I'm at Diablo Lake, North Cascades Highway. This was Christmas Eve.
These first pictures are from the Colonial Creek campground area. There is a bridge with views of the water and mountains.
6:41 AM. Looking north from the bridge, Thunder Arm section of Diablo Lake. I mainly like this one for the stars. The hills and reflection on the lake are nice, but the stars make it more special. I like how they are very sharp at the top and blurry in the reflection. I feel like star photos (with nice scenery) are something people feel they can't do, so maybe it's more impressive. Maybe it could be edited to be a bit brighter. 3000x2000
7:43 AM. Looking southeast, up Thunder Creek. Sunrise colors show up. I like the framing of the hills and the reflection. I wish I had panned down a bit, to get more of the reflection. Still, it's nice. Good snowy hills, reflection, and sunrise colors. 3000x2000
8:06 AM. Looking at the bridge, to the southwest. Sunrise is starting to hit the peaks and it's pretty impressive. I like this shot with the curve of the road, the reflection in the water, and the sunrise color on the mountains. A bit of wispy clouds is really nice. 3000x2000
9:17 AM. I've moved up to the Diablo Lake overlook. This is looking northeast, towards Jack Mountain. I like how it goes from trees basically at your feet and you can follow them out to the mountain. Different layers, a little mist, and dramatic clouds. Still has that morning light, but no colors. 2000x3000
9:33 AM. One of the classic views of Diablo Lake, looking southwest towards Thunder Knob and the Thunder Point campground (boat dock). To the left (out of frame) is the bridge I was on earlier. I like this picture for the morning light and shadows. Some sections of tree are in sun, others in shadow. Very good wispy clouds, and seeing from lake up to mountaintop shows the scale, along with the human-sized dock. 3000x2000
10:34 AM. I'm up the road a bit from the viewpoint, at the John Pierce Falls bridge. I didn't go over the railing, it's just perspective with a curving road. I like the leading line of the road and being able to see a good amount of the bridge. The road leads out to the impressive mountains, which still have good morning light on them. Nice snowy trees. The weakest part is the bottom left corner. I could crop out some of the bottom, but that would take out some of the bridge. Hmm I could crop out the sign. 3000x2000
That's it, six images. What do you think, are they good ones? Should I have cut more of them? Here's the full galleries, 56 images. I had an OK day, but a lot of these are very similar to each other.
https://www.shacknews.com/cortex/article/448/40-photos-from-a-nice-morning-at-diablo-lake
https://www.shacknews.com/cortex/article/453/16-more-pictures-of-sunrise
