Tag: Cloudy

Williams Creek Trail, Colorado, July 2020

During my second day at Teal, after reserving my site for another night, I drove further up the road to Cimarrona Campground.

Just past Teal Campground, I stopped to photograph an old ranch building in a valley below the mountain side to the east.

Scene adjacent to Teal Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, 1/320s, f/11, ISO 1250, 80-400mm @ 80mm. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Modules.

Continuing to Cimarrona, I found this campground is significantly different than Teal.  Here there were Aspen trees, rather than Ponderosa Pines, the campsites seemed to be closer together and the campground more confined by the Aspens.  There were no good views from this campground, but I expect it would be quite nice in the fall, when the Aspens turn their golden yellow.

I continued on to Palisades (the horse campground) Campground at the end of forest service road 640.  There is a parking area in this campground for Williams Creek Trailhead.  Williams Creek trail goes far up into the mountains, eventually connecting to the Continental Divide Trail.

During my trip planning, I had noted the possibility of finding waterfalls along Williams Creek, which feeds into the Williams Creek Reservoir.  In viewing the trail via Google Earth, I could see that, while I might see falls or cascades from the trail, the view would probably be from so far away, that it would be impossible to get good photos of falls or the creek from the trail.  There appeared to be some possibility of walking along the creek for some distance; but eventually it looked impossible or difficult to follow the creek to the possible falls.

I decided to hike up the trail to check it out.  I could tell from the map that the trail was fairly steep in some places and I did not want to carry a heavy load, so I did not take my DSLR and heavy camera gear.  I did wear my Camelbak with a full water reservoir, a few snacks and items that would be useful in case of inclement weather or an unexpected event.

Gnarly Fallen Tree Trunk. iPhone Photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

This fallen tree trunk was so twisted that I had to take time to photograph it along the way up the trail.

A typical view along Williams Creek Trail. iPhone Photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

This is a typical view of the trail.  It was much steeper in some places and flatter or downhill in others; but the trail was mostly uphill.  I could hear the creek flowing in the distance much of the time, but not see it very often.

A view from Williams Creek Trail, Palisades Campground, Colorado. iPhone Photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

I finally got to a place where I could see one of the features that I had spotted via Google Earth.  I was correct in surmising that the trail was so far above the creek that it would be impossible to get a good photo of the falls or cascades from the trail.  In the photo above the little white areas in the lower left are cascades or small falls in the creek.

While at this point another hiker came down the trail and said this was the best view point for this feature.  He said there was another view a short distance up the trail, but it was not as good.  I hiked up to check out that view and found that he was correct.  So I came back here and zoomed in on the creek with my iPhone.

Williams Creek as seen from far above on Williams Creek Trail. iPhone Photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

This is the result and not very satisfying.  I cannot even judge the scale of these water features from this distance or this photo.  This feature on the creek is not the best one that I spotted on Google Earth, but it was evident that it would not be possible to get to the better possible falls or even get a good view from this trail.

It had been cloudy all the time I was hiking and I could hear thunder far in the distance.  The thunder finally got loud enough that I knew it was time to head back down the trail.  Since it was mostly downhill on the way back, it took much less time to hike back to the parking lot in Palisades Campground than it did to hike up.

Approaching Storm. iPhone Photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

One can see the heavy clouds of the coming storm in the photo above.  I made it back down to my vehicle and back to my campsite just before it began to rain lightly.  I’m sure it was raining heavier in the higher elevations.

I’m still hoping to get good sunset light this evening at Teal Campground.

Stay tuned to see how that worked out,

Ken

 

Teal Campground, Day 2, Sunrise

One of the best things about being able to shoot near one’s campsite, is not having to get up really early, since not much time is required to get to a shooting location.

I immediately headed to the area along the rail fence that I had scouted the previous day and I had two or three compositions already in mind.

I set up at my highest rated composition first and began making a few test shots as I waited in anticipation of good sunrise light.

Fence Line, Teal Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, 1s, f/16, ISO 200, 24-70mm at 29mm. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

It was still cloudy with heavy clouds in the east, which limited the early morning light that would already be partially blocked by the mountains to the east.

