEE said...: Very Best!; 2/12/24, 9:27 AM
ex-madtown girl said...: I think this is the best one yet. Gorgeous!; 2/12/24, 9:32 AM
Kit Carson said...: yeah, that one was awesome. it "reached" me.; 2/12/24, 9:33 AM
Narr said...: Ouchamagoucha!

May the rest of the day be as fine.; 2/12/24, 9:38 AM
Kate said...: Tree trunk tweezers.

This sunrise photo definitely goes in the "best of" folder.; 2/12/24, 9:38 AM
Jaq said...: Here's a good one.

Why Joe Biden Made It Illegal Ror Rail Workers to Strike

He did it because he is so pro-Union that it hurts, and he felt like he had to spot corporate management a win! No, you can read it if you want the tortured reasoning why not just Joe, but the Democrats killed the strike.; 2/12/24, 10:16 AM
Jaq said...: Looks like somebody found the HDR setting, or maybe the camera did it on its own. HDR is a love it or hate it thing, but if used sparingly, even its critics admit that it can be very nice.; 2/12/24, 10:19 AM
Aggie said...: Very, very nice. Well Done!; 2/12/24, 10:29 AM
Howard said...: Has a Dawn of Man, 2001, a Space Odyssey feel to it.; 2/12/24, 10:41 AM
Mr. Majestyk said...: Great photo except for that damn laser pointer that someone left in the tree.; 2/12/24, 10:54 AM
Old and slow said...: That is obviously AI.; 2/12/24, 10:58 AM
chickelit said...: Crotchety radiance; 2/12/24, 11:27 AM
lonejustice said...: A keeper.; 2/12/24, 11:38 AM
Leland said...: Nice framing of the shot. You could sell that as a jigsaw puzzle.; 2/12/24, 11:47 AM
boatbuilder said...: Wow.; 2/12/24, 11:52 AM
Enigma said...: This is one of @Althouse's best photos for sure.

In my experience sunrise and sunset photography requires opposite thinking relative to the rules for "good" photos...but this is often easy! You cannot put the the light source to the rear, as the sun must be in front and it'll backlight everything in the scene. So, play with obstructions (the tree in this case) to emphasize the side dispersion. Clouds work, hills and mountains work, and reflections off nearby objects work. The only thing that's a hard NO is people in the foreground, as they'll be shadowy blobs. Unless you are going for a haunted Halloween theme maybe.; 2/12/24, 11:53 AM
Scott Patton said...: Came to say treehenge.. RigelDog beat me to it.; 2/12/24, 12:00 PM
Ann Althouse said...: I was trying to get the sun behind the tree so it wouldn't blow out everything else, but on this shot it had popped into view. I honestly didn't mean for this to happen. I didn't predict how the camera would process the other areas.

As for the "Stonehenge" effect, I have so much ability to position myself around that tree that I think I could get the sun in that spot every day the clouds aren't obscuring the sun.; 2/12/24, 12:11 PM
Jaq said...: Now that I think about it, HDR (High Dynamic Range) is the only way that the camera's software could have kept that picture from blowing out the way you feared it would. Some people view the effect as like ketchup on steak, and other people love it and shoot pictures and apply the effect just for itself, even though there is no technical requirement for it. Some people use it to create beautiful night scenes that can't be captured any other way.

https://wallpapercave.com/night-sky-uhd-wallpapers; 2/12/24, 1:15 PM
chickelit said...: “As for the "Stonehenge" effect, I have so much ability to position myself around that tree that I think I could get the sun in that spot every day the clouds aren't obscuring the sun.“

Looking forward to a crotchety equinoxes and solstices.; 2/12/24, 1:40 PM
Owen said...: As others have said, that pic should be dinged as a cliché; but it works. Really well. Not only in the smack-my-eye immediate aesthetic sense; but also in the hey-let-me-study-all-of-it sense. It demands a long second look; and a third; and so on.

Very nice!; 2/12/24, 2:00 PM
Friendo said...: Super cool, Althouse!; 2/12/24, 2:38 PM
gadfly said...: Set up by the WSJ opinion folks, Kamala Harris walked right into a Republican political attack.

When asked: Do voters’ concerns about President Biden’s age mean she must convince them she is ready to serve?

“I am ready to serve. There’s no question about that,” Harris responded bluntly. Everyone who sees her on the job, Harris said, “walks away fully aware of my capacity to lead.”

How in Hell can she say that "everyone walks away fully aware of my capacity to lead?"

She has blown about every assignment given to her to execute and she has never provided any leadership on anything.

If Biden loses the election, her Vice Presidential candidacy will be the cause.; 2/12/24, 3:48 PM
Virgil Hilts said...: That is a geat photo.; 2/12/24, 4:32 PM
Paul Blossom said...: Best one yet.; 2/12/24, 4:49 PM
Rusty said...: Ann Althouse said...
Don't overwork it. The sun in the tree forces the viewer to look at the rest of the picture. The other surfaces and textures.
Just say; Yeah. That's what I was aiming for.; 2/12/24, 5:51 PM
michaele said...: This photo literally stopped me in my scroll...I wanted to appreciate it for a few extra beats. Then I was particularly curious if the commenters talked about it instead of something else on their minds. I felt pleased that it received the attention it deserved.; 2/13/24, 7:18 AM