As promised in the previous post, this article will include the DSLR photos from around sunset time on the first day of this trip. The photos in this article are all shot from locations within a few feet of my first campsite.
Not long before this trip, I saw an article about an intensifier filter that was touted for bringing out colors in foliage and in night photography, so I purchased one to test. I used that filter for many of the fall color photos during this trip. My impression of this filter is mixed. Maybe it was effective and sometimes maybe it was a bit too much.
According to the time stamp on the photo above, this was shot just after noon. I really do not remember shooting that early, but I have to assume the time stamp is correct. I do know that I made a few early test shots to check compositions. Even though shot around mid day, cloud shadows muted the light and I like the color contrast in this image and the diagonal lines formed by the color variations in the trees. There were many clouds moving over in the early afternoon that I hoped would hang around to add interest to the sky near sunset.
The photo above is a test shot about an hour prior to sunset. I like the layering of the colors formed by the tree colors and the rock exposures with a little drainage valley near the center of the photo, forming a Y shape of colors and shadows. Also note that there are more colorful trees and color variation, in general, on the left side of the image than on the right side. Note that there are no clouds in the sky, otherwise, I might have included more of the sky in the image.
The photo above is another test shot about an hour prior to sunset. It is a similar composition to the shot prior, but shifted to the left to include more of the rock face in the middle left and the rock outcrop just above that rock face. Again I like the horizontal layer of colors and the near vertical line formed at the drainage from the peak at the top right of the image.
The image above, about 45 minutes prior to sunset, shows how shadows are already enchroaching in the bottom foreground. This is one problem of shooting with mountains behind one at sunset. The shadows begin to move up the mountainside rather quickly as the sun goes down.
The above shot is a zoomed in shot of the most prominent mountainside feature, while still including the foreground features and colorful trees. Already at about 25 minutes prior to sunset the foreground is rapidly going into shadows. The shadows accentuate the drainage line near the center of the photo.
The above photo is an “extreme” zoom of the dome like feature on the mountainside with close up of the smaller rock features in the foreground and the trees near its base. This image is a bit soft in the foliage due to a slower than desirable shutter speed, but I am not sure that this matters in an image such as this, unless one is making a large print. The softness might also be affected by the lens, which is not super sharp, and maybe a poor choice of focus point. Big zooms always present an issue getting sharpness throughout an image with so much depth variation between objects in the foreground and background.
For the image above, I zoomed to maximum for my lens and shifted the view a bit to the left to include the left edge of the dome feature and removing the smaller feature on the right. I like the three small rock outcrops in the foreground, the color layering and the colors against the blue sky. (I really wish there had been some scattered clouds).
Similar to the previous photo, but shifted a bit to the right, a few minutes prior to sunset, good lighting, but the shadows are now at the base of the dome. In the three prior photos, if one looks closely, the tops of the trees on top of the dome/ridge are highlighted by the sunlight, while the lower portions of the trees are in shadow. I like this subtle feature, but one might need to view a better resolution image to really see it well.
Looking to my far right, I noted that the rocky feature above was really glowing in the sunset rays. It is with great reluctance that I even include this shot here, since in my haste to shoot before the light went away, I forgot to push the ISO higher to get faster shutter speeds and the foreground foliage in all of the shots is very soft. This shot shows only a portion of the outcrop, which extends over a much longer distance. There is much cragginess with good shadows and brilliant color in all of my images of this feature; but it is unfortunate that the images turned out so disappointingly. It is possible here that the intensifier filter adds a bit too much warmth, but the sunset highlight was really quite good. I really need to work on my mental checklist prior to shooting and I think such disappoints as this will aid in firming up that process. (As they say in professional football parlance, “It is a rookie mistake”).
I have a full schedule for the next couple of weeks and I may not get around to another post for a week or so. Therefore, dear readers, you get a break from these posts.
As always, your comments and critiques are welcome.
Until next time,
Ken