View the above photo on Flickr by clicking on it, then click on it again on Flickr and a deer can be seen just to the right of the post with the loops of barb wire hanging on it.  The deer is warily watching me.  Soon after taking this photo, the deer crossed the fence line and began to eye me again from the far right.  I made a few photos of it with my iPhone, but those were of poor quality, especially when zoomed in enough to get a good view of the deer.

I made a series of shots at this location as the light slowly changed.  The morning light was disappointing and I think would not even have been very good here even without the clouds on the eastern horizon.

Fence Line, Teal Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, 1/.5s, f/11, ISO 200, 24-70mm at 29mm. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

The photo above is the best that I got here.  There is just a little weak golden hour light on the mountain side in the upper left.

I moved to my secondary composition along the fence line, near that tree in the distance, where the fence line dipped across a low point.

The morning light was essentially totally blocked by clouds now.

As I stood here, I heard something like a thumping on the fence and observed a chipmunk scampering along on the lower rails.  I nicknamed this the “Chipmunk Highway”.

Fence Line, Teal Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, 1/125s, f/8, ISO 3200, 24-70mm at 29mm. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

There were many wildflowers in the area just to the east of this fence line, so I decided to go have coffee and breakfast and return with another lens to shoot wildflowers.  That will be the subject of the next post.

Take care,

Ken

 

Teal Campground July 2020, Sunset Day 1

As sunset time approached during my first day at Teal Campground, I could see no breaks in the clouds in any direction and the clouds to the west were very thick and heavy.  Light rain sprinkled intermittently.  I decided there was no need to take my DSLR out this evening and to just check out more of the area for possible sunrise compositions.

I walked towards a rail fence line on the western edge of the campground, thinking that area and the mountains to the north and west might get good sunlight the next morning.

As I was taking a few iPhone shots of possible sunrise compositions, I began to notice just a hint of late day light begin to show up on the distant mountainsides, in spite of the 360 degree, very heavy cloud cover.

I thought about hastening back to my vehicle to get my DSLR gear, but I figured that any good light would be so fleeting that it would be gone before I could do so and it would be best to at least get a shot or two with my iPhone, rather than miss the sunset entirely.

So I waited and watched as the sunset light got better and better, moving across the mountainsides in the north and to the east.

Golden Hour in Teal Campground, Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

Now it was definitely too late to get out the DSLR, but had I rushed back to my vehicle as soon as I saw the possibility of a golden hour, I would have had time to get a few images with a better camera.

Golden Hour in Teal Campground, Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.
Golden Hour in Teal Campground, Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

I know others have had this same experience and I this is not the first time this has happened to me.  I always think, “Never again”, but it happens again, anyway.

After the golden hour, the clouds began to glow, too.  The iPhone camera is just not good enough to handle the dynamic range of a glowing sky at sunset, but I made a few images and managed to salvage this one:

Sunset at Teal Campground, Colorado. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

Having missed this opportunity to shoot sunset here with my DSLR, I decided that I had to stay over another night and hope to get a good sunset again.

Take care and stay safe,

Ken

 

 

Teal Campground, Colorado, July, 2020

Teal Campground, north of Pagosa Springs, Colorado is nestled among tall ponderosa pines on the west side of Williams Creek Reservoir.  The drive into the campground is long and, after the pavement ends, is on forest service roads, the conditions of which are highly variable.  During my visit, some sections were relatively good, while most sections were rocky, bouncy, pot holed and washboarded.

The setting for the campground is attractive with good views of mountains across the reservoir and in other directions.  The campsites are available on first come basis and a fee is required.  With my National Parks Senior Pass, I only paid $11/night.  A number of campers were already there, but I was fortunate to find a perfect site for my Sportsmobile.

Teal Campground Campsite. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

There are a couple of other campsites just up the road and I was uncertain about whether I wanted to stay here or in one of the other two campgrounds.  Before I paid for my site, I walked around and found the camp host in his pickup truck talking to other campers.  He was very adamant that no smoking was allowed in any outdoors area nor in his “very clean” restrooms.  Fortunately, I am not a smoker and I did not want to use the restrooms during the pandemic anyway.  The host told me that the other campsites usually had vacancies, unless Teal was full, but one site, Palisades, at the end of the road, was only for those with horses.

