Tag: Nikon D850

Rio Grande National Forest, September 20, 2020, Part 5

After my trip into Del Norte, I returned to the Rio Grande National Forest via FSR 380, having still not settled upon a campsite for tonight.  I had noted a number of sites, but all were either occupied or otherwise not a good choice for tonight.

I had noted a place along FSR 380 that looked promising for late day photography, so I planned to stop there, since it looked like the timing would work for photographing there today.

I made a number of images at that location, shooting from the edge of the roadway, as the late day shadows moved across the meadow and up the mountainside.

Reclamation. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, 1/10s, f/11, ISO 64.

The image above is the one that I liked best.  It took me a while to realize that the terraced landscape below the mountain peak is artificial and a result of reclamation of a mine site.

I thought about shooting from the roof rack on my vehicle to get a better view of the ponds, which reflected the scene behind them.  I rejected that idea, since it would involve not only awkwardly climbing up and down my access ladder with camera and tripod, but maybe having to move the vehicle multiple times to get the best perspective and having to repeat going up and down the ladder with my gear.  In hindsight, I wish I had taken the time to do that, since even the elevated view from my driver’s seat in the van gave a better view of the ponds.

After shooting here, it was getting late in the day and I really needed to find an overnight place to stay.  I continued along FSR 380, driving slowly due to the washboarded road.  I eventually ended up back at Stunner Campground, having found no other available place to camp.  The first pull through campsite and others were vacant, so I claimed the pull through site for tonight.

I had no plans for the next day.

Stay tuned for more,

Ken

 

Rio Grande National Forest, September 19, 2020

On Saturday, September 19, 2020 we photographed just off of a roadway not too far from Platoro Reservoir. I made a few shots with the reservoir and mountainside behind.  This one is my favorite:

Aspen, Platoro Reservoir and Mountain. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, 1/400s, f/16, ISO 125.

It takes considerable thought making compositions within a forest.  Even though there is natural beauty all around, it is not as easy as one might think to make an interesting photograph with so much around that can be distracting or unappealing in an image and, after a while, one begins to think that the compositions are too common and repetitive.

Contrast. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, 1/60s, f/16, ISO 100.

I found the contrast of the small evergreens among the tall, rugged Aspens interesting.

Fall Decor. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, 1/125s, f/16, ISO 800.
Fall Forest. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, 1/400s, f/16, ISO 800.

And again I found boulders with fallen Aspen leaves decorating them in the forest.

Forest Boulders. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, 1/125s, f/16, ISO 100.
Aspens and Boulder. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, 1/320s, f/11, ISO 800.

Near the roadway I found a number of Aspens that had started growing horizontally, maybe from some early life damage, but that had turned to grow upward toward the sky.

Directional Correction. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, 1/160s, f/16, ISO 400.

As I later discovered, it was not unusual to find such curved shapes in the Aspen trunks.  I’m sure there must be a logical explanation for this unusual growth pattern.

I spotted a small shimmering Aspen tree that really stood out against the darker surroundings.  I included the small tree as a highlight in a wide angle image.  When reviewing that photograph, I decided to crop the image, making it more apparent that the small tree was the primary object of interest .

Shimmering Aspen. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, 1/500s, f/11, ISO 400.

I made a few close up images of the yellow Aspen leaves late in the day.  I had brought only a wide angle lens on this shoot.  The wide angle close ups always include much more than I wanted in the images, so I cropped them during editing to pick out the portions that I was trying to capture.

Aspen Leaves. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, 1/125s, f/4, ISO 400.
Aspen Leaves. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, 1/320s, f/2.8, ISO 400.

It was late in the day and the sun was rapidly sinking in the sky, but I managed to get a few images with weak back light, then a few more with dispersed light. The three presented here are the ones that I like best.

Aspen Leaves. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, 1/640s, f/2.8, ISO 400.

