The last full day of our stay at Ridgway State Park, the weather report predicted a high chance of rain, so we decided it best to avoid the dirt 4WD roads and stick mostly to paved and/or well maintained gravel roads.
So from the city of Ridgeway, Colorado, we traveled CO 62 to CO 145 to CO 141, making a big loop back to US 50 near Delta, CO and back to US 550 at Montrose.
This route took us through some beautiful canyons along the San Miguel and Dolores Rivers.
We stopped for a picnic lunch at a newly made overlook of the Dolores River.
A lunch break overlooking the Dolores River, Colorado. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.A dizzying view down onto the Dolores River. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.An overlook view of the Dolores River along CO 141. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/400s, ISO 200, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.An overlook along the Delores River, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/500s, ISO 200, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.Colorado Wildlife. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 70mm (before crop), f/11, 1/250s, ISO 200, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.
I spotted a number of small lizards scampering around the rocks along the overlook. One even got aggressive with my son, charging at him as he briefly looked away. I guess that lizard thought his personal space was being violated.
A small Colorado inhabitant. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 70mm (before crop), f/11, 1/320s, ISO 200, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.A piece of weathered wood in a rock niche. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.
I’m always drawn to the twisted, weathered evergreen type trees that grow in these arid environments.
A weathered and twisted evergreen tree along CO 141. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/250s, ISO 200, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.
A close up of the lower trunk details of the tree above:
A weathered and twisted evergreen tree along CO 141. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 70mm, f/11, 1/160s, ISO 200, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.
Below our lunch site we could see a marker type sign beside the dirt road on the opposite side of the river. After lunch, we decided to backtrack to find that dirt road and check it out.
During one of our drives on US 550 between Ouray and Silverton, we noted an unmarked gravel road heading towards a mountainside, but it appeared to end after a short distance, so we initially ignored it. On a subsequent trip past it, we decided to check it out.
After driving a short distance, not being able to see the road ahead and concerned there might not be a place to turn around on the narrow road, we decide it might be best to park at a wider spot in the road and walk ahead. We did not have to walk far to the end of this road, but it was mostly uphill. Fortunately, it was not very steep.
We passed a small, cascading mountain stream, which crossed the roadway.
A small waterfall just off of US 550 in Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/160s, ISO 200, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.
Even though this was not a big stream, it was attractive and captivating as most such streams tend to be.
The road ended at what appeared to be a minor mine exploratory site. A mountain stream with a long section of it visible going up the mountain side ran past the site. I made a number of images shooting down onto the stream nearest the roadway, but I could not get any attractive compositions that way.
Scrambling down rocky ledges away from the roadway and up the stream, gave better views of the stream and the wildflowers along the stream edge.
Mountain stream cascades and wildflowers. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 70mm, f/11, 1/60s, ISO 200, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.
The photo above is an example of including too much in an image. The stream acts as a leading line, but there is no center of interest in this photo. My eye goes to the most prominent part of the cascade in the lower left; but when my eye follows the stream towards the upper right, I do not see anything of great impact. I was zoomed in as much as possible with the 24-70mm lens, so I could not isolate anything any better from my view point. I could try cropping this image on portions of the image and maybe make a more interesting one; but the composition cannot be changed via cropping. Getting closer to a portion of the stream might have been the only way to get an impactful image here.
In the distance I could see a waterfall. I think the image below is better, but the waterfall in the upper right is maybe too distant to have real weight. Still I think this image has some intrigue, making one want to know more about what is in the distance down the stream.
A mountain stream with cascades and waterfalls. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/25s, ISO 200, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.
It was beginning to rain lightly and we were not wearing rain gear, so we decided to head back to the vehicle and save exploring along this stream up to the waterfall for another time. It began raining harder as we walked along. I put my hat over my camera to protect it, which resulted in my getting more wet. Fortunately, it was not a Texas type rainstorm.
During our July, 2020 stay in Ridgway State Park, Colorado, after our early morning photo shoots, my son drove us around the area, exploring 4WD roads and other Colorado State and County Roads.
I captured some of the local scenery with either my DSLR or my mobile phone camera. I will share a few of these photographs in several blog posts.
There are numerous 4WD roads and county roads that can be accessed from US 550, aka The Million Dollar Highway, which is a treat in itself to drive.
An abandoned mine site near Silverton, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/320s, ISO 200, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.An abandoned mine site near Silverton, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 26mm, f/11, 1/320s, ISO 200, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.
This area is rich in minerals with many old, abandoned mine sites, as well as modern mining operations.
An old mine site near Silverton, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 70mm, f/11, 1/200s, ISO 200, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.