I decided to stay at Teal for at least one night and check out the other sites and Williams Creek hiking trail from Palisades the next day.

After lunch, I set out to check out the area for possible photo locations, testing compositions with my iPhone.

Contours. Teal Campground, Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

Some of the big pines had interesting features, but the one above is my favorite.

The Fallen. Teal Campground Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

The ground under the pines was covered with fallen needles and pine cones.  I thought the stray section of old rusty barb wire among these made for an interesting photo.

Scouting Photograph, Williams Creek Reservoir, Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

I found a number of boulders scattered around in the grassy area near the reservoir that might make good foreground objects at sunset.

Scouting Photograph, Williams Creek Reservoir, Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

It was an increasingly cloudy afternoon and I began to think that there would be no golden hour at sunset today.

Scouting Photograph, Williams Creek Reservoir, Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.
Scouting Photograph, Williams Creek Reservoir, Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.
Scouting Photograph, Williams Creek Reservoir, Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

I think I found some good possible compositions and the clouds will be great to have.  Now I just need to have golden hour light to make these better.

Scouting Photograph, Williams Creek Reservoir, Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.
Scouting Photograph, Williams Creek Reservoir, Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

Aren’t those clouds magnificent?

Wildflowers in Teal Campground, Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

There were numerous varieties of wildflowers around the open grassy area surrounding the campground, too.

Now I just need to have an early dinner, prepare my DSLR gear and wait for sunset.

Until then,

Ken

 

 

 

Thirty Mile Campground, Rio Grande National Forest, July 2020

An interim stopover on my journey from Ridgeway, Colorado to the southeastern corner of Colorado in July, 2020 was Thirty Mile Campground.  It is a long, slow drive on rough county/forest service roads to the campground.  This campground has sites that one can reserve and others that are on a first come first serve basis.    There were only a few sites available, when I made my reservations prior to my trip to Colorado.  I wanted to be sure that I had a place to stay at least one night, so reserving a site assured that I would not have to search for a free site in the forest.  I thought I might be able to get one of the free sites, if I decided to stay a second night; but the campsites were all full or reserved on the day that I arrived and there were no reserve sites available for a second night.  I would have to wait until the second day to find any available free sites, if I wanted to stay a second night.

My campsite in Thirty Mile Campground, Colorado, July 2020. iPhone Photograph.

Thirty Mile is a nice campground and my site was just inside the campground along the Rio Grande, where it was pleasant to hear the rushing water in the river.  After checking into my campsite, I took a walk along the river to check out possible locations for photography late in the day and/or early in the morning.

The river is pretty, but there seemed to be limited possibilities for photographic variations along the river.  This is a popular place for anglers and many of the people in the campground were there to fish for trout in the Rio Grande.

I watched a doe grazing on the opposite side of the river, shooting a number of photos and videos with my phone.  The doe did not seem to care that I was watching it.  One of the unedited videos can be seen here.

After my walk along the river, I drove along the road past the campground to check out the scenery along the Rio Grande Reservoir, which is a very long reservoir.  The road beside the reservoir is mostly a narrow one lane road with periodic pullouts, where vehicles can pass each other.  It was a rainy, overcast day, which created some photographic opportunities.

An iPhone shot through windshield on a rainy day along the Rio Grande Reservoir, Colorado. iPhone Photograph.

I drove almost to the very end of the reservoir before turning back.  Near the end, the water shallowed, revealing the trace of the river going into the reservoir.  In the upper end of the reservoir there was colorful vegetation and I got lucky when a break in the clouds allowed sunlight to highlight some of that vegetation.

Near the upper end of the Rio Grande Reservoir, Colorado. iPhone Photograph.

During my drive back towards the campground, I stopped to shoot with my iPhone at a few locations.

Wildflowers and Boulders beneath cloudy sky along the bank of the Rio Grande Reservoir, Colorado. iPhone Photograph.

There were a few scattered wildflowers and large colorful boulders, some covered with lichen, in various shapes between the roadway and the reservoir.

