This was a quick visit that I was able to add on to a conference I had scheduled in El Paso, TX. I arrived in El Paso late the night before and had to leave around 4:00 in the morning to be in position for sunrise. The unique thing about Guadalupe Mountains National Park is that there are no park roads, no scenic drives through the park. In order to truly see this National Park you have to do it on foot. Unfortunately I didn't have that kind of time on this trip so I made the best use of the morning light that I could.
I took this shot during the pre dawn light - almost 6:00 am Mountain time. Shot at f/16 for 15 seconds.
This shot below is one that I'm particularly proud of - and a little luck was involved. I was disappointed when I saw the light coming up and there was almost no cloud cover at all, so I opted for a more closeup view of El Capitan. You've heard about the morning glow that happens right as the sun rises over the horizon and shines that deep orange color on your subject. This may be the first time that I feel like I've capture the perfect morning glow.
Every photographer has a few tweaks they make in post production. I have a rule of thumb that I don't spend more than two minutes on a photograph in post. The tweaks I usually make are more of a preference in taste. I like deeper shadows so I'll boost the contrast slightly and depending on the subject I'll add a slight bit of fill light. The only change I made to this photo in post was a tighter crop.
Shot at f/16 for 1 second at ISO 100
This was also the only shot that captured the essence of the morning glow. I had sequential shots taken about a minute apart after this one and none capture the orange glow. Call it a little bit of luck when I clicked the shutter....or maybe I knew exactly what I was doing...either way...I'll take it :-)
This shot above was a few minutes later in the morning from a slightly different angle. I wasn't impressed with the color at the time this was shot, but when I tried it in black and white the shadows really jumped out.
When I left the park and headed back to El Paso the clouds started coming in. Unfortunately this is just the way it goes. I was lucky to squeeze in this visit early in the morning before my conference.
My biggest regret about visiting Guadalupe Mountains was I really didn't have time to explore it. This might be one I have to revisit (but not in the heat of the summer) and hike deeper into the park. The highest point in Texas is located in this park.