My son posed an interesting question while walking around the mine site shown in the images above, “Did the miners who worked here enjoy the beauty of this setting or were their lives so hard that they did not appreciate this scenery”?
I think some, at least, would have admired the local beauty, while maybe others just wanted to be drinking in a saloon and enjoying other delights of a more populous area.
Remnants of an old wheel at an abandoned mine site near Silverton, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 50mm, f/11, 1/80s, ISO 200, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.Abandoned mine site near Silverton, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 62mm, f/16, 1/250s, ISO 200, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.
We stopped to enjoy our picnic style lunch at the site of these last two images.
A lone tree on mine tailings near Silverton, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 45mm, f/16, 1/320s, ISO 200, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.
We were all immediately drawn to the lone evergreen tree standing near the top of a large mound of mine tailing. This image, was selected for Flickr’s Explore page, the day it was posted, much to my surprise, as I was not too keen on this photograph, waffling about whether to crop it more severely to remove some of the bottom, making the tree more prominent. After lunch, I even tried shooting this again with my phone camera, as I kept thinking none of my photographs were capturing this well and the story told by my photograph would not be clear.
On the mountainside across the road from our lunch site was a beautiful, long waterfall. We were too far away to get a photograph of that fall. Even my 400mm lens, if I had had it with me, would not have been sufficient to get a suitable close up shot of that waterfall and one might have to cross private property to approach that mountainside. I will try to remember that waterfall and maybe try to get nearer to it on a subsequent visit.
After one of our morning photo shoots in Yankee Boy Basin, we decided to check out Governor Basin, which is accessed via a 4WD road off of the road to Yankee Boy Basin.
We only planned to spend a few minutes in the basin, since we wanted to get back down before the morning traffic, typically tour groups or people in rented jeeps traveling the 4WD roads in this area, complicated the drive back down the narrow roadway on the mountainside.
Consequently, I did not get out my DSLR and other camera gear. I walked around with my iPhone getting images of the general area and the many wildflowers in the meadow here.
A panoramic view in Governor Basin, Colorado. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and/or DxO Nik software.
There is an old mine site in this basin, along with a currently operating mine. The mine is on private property and off limits for visitors.
An old mine site in Governor Basin, Colorado. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and/or DxO Nik software.
I was not initially aware of the profusion of wildflowers here, until I walked away from our parking location on the roadway.
Columbines in Governor Basin, Colorado. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and/or DxO Nik software.
Initially, I only saw a few batches of wildflowers among the large boulders scattered around near our vehicle.
Western Yellow Paintbrush in Governor Basin, Colorado. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and/or DxO Nik software.Chiming Bells in Governor Basin, Colorado. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and/or DxO Nik software.Western Yellow Paintbrush in Governor Basin, Colorado. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and/or DxO Nik software.
As I walked further along the roadway, over a slight rise, I began to see large batches of wildflowers.
Wildflower Meadow in Governor Basin, Colorado. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and/or DxO Nik software.Wildflowers in Governor Basin, Colorado. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and/or DxO Nik software.Governor Basin Wildflower Meadow. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and/or DxO Nik software.
I’m not a wildflower expert, so I cannot guarantee that I’ve got the names of the wildflowers correct. In trying to identify the flowers via online information, I find that many of the sources have inadequate photos (small, too far away, low resolution), making it difficult to have complete confidence in the identification. There also appear to be hybrids of some of the flowers with variations in colors. I suppose I will have to acquire wildflower books to do a better job with this task. If readers note misidentified flowers, please let me know.
Rosy Paint Brush in Governor Basin, Colorado. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and/or DxO Nik software.Rosy Paintbrush in Governor Basin, Colorado. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and/or DxO Nik software.Wildflowers in Governor Basin, Colorado. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and/or DxO Nik software.Paintbrush variations? Governor Basin Wildflowers. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and/or DxO Nik software.Paintbrush variations? Governor Basin Wildflowers. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and/or DxO Nik software.Wildflowers in Governor Basin, Colorado. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and/or DxO Nik software.
I got down low with my iPhone to get close ups of some of the wildflowers with the mountains in the background, focusing on the nearby flowers with the background out of focus. Since I only used my iPhone, I could squat down among the flowers and avoid trampling them, which I might have done had I used a tripod and DSLR.
Wildflowers in Governor Basin, Colorado. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and/or DxO Nik software.Rosy Paintbrush in Governor Basin, Colorado. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and/or DxO Nik software.
Since the background was already blurry and not the focus of my images, I used a vignette blur or a lens vignette on some of the images to aid in directing the eye onto the subject matter.
