Cowlitz Chimneys, Mount Rainier National Park

On my first morning in Mount Rainier last weekend I drove into the park with just enough time to scout a location and set up to shoot the sunrise. I settled on a spot along the road into Sunrise, not far from the Visitor's Center, with fairly unobstructed views of Mount Rainier.

Looking to the south from there I was looking at a small collection of peaks that I thought were quite dramatic - those peaks turned out to be the Cowlitz Chimneys, pictured here. The early morning light was still richly colored and I loved the side-lighting on the peaks. The peaks are quite a ways off, and I chose my 105mm Micro lens for this shot, largely to ensure that everything remained sharp (my only other lens with this focal length isn't nearly so sharp). Since the clouds were slowly drifting past below the peaks I also opted to shoot this with my ND400 filter, lengthening the exposure time substantially and softening the look of the clouds.

Nikon D90 | Nikon 105mm Micro | f/11 | 5s | ISO100 | Tripod

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