Boulders and a mountainside along side the Rio Grande Reservoir, Colorado. iPhone Photograph,
Sportsmobile framed by boulders with a mountainside in the background, along the Rio Grande Reservoir, Colorado. iPhone Photograph.
Pointy and flat top boulders along the bank of the Rio Grande Reservoir, Colorado. iPhone Photograph.
Wildflowers sheltered against a large boulder along the banks of the Rio Grande Reservoir, Colorado. iPhone Photograph.

The next post will have DSLR photos taken along the river and along the reservoir.

Stay well and safe,

Ken

 

 

 

North Clear Creek Falls, Colorado, July 2020

In route from the Ridgeway, Colorado area to the southeastern portion of Colorado, I stopped by North Clear Creek Falls.  This is a popular place with tourists, maybe because it is easily accessible and just off of Colorado 149 between Gunnison and Lake City.  There is a marker sign along CO 149 and a large parking lot with restrooms near the falls.

North Creek Waterfall, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 32mm (before crop), f/11, 1/60s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

I photographed the falls from a number of view points, first from a distance perched on rocks away from the crowd, where I could get a downstream view of the falls.

Then I moved to the nearest view point along the fenced off area, keeping my distance from others and wearing a mask, since there were people coming and going in that area.  Most people were wearing masks, but a few were not.

North Creek Waterfall, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 24mm (before crop), f/22, 1/6s, ISO 31, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

It was mid day, but overcast, which was fortunate, since I did not have filters with me.  Still I had to use a small aperture to get a slow enough shutter speed to get the silky smooth water effect.

I think these two photos are the best ones that I got of the falls.  The heaviest flow is in the spring, due to snow melt; but the flow was good here even in July.

Next stop, Thirty Mile Campground.

Until then, stay safe and well,

Ken

 

Yankee Boy Basin, Colorado, July 2020, Part 4

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.

Best Wishes, Stay Well and Safe and Thanks for following,

Ken

Yankee Boy Basin, July 2020, Part 3

I hope these post on photography in Yankee Boy Basin are not getting boring.  Initially, I had only planned for two posts, but those got longer than I expected.  This will be a short post with only a couple of photos to review.

These two images are from our last evening to shoot here.  The weather report indicated a smallish chance for rain, so we thought we would get lucky and have a tremendously beautiful sky at sunset.  It did not turn out that way.  The sky was heavily overcast all around and it began to rain shortly after we got into position to shoot, so we cut our outing short.

An overcast evening in Yankee Boy Basin, Colorado.

The composition above, I thought at the time, was just a desperate attempt to get something, as it began to sprinkle, before we had to retreat.  I had reservations about even spending time editing this image or showing it to anyone.  After letting this one sit for awhile before editing it, I remembered why I made this image.

The tops of the yellowish-green vegetation, running diagonally from the bottom left corner, leads the eye to the dead, leaning tree trunk, which in turn points to the overcast, threatening sky, as if to say, “you better hurry and shoot now”.  So, I think, this composition worked better than I expected, when I was hastily making this image.

Wildflowers, Mountains and Sky in an overcast evening in Yankee Boy Basin, Colorado.

This final image is again one that I still have reservations about.  I’m trying to show the drama in the sky and soften it with the wildflowers in the foreground set below the rugged mountain peaks.  The softness of the wildflowers is enhanced by motion, created by the wind and a slow shutter speed.  This is usually not the kind of image I prefer.  Often I would increase the ISO under these conditions to get a fast shutter speed to freeze the motion in the vegetation and in the clouds. If there had been some side lighting on the wildflowers this would have been a much more impactful image.

Please feel free to critique my images.  Your feedback is always welcome.

Ken

 

Yankee Boy Basin, Colorado, July 2020, Part 1

I photographed a number of times in Yankee Boy Basin, near Ouray, Colorado during my July, 2020 summer visit to Colorado.  The main reason for returning to this area several times, is a simple one.  It just happened to be the closest, most easily accessible place for scenic landscape photography from the state park where my son, his wife, and I were staying.

Late day in Yankee Boy Basin, July 2020. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/22, 1.0s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 2.

Navigating rocky, bouncy 4WD roads is required for access to many of the best places for landscape photography in this area and Yankee Boy Basin is one that my son felt most confident in being able to get to safely, early in the morning, then have time for other daytime exploration.  In the evening, it was possible to photograph here at sunset and get back down the 4WD road before total darkness set in and we would get back to our campsites in time to get a reasonably good night’s sleep before getting up again in the early morning hours for a sunrise shoot.

