Fire Watch by RyanBuchanan

+View on black+ Walking back from Hidden Lake in the dark, we were greeted with a huge full moon rising from behind the mountains. To the naked eye, you could see the faint smoke plume over St. Mary’s from the forest fires we had been dealing with all week. After setting up a couple quick test shots, I realized that a full 30-second exposure revealed this incredible red glow from fires illuminating the smoke. Not exactly an ideal composition, but also not your everyday kind of scene, so I set up to where I could use the nice moonlight reflections that accentuated the flowing stream as my foreground. The smokey haze created a warmer moonlight than usual. This is one, 30-second exposure that I was able to pull a ton of detail out of the darkness and another exposure for the moon detail. This was a fitting conclusion to our fire-filled week and left me with a unique memory of our adventures here. Follow me: Website: ExposureScape.com Facebook: http://on.fb.me/1xFjc4v Twitter: @BuchananPhoto via 500px http://bit.ly/1L3Bt62

Battle Born by RyanBuchanan

+better view on black+ Logan Pass has always been a battleground. Over thousands of years, glaciers have carved out some of the most magnificent mountain peaks in North America. With relentless winters that allow for only a small window for life, survival here is tough. And this year even more so—drought conditions, forest fires, a nearly non-existent water flow, even the flowers were, for the most part, long gone all due to the lack of snowfall this past winter. Even in such harsh conditions, it's amazing how life still perseveres. This evening, on our second trip up to Logan Pass, we were rewarded with interesting cloud cover mixed with a smokey haze from the fires—resulting in some interesting light. I’ve always wanted to capture Clements Mountain with it’s unique, castle-like appearance and this was my chance! My daunting search to find a foreground began… I finally came across this lonely patch of flowers that was somehow still in full bloom. My goal was to create depth in the scene by getting extremely close to the flowers, making them appear as large as possible. I positioned the angle of the camera to where the flowers would lead the eye up through the mid-ground to the mountain. So, with a few passers-by wondering what the hell I was doing with my face and camera buried in this cluster, I took a few series of shots of the foreground at 7 different focal points which I was able to blend in photoshop for sharpness throughout. The light was more intense at this point, allowing me to keep the shutter fast enough to freeze any flower movement. Then I waited a little longer for the right sky light to set in. The clouds made for some great patterns coming out from behind the mountain as the hazy glow intensified. The lens distortion at the top of the frame helped lengthen the mountain and cloud lines. Thanks for looking and I appreciate your comments. Follow me: Website: ExposureScape.com Facebook: http://on.fb.me/1xFjc4v Twitter: @BuchananPhoto via 500px http://bit.ly/1LW38ai

Hidden Lake by RyanBuchanan

It was a long week out in Glacier National Park, dodging fires, escaping the smoke and hunting for clouds—tough even finding flowing water and flowers. With apparently just 15% of snowfall this past winter, drought conditions were in full effect—flowers were long gone for the most part and creek beds were nearly dry. This evening though, we were able to get out from most of the smokey haze and catch some nice, interesting light up at Logan Pass. This is Hidden Lake at the foot of Bearhat Mountain. The search for foreground life led me to this spot where I was able to get a slight sideview angle on the mountain and some greater depth out to the horizon. Blended around 6 shots to get sharpness throughout. With Going to the Sun road closed I was worried we weren’t going to be able to make it up here. Was incredible to finally see it—a photographer’s dream. But the real treat was finally getting out to shoot with Ryan Dyar and Miles Morgan. We had a blast and it was obviously great to get to know and learn from these two pros. If you haven’t already, I highly recommend checking out Dyar’s instructional processing videos for some expert tips. Good stuff. Thanks for checking out my work! Follow me: Website: ExposureScape.com Facebook: http://on.fb.me/1xFjc4v Twitter: @BuchananPhoto via 500px http://bit.ly/1PS2A3U

Grinnell by PerriSchelat

This is Swiftcurrent Lake and Mount Grinnell in Glacier National Park, Montana, in early Spring before the park officially opened. Shot with a wide angle lens several inches from my foreground. 3 focus points blended in Photoshop to achieve the sharp depth of field from foreground to background that I was after. via 500px http://bit.ly/1Sn4adw

The Calm by PerriSchelat

This year Lake McDonald in Glacier NP, MT, froze over completely for the first time since 2007 and before that 1997. So it doesn't happen very frequently. The lowest temperature this past Winter was recorded in February at -22. I went to Glacier to see the frozen lake in March. I was hoping I'd find some open water so I could photograph Glacier's famous colorful rocks. I found some open water by a creek outlet. It would freeze over depending on how cold it got during the night. I arrived late at this location that I had scouted the day before. The sun rose at 7:30, but it took at least another hour for the sun to rise over the mountain range. The sky was cloudy and I waited through a snow shower and thunder. I really didn't think I'd get any nice light. Finally the mountain lit up for just a few minutes before the clouds moved in again. Weather really changes quickly in this mountain setting. via 500px http://bit.ly/1GeKzMk