More later,

Ken

Rio Grande National Forest, Colorado, September 18, 2020, Part 1

At sometime during my second day in Colorado, my son and his wife decided that due to the smoke from numerous large forest fires in Colorado, it would be best to come south to meet me in the Rio Grande National Forest.  So I needed to find a suitable campsite for all of us and scout the forest roads for potential photographic opportunities.

Thus Friday morning I continued to drive along Forest Service Road 250 and spurs off of FSR 250, looking for good campsites, stopping above Platoro Reservoir to shoot a few DSLR photos.

Platoro Reservoir. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, 1/8s, f/11, ISO 64.

Much snow fell in this area during the early fall storm with much remaining on the mountain peaks and a few patches in shady, lower elevations.

Fall Rocks. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, 1/15s, f/16, ISO 64.

Walking up a hillside, I found large boulders with colorful lichen interspersed with the Aspens.

Scared. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, 1/3s, f/16, ISO 64.

Aspen tree trunks often have interesting features, but this one, adjacent to one group of boulders, had a major scar.

Forest Boulders. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, 1/3s, f/16, ISO 64.

Another view of two large, lichen covered boulders in the Aspen grove is above.

My main task today was to find another campsite, so I soon moved on to continue that search.

More later,

Ken

 

 

English Valley, Colorado, Aug 1, 2020

After retrieving our cameras from the night shoot location, we drove back to the previous mornings location, hoping to be there a little earlier this morning to take advantage of the golden hour sunrise light.

Boulders and Volcanic Dike. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 20mm, f/11, 1/3s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

I hiked back up the slope to the same place I had initially set up the previous morning, using large boulders as foreground for my first composition.  This morning I was here before the sunrise light illuminated the volcanic ridge at the crest of the slope.

As the light moved down the slope, I moved around seeking other compositions.

Morning Shadow. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 19mm, f/11, 1/8s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe LR and DxO Nik modules.

This morning I was able to get good light on the boulders and across the slope below the ridge and across the valley with long, early morning shadows.

English Valley Sunrise Scene. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 20mm, f/11, 1/6s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe LR and DxO Nik modules.

These three shots were the best of the morning and I was much more satisfied with this mornings final shoot in this location, before getting on the road for the long drive home.

This wraps up the highlights of my July 2020 visit to Colorado.  Stay tuned for my September visit to the Rio Grande National Forest for fall photography.

Stay well and safe,

Ken

Sunset and Star Trails, Southeastern Colorado, July 31, 2020

I made a few sunset shots as the late day storm clouds blew past, as I was setting up for night shooting.

Dramatic Sky. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/80s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Color Efex Pro 4.

The clouds in the sky were moving and changing quickly as they blew from northwest to southeast.

English Valley Sunset Sky. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/10s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Color Efex Pro 4.

Just as the sun was setting, the sky to the northwest was clearing rapidly and we hoped that the clouds would clear out completely, as the weather forecast predicted, for our night images.

I used a few of my images to make a very short time-lapse movie, which can be seen here SE Colorado Sunset Sky.

We made final checks of our cameras, remote shutter release programs and put rain covers in place (there was still a slight chance of overnight rain), then hiked back to our vehicles.

Early the next morning we retrieved our cameras, then went to another location for sunrise photographs.  Upon returning home, I processed the night images and this is the final product.

Star trails with moonlight landscape. A composite of 45 4 minute night exposures with the foreground illuminated by moonlight. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/5.6, ISO 400. Edited in Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop and DxO Nik modules.

Normally, a dark sky is preferred for star photography, but there was a bright moon this night.  Our cameras were programed for 4 minute exposures, during the interval when the landscape would be illuminated by moonlight.  The light on the landscape and shadows changed throughout the shooting interval, with some images looking dull and other images looking almost like they were lighted by golden hour sunlight.  I chose one of the images with what I considered the most attractive foreground light to make make this final composite of 45 images.

Thanks for following, stay safe and well,

Ken

Pre-Sunset and Night Photo Preparation, Southeastern Colorado, July 31, 2020

We returned to our vehicles, after our hike up to a saddle in a volcanic dike, to have dinner and prepare for sunset and set up for night photography.  The weather was threatening with heavy clouds being blown in by strong winds from the northwest.

