First, look at the one where I began at the top, so that the iPhone sensed the light from a high spot in the sky:
That's the second shot I took, after I could see that beginning to pan from the bottom made everything too bright. So here's the first shot, which I've tinkered with a little to try to improve. I'm not happy about the rendering of the light and colors of the sunrise, but what's cool about it is that I discovered something that I had not seen at the time and that is not visible in the top-to-bottom panorama:
Look closely, at the bottom left. Strewn flowers, quite fresh. I believe these were left by a young man and woman whom I encountered later on my walk. Is this a Chinese custom (I heard them speaking what sounded to me like Chinese)?
Proceed no further if you don't want to read something written by Grok:
In Chinese folk religion and Taoism, the sunrise is often seen as the moment when yang (陽) energy is born and begins to grow. Offering flowers, incense, fruit, or other beautiful/natural things at dawn to “greet the sun” or to honor nature spirits, the Jade Emperor, or local lake/river deities is not uncommon, especially in rural areas or among people who still keep older nature-worship practices. Lakeshores and mountaintops are classic places for such offerings. ...
In recent years (especially since the 2010s), some young, aesthetically inclined Chinese people — often influenced by literature, art, or social media — have adopted the habit of rising early to “offer flowers to the sunrise” (献花给日出 or similar phrases you can find on Xiaohongshu/Little Red Book or Douyin/TikTok). It’s seen as poetic, healing, and romantic. A couple doing it together on a lake shore fits this trend perfectly. They may not think of it as “religious” so much as a beautiful, mindful ritual....
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24 comments:
Quite surprising how much of a difference the vertical orientation makes. I like it, it gives much more context and makes the sunrise look much less postcardy because it captures many things rather than a single picturesque moment.
I would have picked up the flowers - rushed home and placed them in a vase of water.
anyway - FANTASTIC photos.
@Peachy
Try graveyards
'[Right Time], Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action' ~ Franz Ferdinand
Well, a graveyard must be respected. Flowers left in peace.
Have you seen the bigger piggies
In their starched white shirts?
You will find the bigger piggies
Stirring up the dirt,
Always have clean shirts to play around in.
Both beautiful
"Well, a graveyard must be respected. Flowers left in peace."
That's MY point.
I should have made them a lot longer because they don't look much different from a photo taken with the phone in portrait position.
The second is better. I think the illumination of the vegetation at the bottom of the pic really brings it all together. Gorgeous.
Thank you for these. I'd like it was a romantic moment. God bless.
Nah - That's just the mass killing innocent flowers.
You and John Wayne Gacy, Ward the Cleaver.
Glorious pics!
It reminds me of a Burns and Allen bit. Gracie is arranging a bouquet of flowers in a vase. George asks her where she got the lovely flowers. She says "I visited my aunt in the hospital. You said I should take her flowers, so when nobody was looking, I did."
Nice pix, as so often. And a good point on the almost-hidden flowers. At this stage, technology can besiege us with first- and second-derivative beauty that often makes nature itself seem third-rate to our own optics. Will Apple software bring back painting?
For example, many near us reported seeing only vague, slight aurora borealis in the recent solar storm. But when they looked at images taken on their phones, the pictures were spectacular. They liked it, to varying degrees, but some were frustrated that they had not actually seen it.
"They liked it, to varying degrees, but some were frustrated that they had not actually seen it."
Camera is more sensitive than the human eye.
In addition, if you're serious about seeing the northern lights naked eye, you need to get away from light pollution and dark-adapt your eyes.
“That's the second shot I took, after I could see that beginning to pan from the bottom made everything too bright.”
The first (brighter) shot is better aesthetically; it’s the one I’d hang on my wall. But the second may have captured your experience better, with the glare of the sun blinding you to the interesting details in the shadows.
The the spectrum for very dark blue to the almost a saturated white, you really need a neutral density or polarizing filter attached to the iPhone lense. A ND1 or ND3 will darken things up consistently, much like the top photo but when you pull the brightness forward in post-processing based on how you’d told me your minimalist editing, then it should brighten things up a bit but minimize overwhite saturation where the sun is coming up. A polarizing filter will be less darkness but will desaturate all the really bright stuff, like reflections and the fringe brightness around the sun. Might still be a bit bright overall but the definition will dramatically improve. I lean more toward a variable polarizing filter but I do a not more in Lightroom and Photoshop with images where I edit individual objects or areas. You just make the one or two tweaks in via phone software so Neutral Density might work better for you. FWIW, I use Sandmarc lenses and filters on my iPhone 14 Pro Max but since buying my new mirrorless Canon, I haven’t been doing as much iPhone photography while I learn the new gear.
---- Camera is more sensitive than the human eye. [Original Mike]
Camera plus its software drivers. My question was, Where is the point at which such optical capture and manipulation becomes excessive, and a technologically cruder medium like painting gains favor from its embodiment of our own human limitations -- artfully presented? Are we near it? Or is there no point at which the human reclaims its power over the technological in this particular application?
"But the second may have captured your experience better, with the glare of the sun blinding you to the interesting details in the shadows."
No, there was no sun in the picture. It was still 9 minutes before sunrise. The "glare" is just the light where the sun will eventually pop. But it wasn't at all blinding.
Excellent shots. Thank you for sharing.
This is called Civil Twilight. Sol has not breached the horizon, yet details are visible.
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