Cold Springs Campground, Colorado – July 2019 – Day 2 Scouting

A previous post referred to the areas that we scouted during our second day at Cold Springs Campground, looking for potential places for more sunset and sunrise photo shoots.  This post will present a few of the iPhone shots taken during that scouting with some comments.

A dead tree near Smith Lake Trail, Routt National Forest, Colorado. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

This striking looking dead tree trunk, spotted along the Smith Lake Trail, looks like a good photographic subject, but it was so tall one would have to have a really wide field of view of shoot upwards from near its base to fully capture it.  We never got around to trying to shoot this properly.

A wilderness boundary marker along Smith Lake Trail. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Efex Pro 4.

This boundary marker has nothing to do with photography, I just thought it interesting to see this marker.  Someone, wondering around in the forest, not hiking along a trail,  would never know when entering or leaving a designated wilderness area.

Smith Lake in the Flat Tops Wilderness, Colorado. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

This view of a mountainside with Smith Lake in the foreground, suggested that early morning light would make this a good place for a sunrise shoot.

Smith Lake Panorama. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

A panoramic view of Smith Lake and the mountain in the background, suggests possible multiple compositional possibilities.

Columbines and fallen tree. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

I found this batch of Columbines down the slope from the roadway south of the campground.  (Click on the photo to view on Flickr).

Approaching storm. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

Looking up the hillside south of the campground, it was apparent that it was time to return to the camp before getting caught in a storm.  However, after getting to the Sportsmobile, I did take a chance and try to shoot at a field of Columbines, but I had to beat a hasty retreat again as the storm came in.

Near the end of the storm. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

As the storm began to subside, a double rainbow appeared to the east of the campsite.  The complete semicircle rainbow was visible at one time, but I could not get a shot of it with my iPhone.  One can see sunlight from the west striking the mountainside in the lower left, so as long as the storm clouds, which were moving westward, did not obscure the sunset, we would get good after the storm light.

Possible good indication for sunset light after the storm. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

A fuller view of the sun lite mountainside south east of the campsite as the storm passed, gave us some hope of getting sunset light on the mountainside.

A subsequent post will cover the actual sunset shoot after the storm.

Ken

 

2 thoughts on “Cold Springs Campground, Colorado – July 2019 – Day 2 Scouting”

    1. Thanks, Shutterpug. I wish I had gotten the complete rainbow, but i was just shooting with my iPhone, through the window of my van and I could not get the entire rainbow in the shot. I did not have my DSLR handy, or I would have used it instead of the iPhone.

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