Tag: Flat Tops Wilderness

July 2019 – Colorado – Smith Lake

Up at 4AM and out of the Sportsmobile by 4:45AM, we arrived at Smith Lake in the Flat Tops Wilderness about 30 minutes prior to sunrise.  I found the place that I had scouted the previous day and set up, taking a few test shots, while waiting for the sunrise.

The light was good, but it was breezy enough that the lake surface was rippling, so no glassy, mirror like reflections were possible.  I also had to go to 2500 ISO and F/8 to get a fast enough shutter speed to freeze the vegetation motion.  The high ISO resulted in more noise in the photos, requiring attenuation in post processing.

I used 3 basic compositions, shooting multiple shots of each, as the sunrise light illuminated the mountainside on the far side of the lake.  Two of the resulting shots are presented here.

Smith Lake, Routt NF, CO.
Smith Lake, Routt National Forest, Colorado Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 16mm, f/8, 1/125s, ISO 2500.
Smith Lake, Routt NF, Colorado
Smith Lake in Routt National Forest, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/11, 2.5s, ISO 64

Note that the second image above is made with a slow shutter speed (2.5s), which smoothed the water, but the vegetation may not be really sharp due to some wind motion.

I noted that the light on the mountainside might actually be best prior to sunrise, probably due to the sun already being up fairly high before the mountain received the sunrise light.

After this morning’s shoot, we broke camp and headed to Vaughan Lake Campground, so stay tuned for photos from that area.

Ken

July 2019 – Colorado – Cold Springs – Routt National Forest – Day 2 Sunset

There were scattered thunderstorms in the afternoon and more storm clouds were approaching well prior to the normal time we would go out for sunset shots, so we decided to go out early and try to get some shots before the storm arrived.

I went down the road to the small field of Columbines we had seen earlier in the day, arriving there shortly before the storm blew in.  There had been sunlight, but by the time I arrive at my destination, clouds obscured the sun.  I only had time to get a couple of shots before the wind and thunder convinced me that I should hasten back to the campground for cover from the storm.

Storm Clouds over Routt NF, CO
Storm Clouds over Routt NF, CO Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 15mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 640.

Not long after getting back into the vehicle and zipping up the penthouse window covers, it began to rain, followed quickly by pebble size hail.  As the rain and hail stopped, a double rainbow appeared to the east of the campground and there was light on the mountainsides to the east and south.  It was still far from certain that the storm was completely past, so we hung around the vehicle until we were fairly sure the storm was over before going out again.

My son shot via his drone, launching it from the campground, while I went back to the field of Columbines.  There were clouds and good sunset light with a beautiful sky, as there often is just after a storm.

After the Storm
After the Storm, Flattop Mountain, Routt National Forest, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/8, 1/125s, ISO 2500.

It was still windy and I was trying to get the Columbines in the foreground, so I went to high ISO in the dimming light to get a high enough shutter speed to freeze the motion of the flowers.  The high ISO shots in the dim light were noisy and I was not able to filter out the noise enough to make most of them presentable.

Flattop Mountains, Routt NF, CO
Flattop Mountains, Columbine Meadow, Routt National Forest, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/10, 1/125s, ISO 320.

I was disappointed with many of my shots, which I think were good compositions, but those with Columbines in the near foreground were mostly too fuzzy due to wind induced motion of the wildflowers or noisy due to high ISO and/or failure to chose a better focus point.  On the other hand, focusing on the close up wildflowers would have resulted in fuzzy distant objects.  I only have three shots from this shoot that I thought presentable.

Until next time,

Ken