noma
Two color palettes to keep developing your golden hour mountaineering editing style! With @josemostajo / Light behaves differently depending on where you are in the world, and that has a dramatic impact on the hues, contrast, and overall mood of golden hour.
At high elevations like the Andes, where @josemostajo captured this breathtaking series, the atmosphere is much thinner. With less air and fewer particles for sunlight to pass through, there’s minimal scattering of shorter wavelengths (blues and violets). This allows warm tones — reds, oranges, and pinks — to shine through with greater intensity and clarity:
1) Looking at image one, the scene is shaped by direct light illuminating rock formations, mist creating contrasts, and the geological composition of the peaks. This scene bring us to five dominant hues after editing:
A vibrant red (B83A14), a deep amber (6F4E37), and an abyssal black (1A1A1A). Complementing them are the cool mist gray (B0B0B0) of the sky and a subtle teal-gray (5F7C7C) within the lower rock strata, which introduce a contrasting coolness. This interplay creates what color theorists call “bold complementary tension.”
2) Sitting at around 13,780 feet (4,200 m), Laguna Parón lies beneath one of the clearest and driest skies on Earth - see pic. 6.
The golden hour light here is shaped by (1) near‑transparent air, (2) heightened UV and minimal filtering, which intensifies the warm spectrum, and (3) snow and ice reflection, which amplifies every pastel tone across the mountains and mirrored water surface.
This glow and edit bring us to the dominant hues in the scene:
Soft rose pink (FFB6C1), tangerine orange (FFA07A), and golden gold (FFD700) form a warm analogous palette. Complementing them are lavender-gray (E6E6FA) and dusty blue (87CEFA), which introduce gentle coolness. This low-contrast interplay enhances depth without overwhelming the warm tones - what color theorists call “soft complementary tension”.
@nomadict: We interviewed @josemostajo back in 2018 — it was actually one of our very first interviews! This series is a result of some of his most recent adventures, and it shows beautifully that practice makes masters! 📸