Most of the area around Factory Butte is defined by sharp ridges radiating out from the elevated butte. On the southern side, however, this smoother area made for a different foreground in this drone shot taken right before sunrise on October 5th, 2022.
One of the lessons I learned from my previous visit to the butte in 2021 was that the best lighting conditions occurred before the sun rose. In the last 20 or so minutes before sunrise, the light is wonderfully directional but also soft enough to leave some detail in the shadow areas. On this trip, I got the drone in the air during the early portion of civil twilight and caught images during this period and just as the sun crested the horizon.
For the technically inclined...