Konza Sunrise | Color creeps As earth revolves Prairie dawn light |
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rriving in the pre-dawn gray, the hike up the trail to the ridgeline was rapid and full of anticipation. Another opportunity to experience daybreak across the Flint Hills was eminent. At the top, a haze on the horizon reduced the contrast and intensity of the sunrise providing a distinctive quality to the occurrence. With the character of the light rapidly changing, I cycled through all the optics available to render different interpretations. The Zeiss 45mm f2.8 Tessar was sharp as a tack, while the Sigma 12-24 mm was expansive. Selecting the pinhole turret, I rotated to the zoneplate position and made a series of shots in different directions and at diverse angles. At the time, when viewing the results on the camera-back LCD, the results appeared to be low contrast and unimpressive. But as is frequently the case with these lensless captures, the true potential of the latent image is realized in post production. This finish work is a two shot vertical panorama processed as a high dynamic range image tonemapped to sixteen bits.
“My mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives.” - Hedley Lamarr