Western Yellow Paintbrush in Governor Basin, Colorado. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and/or DxO Nik software.Wildflowers in Governor Basin, Colorado. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and/or DxO Nik software.Wildflowers in Governor Basin, Colorado. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and/or DxO Nik software.Western Yellow Paintbrush in Governor Basin, Colorado. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and/or DxO Nik software.Rosy Paintbrush in Governor Basin, Colorado. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and/or DxO Nik software.Rosy Paintbrush and Chiming Bells in Governor Basin, Colorado. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and/or DxO Nik software.Rosy Paint Brush and Chiming Bell Flowers in Governor Basin, Colorado.
I have used artistic license in the shooting and editing of these photos in an attempt to get striking images. I hope that I have not over done the editing and that viewers will enjoy these images.
I did not plan to have a part 4 in this series of posts on photography in Yankee Boy Basin. However, one of my photos that I posted to Flickr was selected for Flickr’s Explore page. Consequently, that photo got lots of attention with over 4600 views and 160+ favorites within a very short time interval.
Screen shot of my Flickr image that was selected for Flickr’s Explore Page, showing stats as of Aug. 23, 2020.
I do not pretend to know how Flickr chooses photos for its Explore page. I know many of the photos on the Explore pages are very good photos, while many others that I see there have little interest for me; but I suppose that is just a matter of individual preference and one’s most preferred photographic genre. In my case, I prefer landscape photography, while others may prefer people, animals, insects, macro, etc.
I do not think that this image is the best one that I made in Yankee Boy Basin, during this visit. As I pointed out in an earlier post, I think this image is the best of all the photographs that I made here in July, 2020:
Sunset light in Yankee Boy Basin, July 2020. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/3s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 2.
Yet, this image has received much less attention than the one chosen for the Explore Page. This is understandable. While it is good to get the attention that a photo selected for Explore gets, I am concerned that there are so many other better photos that get less attention and that Flickr’s Explore photos might bias viewers opinion of such photos and the artistry of the photographers whose photos are selected. I also know that it is not possible for Flickr to add all of the great photos on Flickr to its Explore page nor it is it possible for a viewer to look through all of the photos posted to Flickr and select favorites from all of those. In the end, I hope that the photos chosen for the Explore page result in viewers deciding for themselves how well they like such images and whether the photographer is one that one wishes to follow and learn from.
Seeking more professional input on the image that I like best, I submitted it to a well known professional photographer, based in the northeast USA, who was offering a webinar for the purpose of suggesting compositional and editing advise on selected photos. He selected my photo along with a few others to critique. I had already recognized one of the items that he suggested, but for different reasons. He cropped the right hand side just to get the waterfall closer to the edge and remove some of the unnecessary portions of the image. I was concerned about the two little tree stumps on each side of the image, especially the one that protrudes from the lower right edge.
Additional editing notes.
I’ve cropped the re-edited image as shown by the outer blue rectangle. Initially, the critiquing photographer cropped the left edge similar to mine, but then restored that edge to its original, probably to keep more of the highlighted peaks and clouds on the left side.
The sky and the mountain peaks are the important items in this image. The professional photographer commented that the waterfall could not be seen completely. Unfortunately, there was no place that I could stand to get a full view of the waterfall without cutting out a significant portion of the stream, which is a critical leading line feature in my composition. The stream almost disappears between the bushes on the lower left and those on the opposite bank of the stream as it is. Tilting the camera down more would show more of the stream, where it runs off of the bottom edge, but would eliminate some of the sky, which I definitely wanted in the image. I was already at 14mm on my 14-24mm lens, so I had no more zoom out range to get a wider view.
He also lightened the stream and darkened the rocks and foliage along each side to make the stream more visible as a leading line. Additionally, he darkened the front most mountain side to emphasize the brightness of the upper part of the image. Then he reduced the temperature to cool the sky a little.
I’ve applied similar edits in my re-edited version, but I have been more conservative with my edits. So those edits may be so subtle as not to be readily noticeable, when comparing the two versions. In the end, I’m not sure that I see a significant difference, other than the cropping, between my initial edit and the re-edited image. I also tend to like warmer images over cooler images. Much in the editing of an image is based upon one’s preferences. I certainly see his point of bringing out the stream more. I have used that technique in edits to other images from this area, but maybe not to the extent that he might do.
Additionally, the professional photographer commented that making a grand scenic image presents problems of scale, which makes it difficult to simplify the image. He spent much less time critiquing my image and applying edits than he did for other images, which I take as an indication that my composition and initial editing was not too bad : >).
Here is my re-edited image:
I’ve cropped the original image and applied a few other subtle edits to this image.
Feedback from readers is always appreciated.
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