Late Day Storm iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

I’ve always liked the way the light changes just before a storm.  We were a little concerned about the prospects for sunset and night photography, but the weather report showed decreasing chances of rain as the evening progressed and only a slight chance of overnight rain.

English Valley Campsite iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

The sky was mostly covered with thick clouds in all directions.

English Valley Campsite iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

After a modest dinner, we gathered our gear and hiked up onto the volcanic ridge to the south and picked our spots for sunset and night images.  We used applications on our iPhones to determine when the moon would rise and set, so we that we could program our remote shutter releases to shoot in that time interval.  We also knew where the moon would be in the sky, so we could decide which direction we wanted to shoot to take best advantage of the moon for lighting the landscape.

Night shooting setup iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

One can see that the cloud cover is still heavy, but it seems to be clearing, with the clouds blowing to the southeast.

Cloudy sky. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

The image above is to the south of my selected location.

Sunset sky view. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

Looking back to the northwest from my position, the clouds are much thinner now.  Our vehicles are just visible in the center left of this image.

Anchored leg of tripod for extended night shooting. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

After a few sunset images, I finalized my night composition and made sure the tripod was stable and added a few rocks around one leg for additional security.  One can see that the standing room is tight and requires care in moving around here.

That’s all for now.  I will have the sunset and night image results in the next post.

Ken

 

BLM Land, Southeastern Colorado, Sunrise, July 31, 2020

Retrieving our cameras in the early morning from the volcanic ridge adjacent to our campsite, where we had left them the night prior, shooting programmed shots of the night sky, we drove a short distance to another location that we had scouted previously for sunrise photography.

I had to hike across a wide area and up a slope to get to a good place for my first composition, after which there was not much time to set up prior to the sun rising over the hills to the east of our location.  Just as I set up at my first location, the sun suddenly came over the horizon, before I was completely ready, not giving me enough time to test my compositions and I was not happy with the initial results.

I moved on to other locations hoping to salvage something from this morning’s efforts.  When I first reviewed the images from this morning, I passed over them, thinking none were good enough to bother editing.  Later I revisited those images and decided that some had merit.

Volcanic Dike Ridge and Boulders. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 17mm, f/11, 1/10s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Viveza and Color Efex Pro 4.

Our location was below another volcanic dike on a steep slope covered with boulders.

Volcanic Dike Ridge and Boulders. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 17mm, f/11, 1/13s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Viveza and Color Efex Pro 4.

The boulders and clumps of grass worked well as foreground; but I was still disappointed in many of my compositions.

Volcanic Dike Ridge and Boulder Strewn Slope. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 20mm, f/11, 1/15s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Viveza and Color Efex Pro 4.

I missed the best of the light this morning, due to not arriving early enough.

Volcanic Dike Ridge and Rocky Slope. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/15s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Viveza and Color Efex Pro 4.

Maybe just the fact that I knew I had missed the best morning light biased me against these images in my initial review.

Rocky Slope and Volcanic Dike Ridge. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 20mm, f/11, 1/15s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Viveza and Color Efex Pro 4.

The problem with this location is that the very first early morning light looks good on that volcanic ridge, but then the sun is already fairly high in the sky, so the golden light is very fleeting.  By the time the sunlight begins to move down the slope the best light is gone.

Rocky Slope and Valley View. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/40s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Viveza and Color Efex Pro 4.

After shooting looking up the slope towards the ridge, I turned to the south and shot across the wide flat valley with the hills in the background, using boulders as foreground.

Valley View. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm (before crop), f/11, 1/30s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Viveza and Color Efex Pro 4.

I was not really pleased with any of my images from this shoot and even considered not bothering to process some, including the last image in this post.  However, after getting that last image selected for Flickr’s explore page, I’m glad that I took the time to process and share it.  Be sure to click on the photos to view higher resolution ones on Flickr.

