Date Taken: 10/11/2019
Location: Cataloochee Valley in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

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Photo by: Doug McPherson, Asheville, NC Photographer

Summer Sunset over Great Smoky Mountains National Park taken from Waterrock Knob Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway – North Carolina

Camera: Canon 5D MK II
Lens: Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM
Focal Length: 19mm
ISO: 250
Shutter: 1/20
Aperture: f/22
Filters: CPL, GND
Exposure: Manual
How I Got This Shot: I walked around a bit before the sunset and found this composition to set my tripod. I really liked the sunlight reflecting off the little pine tree. I set up and took several meter readings from the sky t calculate a proper exposure. I wanted to include the pine tree and composed the shot to include it in the left foreground. This is a very high contrast shot between the shaded trees and bright sunlight. I used two filters, a CPL and an GND . Once I metered again and got a correct exposure, I intentionally underexposed the shot. I almost always underexpose high contrast shots with the intention of adjusting the exposure later in CS6 and Lightroom. Too often, I find that if I do not underexpose I end up losing detail in the highlights. Though it appears that a “Star Filter” was used to capture the rays coming off the sun, I didn’t use one. The rays or flare were produced by the angle I chose and the light entering the filters and lens. Often, the direction of these rays can be changed by turning the CPL.
The original print included much more of the scene in front of me as I used a wide angle lens and took this at 19mm. This photo represents about 60% of the original print size. This is a single image, not an HDR composite.

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