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That's an amazing capture, good think you had a camera handy.

Seriously frame that one and hang it somewhere.

Awesome! I've seen it in person before, but have never got it on camera. Great photos.

CO Native wrote:You can't steal what's offered for free.

Fantastic pictures! Props on getting up early and braving the cold up there! It kind of looks like a volcanic cauldron emitting glowing steam.

Send me a framed version of the second one. Oh, and don't skimp on the frame, I only display high quality work. Thanks.

Again, congratulations on a fine photo.

Hey CO Native, great photo, a beautiful right place at right time shot.

I don't know what kind of point and shoot you own. If it is capable of RAW capture (as I believe most Canon and Nikon point and shoot cameras are) you can squeeze out a couple stops of dynamic range out of the RAW file with some minor selective editing. I'm always suprised by the amount of shadow detail that can be extracted from the darkness in a RAW file. If you typically shoot JPEG it could be worth a quick switch to RAW format for a difficult shot like this.

Another simple option is to hand hold a 3 or 4-stop neutral density gradient filter up against the front lens element of your point and shoot. Meter off the ground (which would typically blow out the sky), compose the shot, lift the ND grad up against the front element, slide it around so the transition is where you want it (the gradient should be clearly visible in the LCD or viewfinder), and take the shot. If you exposed for the trees the sky will be 3-stops darker if you used a ND.9 grad filter. I carried these around Maui last month and they worked great.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1 ... nsity.html

The technique is documented here. Works just as well without a tripod if you have a steady hand and fast shutter speed (which could be tough if you are exposing for the shadows).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQxdCfbE2FI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1M2pEJY ... re=related

I can't shoot RAW on my camera. I can't even shoot TIFF. JPG only. The only really cool thing about my camera is the zoom, which I love. I don't own a gradient filter either, or any filters for that matter. Just a simple camera. However I think a lot of the free software technology I have has allowed me to make up for what this camera can't do.

That's a beautiful shot!

CO Native wrote:... It was still really cool to see this morning though with the wind carrying the snow that far. The winds up there today are averaging 43 mph with gusts up to 92 mph. Cool to look at but certainly not a place I'd like to be today.

That is an awesome shot!!
(mind if I pull a copy?)

My early morning view view was somewhat obstructed by the tree cover @ Barr Camp.. (yeah... I ~was~ up there.... and I am with you... not a place ~I'd~ want to be!)

Tripper wrote:(mind if I pull a copy?)

Go for it.

CO Native wrote:I can't shoot RAW on my camera. I can't even shoot TIFF. JPG only. The only really cool thing about my camera is the zoom, which I love. I don't own a gradient filter either, or any filters for that matter. Just a simple camera. However I think a lot of the free software technology I have has allowed me to make up for what this camera can't do.

Thanks to a tip I received after posting this my camera can now shoot RAW. Thanks to CHDK (Canon Hack Development Kit) I installed a ton of new features on my camera like shooting RAW, time-lapse, expanded auto-bracketing, motion detection photography, lightning capture, and a host of others. Pretty cool. All on the camera I already had and it's free. I recommend anyone with a Canon P&S check it out. The best part is the install is on the memory card so if I want to use these features I put the card in with the install. If I don't want all the extra options I can just switch cards back and the camera is right back to the factory settings.

http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/CHDK_for_Dummies

It does annoy me a bit though that these cameras are completely capable of doing all this stuff, Canon just dumbs them down in hopes you'll spend more on the higher end cameras.