Having missed the best light this morning, we decided to return here again the next, and our final, morning here to try again.

Thanks for following,

Ken

 

 

 

BLM Land, Southeastern Colorado, Night Photography, July 30, 2020

After dinner my son and I hiked back up the volcanic ridge to the south of our campsite to set up for night photography.

I picked my view point, looking easterly from the ridge, making a few late day images and picking a final composition for the star photographs.

English Valley Sunset, Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 16mm (before crop), f/11, 1/25s, ISO 64

The moon was up and would not set until sometime after midnight.  We did not want the moonlight to interfere with the dark sky photos, so we set our remote timers to begin shooting for sometime after the moonset.

After getting our final compositions, making sure our tripods were stable, securing our focus rings with gaffer tape, programing remotes, installing rain covers (there was a slight possibility of rain), we started the remote timers and retired to our vehicles for the night, returning in the early morning prior to sunrise to retrieve our cameras, hoping we had suitable images for star trails.

Here is my final product from all of this effort:

English Valley Star Trails. A composite of 99 30s exposures plus one late day shot for the foreground.

Much better images can be seen on Flickr by clicking on the images.

Thanks for following, stay well and safe,

Ken

Sunrise, BLM Land, Southeastern Colorado, July 30, 2020

We arose early on the morning of July 30 to get out and into position before the sunrise.  I again went to the south side of the volcanic ridge, but this time just a little below the crest to await the sunrise.

Sunrise Ridge, Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm (before crop), f/11, 1/4s, ISO 64

My first composition here included a little too much of the scrubby vegetation in the lower right corner of the image.  So I changed the composition a little and then cropped the image more to get this out of the photograph.

Sunrise Ridge, Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm (before crop), f/11, 1/8s, ISO 64

One can see the light moving down the south slope and beginning to highlighting some of the rocks and vegetation in the lower left of this image.

I moved more towards the most prominent portion of the ridge to get this image.

Sunrise Ridge, Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/15s, ISO 64

The shot above is the best image of the morning, in my opinion.

Stay tuned for sunset and night images,

Ken

Sunrise Photography, BLM Land, Southeastern Colorado, July 29, 2020

My son and I camped on BLM land north of Del Norte in July, 2020.  We chose a location adjacent to a volcanic ridge, where we would photograph at sunrise and sunset.

Arising early in the morning, we only had to hike a short distance to our first photo location.  I initially chose to go to the south side of the ridge, looking for a good view of the large ridge with interesting foreground objects.

I first chose a tree as a foreground item, but I did not like that location, as it seemed too far from the ridge.  I then moved up the slope towards the ridge, to a large boulder to use in the foreground.

Sunrise Ridge, Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/4s, ISO 64

This early image was made as the sunrise light just began to illuminate a portion of the ridge, with all of the foreground still in shadow.

Sunrise Ridge, Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 20mm, f/11, 1/4s, ISO 64

As the sunlight progressed over the ridge, I changed my composition, moving to the left of the boulder.  Note that sunlight is just beginning to highlight the small tree in front of the boulder and a little of the grass clumps in the foreground.

Sunrise Ridge, Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 19mm, f/11, 1/13s, ISO 64

Eventually, the early morning light moved down the slope, highlighting more of the foreground.  When I saw the light hitting the small clump of cacti on the boulder, I knew I had the shot that I wanted.

My son, who was shooting from the top of the lower portion of the ridge, called to me telling me that I should move up to the ridge crest.  So I picked my way up the steep rock covered slope, where I made the image below.

Sunrise Ridge, Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/10s, ISO 64

I tested a few other compositions from this location on the ridge, but none of those worked out very well.  There were some impressively long shadows in the valley to the south of this ridge.  I made a few exposures with those shadows in the landscape image, but all of my compositions from this vantage point were disappointing.

We soon retreated to our campsite for breakfast, after which we will do a bit of scouting in the general area during the mid-day hours, then return here for a sunset shoot.

Until then, stay safe,

Ken