There is a mountain stream with a number of waterfalls along it here.  The middle two falls seem to be the most photogenic, so we spent much of our time in that area.

Early morning in Yankee Boy Basin, July 2020. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/16, 1/5s, ISO 200. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 2.

To get the image above, I stood right up against the closest part of the waterfall on the right side of the photo, backing into a bush, shooting downstream at 14mm to get the waterfall on my right into the shot.

Early morning in Yankee Boy Basin, July 2020. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/16, 1/4s, ISO 200. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 2.

There were wildflowers growing along the stream and I often included those in my images.  The image above is made looking upstream at this waterfall, while standing in the edge of the stream bed.  Even at 14mm from my position, I could only get a small portion of the waterfall in the photograph, while also including the wildflowers along the stream edge.

Early morning in Yankee Boy Basin, July 2020. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/16, 0.4s, ISO 200. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 2.

Standing a bit further back from the falls, on a rock ledge at the edge of the stream, I could get the entire waterfall in the image, while including the wildflowers and the rock outcrop on the right.

Late day in Yankee Boy Basin, July 2020. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/16, 0.4s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 2.

Since I’ve photographed in this area a number of times, I tried not to duplicate compositions from other shoots, which is not easily avoided.  It takes some work to avoid the most common compositions here.  I had some reservations about the composition in the above image, thinking it is too complex, but I have gotten some positive feedback on it, so I guess it worked better than I anticipated.

Early morning in Yankee Boy Basin, July 2020. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/16, 1/3s, ISO 200. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 2.

Readers will note the heavily overcast sky in most of these images.  I always like to have clouds to give the sky more interest, but heavy overcast can limit or eliminate the “golden” hour light at sunrise and/or sunset.

Early morning in Yankee Boy Basin, July 2020. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/16, 1/4s, ISO 200. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 2.

The image above is taken a few yards downstream from a waterfall, looking downstream at the mountainside in the distance.  During one similar photo shoot one afternoon, there was a family of three or four (man, wife and one or two young boys) in the area.  I kept trying to avoid them and had to wait several times as they walked into and out of my compositions.  If you are a purist landscape photographer, you know we try to avoid people in our shots most of the time.  Some tourists know this and try to minimize their interference with photographers, while others are totally unconcerned about walking directly in front of a photographer.  While composing an image similar to the one above, something hit the graduated neutral density filter mounted on the front of my lens, startling me, and I immediately heard the father, standing above me on the stream’s bank,  scolding one of the boys.  It turned out that the boy was throwing rocks in an indiscriminate manner and it was one of those rocks that struck my camera.  If not for the flexibility of the filter, it would have shattered rather than just get scratched.  If not for the filter, the lens would have most likely had significant damage.  Neither of the parents said a word to me about this event.  I had expected one would have at least inquired about damage and apologized for the kid’s action, which might have resulted in an injury and/or significant camera gear damage.  The scratches on the filter sometimes result in light streaks in my images.  Fortunately, I had the filter and much of my more expensive camera gear insured via scheduled property on my homeowner’s insurance policy, so I recuperated much of the replacement cost of the filter.

Early morning in Yankee Boy Basin, July 2020. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/16, 1/4s, ISO 200. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 2.  Looking downstream at the base of a waterfall.

Yankee Boy Basin is popular with hikers and a good campsite for those that want to get the necessary early morning start on a hike up Mount Sneffels.  Still we saw only a few people during our early morning and late day visits here.

It is common to get afternoon thunderstorms in the upper elevations of the Rocky Mountains, but during the time we were here, there were more than the usual storms.  Some days were rainy for much of the day, which limited the time interval with our favorite light at sunrise and/or sunset.  We had to sometimes cut short our photography time to avoid the rain and get back down the mountainside before getting caught in a storm.

Of all the photos that I shot here, the one below is my favorite.

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.

This image has so much of what landscape photographers look for in an image, late day sunlight highlighting the mountain tops, light beams in the clouds, silky smooth, flowing water and a sinuous stream leading the eye from the waterfall into the image.  More prominent wildflowers would have made this even better.

