The Wave over Sunrise

I imagine that the name of this photograph will leave most of you scratching your head, so let me explain. First of all, this is also Kirkwood. Not much skiing going on when this photo was taken, but that doesn't mean that Kirkwood is pointless. I dare say that Kirkwood is just as beautiful in the summer as it is in the winter. The only time of year when Kirkwood is a little gnarly is right now when the snow is dirty and melting and none of the greenery has sprouted yet. In the mid-summer, Kirkwood is lush and green, and there is water EVERYWHERE. You can hike through the acres of mountainous terrain, and even take a chair-lift up to the top. There's even a frisbee-golf course on the Bunny hill.

If you've ever skied Chair 4 (Sunrise) at Kirkwood, you might recognize the terrain in the photograph. That big bald spot on the top of the hill is a run called "The Wave" because in the winter it's an enormous cornice of snow that, in places, presents skiers with a 30-foot drop. So, this is "The Wave", as it sits over the "Sunrise" lift.

This shot was taken at about the worst time of day for a good photograph. It was about 2pm, and, at 8000 feet, there's very little atmosphere to defuse the light and bring out the colors. The contrast was harsh and the shadows were sharp and deep. Only with a little Photoshop magic was I able to bring out some of the detail for you to see. Since I wanted this photo to be in color, the last trick about separating out the red, green, and blue channels wouldn't work.

One way to take the contrast down is to open the "Brightness/Contrast" tool and drop the contrast, but that tends to leave the image a little bland. Fortunately, there's this great tool in Photoshop, under the Image menu > Adjustments, called "Shadow/Highlight...". What this tool does is take the darkest areas of your photo and make them a little lighter; contrariwise, it also takes the lightest areas of your photo and makes them a little darker. With this tool, I brought out some of the detail in the shadows in the trees as well as the reflections off the leaves, all at once.

There's still a lot of contrast, but that's the nature of the mountains. To show it in any other light would be a little dishonest.