Ever have one of those mornings when you woke up early and just HAD to get out and take photos?
Yep, 4:00am and I'm rarin' to go. Check my bag, make sure I've got coffee and a flashlight, here we go!
Off to the hill at Speer Blvd and Zuni, one of the best "Landscape" shots of downtown. Probably 1/2 the photos ever published of the city were shot here, the other half were taken from the rear steps of the Museum of Natural History at City Park. I'm not kidding, you can look it up!
Anyway, being mid-summer, the sunrise wasn't behind the buildings from this angle, not even close. WAY to the North. What was I thinking, it's not even in the frame! Oh, well, adjust and adapt.
It looks like a nice orange (Denver Broncos) sunrise, off to the north. Take a few shots with the DA 35mm AL at f/8.0, used a Marumi CPL, tripod, cable release, about 1/10s. First photo here.
Maybe I can isolate those clouds, tinted orange on the bottom, a silhouette shot? Sure, but in my haste I forget to put the CPL on the M 85mm and also forget the green button, so it takes the photo at f/2.0 and 1/4000s. Oooopps! 2nd photo.
Back to the 35mm, now the sun is tinting the building from the side and we're getting some nice color. 3rd photo. Yes, the CPL was STILL on this lens!
4th photo, a 100% crop of the frame before # 3.
5th photo, the sun is fully up and the color has all washed out, this photo is uncropped and nearly straight from the camera.
Sunrise is fleeting!
Ron

[jford]

Number 4 may be a crop, but it's quite lovely, IMO. Nice composition, arrays of texture and a limited pallete. IMO, it's the best here.
Thanks for sharing.

[Sailor]

Cool shots, Ron. I particularly like the first one.

Jer

[rbefly]

Hi Jford, thanks for the kind words. I used those two buildings as the crop, even though they're not the center of the frame, but seemed the most interesting to me. The curved-top building is a bank and is often called (tongue in cheek) the "Cash Register Building". It is the most identifiable building in the Denver skyline and is featured in most downtown shots.
Hi Jer, thanks! Yes, the first has the best color and most dynamic clouds. That bottom-tint is hard to catch and very fleeting. Luckily I already had the camera mounted on the tripod while it was still dark, just waited for the good light.
When there's no classic car shows on a weekend, I have to get creative!
Ron