Since we visited here multiple times, there will be at least one more post of photos from this area.  Please click on the images to view them in higher resolution on my Flickr page.

Thanks for following,

Ken

Bisti Wilderness, May 2019, Day 6 Sunset

As usual, I was all alone in the north Bisti parking area overnight.  After returning from my early morning shoot, a few people came and went during the mid-day hours.

A young German couple, Tobias and Daniela, parked next to me and we chatted for a few minutes before they headed out into the wilderness area.  They were in the US for 4 weeks, traveling via automobile from Phoenix to Pittsburg, seeing sites along the way.  The couple returned before 6PM, stopping by to show me a few photos of various places that they had visited so far on their current trip to the US, giving me ideas of other places to visit.  Daniela’s blog site is Daniela’s Urlaubs Blog.

I am always amazed at how much international travel the Europeans do.  I know traveling between countries in Europe is easy,  but many travel outside Europe on a regular basis.  I have met numerous Europeans who are on extended vacations, spanning weeks.  I know that their labor laws assure their citizens of liberal holiday time, but they must budget a lot for their travels, even if they take advantage of cheap airfare, motels, car rentals, etc.  Still, it makes sense to me that if one is traveling so far, taking a long vacation is justified.

During the afternoon, there were dark, heavy clouds all around the area and I could see distant rainfall in numerous directions.  Some  of those rainfall events seemed to be heading directly towards my location, but it did not rain on me.

Bisti Panorama with storm clouds. iPhone photograph with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

I made the panoramic shot above with my iPhone from atop a hill just inside the Bisti Wilderness and just north of the parking area.  This hilltop is the nearest place, where I could get a weak cell signal for making calls, getting e-mails and checking the weather, if the weak, intermittent signal lasted long enough to do so.  This shot is to the south, showing the massive cloud cover, which might not bode well for a sunset shoot.  The Sportsmobile is just a little rectangular blob near the center left edge of this image.

I made preparations to go out for sunset photography, although it was very cloudy in the west and the wind was increasing in intensity.  I stuffed my rain shell into my backpack before heading out, just in case of rain.

I hiked to a place, which I had previously scouted for sunset photography, high up on a hard rock platform, overlooking a large array of hoodoos with a wide vista over the desert area.

North Bisti Hoodoos. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

I made a number of test shots with my iPhone and DSLR of several compositions about an hour before sunset, as I waited and prepared for the warm sunset light.  These shots and my observations of the light indicated that the golden sunset light would be very limited today.  With this in mind, I carefully walked around on top of my perch area to determine how and where to quickly set up the tripod and camera, during the brief time that I would have to shoot at sunset.  Some of my chosen setup locations required carefully planned steps to safely get into position and care in setting the tripod, so I wanted to practice my moves.

North Bisti Hoodoos. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.
North Bisti Hoodoos. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.
North Bisti Hoodoos. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

I was excited about the possibilities for shooting here.  Unfortunately, a large mass of clouds on the western horizon obscured the sun at sunset time.  This is such a great place to shoot sunset that I will have to try again tomorrow evening, which will be my final chance to shoot here on this trip.  At least I have a few iPhone and DSLR images, just in case tomorrow’s sunset light is no better.

North Bisti Scene near sunset. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 52mm, f/16, 8.0s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.
North Bisti Hoodoos and Valley near sunset. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 48mm, f/16, multiple exposures, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules. Helicon focus stack of 9 images.
North Bisti scene near sunset. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 70mm, f/16, 1/4s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

At the time I made these shots, there would have been golden hour light on the two large features on the left of the above image and on the mass of hoodoos in the image below, if the clouds on the western horizon had not blocked the direct rays of sunlight.

North Bisti Scene. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 42mm, f/16, 0.4s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.
North Bisti Hoodoos near sunset. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 52mm, f/16, multiple exposures, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules. Helicon focus stack of 9 images.

The DSLR images in this post have embedded links to the photos on Flickr, where these can be viewed in higher resolution.

I like these compositions and views, but the light that I had anticipated was not realized.  Hopefully, tomorrow will be better.

Until then,

Ken