From La Garita Arch we drove to an area called “English Valley”. We parked at a turn around at the end of a sometimes barely discernible road at a high area overlooking a valley to the south.
The sun was rapidly sinking in the sky, so we quickly found spots to try to capture the late day sunset sky above the valley.
Sunset Scene, English Valley, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, 0.5s, ISO 64.
We were fortunate to have good clouds to the south and we could see a little rain falling in the distance.
As the light changed, I moved to other locations and turned a little more to the east.
Sunset Scene, English Valley, Colorado.Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm (before crop), f/11, 0.5s, ISO 64.
The moon had risen early and became visible as the clouds moved around.
Sunset Scene, English Valley, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm (before crop), f/11, 0.5s, ISO 64.
One can see how the light in the clouds migrated as the clouds themselves blew across the scene.
The last image in this post was chosen for Flickr’s Explore page, but I like the first image in this post better, although the light on the valley is better in the last image.
We thought about staying the night at this location, but decided to go to another area, where my son said we would have better chances of good sunrise subjects to shoot.
Leaving Cathedral Campground, we headed to an area to the north of Del Norte, Colorado that my son had explored sometime earlier this year. Our first stop was at La Garita Arch, a natural arch in an ancient volcanic dike on BLM land.
La Garita Arch, Southeastern Colorado, iPhone, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.
We were here well before sunset, so I made a few iPhone photographs, while awaiting the golden sunset hour.
Panorama at La Garita Arch, Colorado. iPhone, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.
Hiking up a hillside to the west of the arch, looking for a good place from which to shoot, I noted many cacti of various kinds scattered around, intermingled with some colorful, lichen covered rocks.
Cacti, iPhone, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.
It required some attention to where one stepped to avoid putting a foot onto one of these.
The arch is not an easy one to photograph and the shadow of the hillside to the west of the arch moves quickly up the incline to the arch as the sun sinks into the sky, limiting the late day light on the arch.
La Garita Arch. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/6s, ISO 64.
Of the many shots I took, the one above is the best.
We had hoped to camp nearby the arch, but the only real campsite here was already taken. So we moved on to another area, where we hoped to get other late day images before the sun completely set.
I returned to Teal Campground after my hike on the Williams Creek Trail and the clouds began to get denser as it got closer to sunset time. It rained heavily for awhile, leaving a temporary puddle of water around the Sportsmobile. I still held out hope that the storm would pass and I would have another spectacular sunset like the one that I missed the prior evening.
It was still heavily overcast and sprinkling lightly when I went out with my camera gear. I set up at one location near the reservoir and selected my first composition. Just as I got ready to take my first test shot, a motor boat loaded with a number of fishermen, returning from the far side of the lake, pulled right into my shot as they headed to the remnants of an old concrete dock. I still made test shots to check my camera settings and composition as I waited for the fishermen to unload their boat and walk past me.
I decided that I did not like that location with the old, unattractive, concrete dock and now part of a boat in the foreground. Since it was still very heavily overcast, I moved to another location, still hoping for thinning in the clouds.
I made a number of exposures at various locations, but most were not appealing .
The clouds did not thin much at all and this is the best image I made:
Sunset Clouds, Williams Creek Reservoir. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 35mm, f/11, 1.3s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Dxo modules.
I do not think this is a bad image, it is just not what I was looking forward to. Most of my shots did not even have a hint of light in the clouds. At least this one did.
The clouds were moving fairly quickly past the mountain tops and I made a couple of short time lapse videos, but they are much too short to present. In hindsight I wish I had stood in the cold wind with the sporadic sprinkling of rain drops and made longer time lapse videos, but I was afraid of getting caught in another downpour, gave up and retreated to the shelter of the Sportsmobile.
I will move on somewhere yet to be determined tomorrow.
After shooting wildflowers in the meadow adjacent to Teal Campground and Williams Creek Reservoir, I decided to try getting images of the Canadian Geese that were usually feeding and swimming around near the reservoir shoreline.
I do not often try to photograph wildlife, since I’m usually not prepared for that type photography, and when I see wildlife unexpectedly, I am usually too slow to respond. The wild animals have scampered away and the birds fly or swim away before I can get a photo.
However, today I had my big lens (80-400mm) mounted already, so I was at least partly prepared. Even though, I still could not get close enough with the big lens without frightening away the geese, I could at least crop the D850 images and still get a reasonably good image.
Goose, Williams Creek Reservoir, Colorado. Nikon D850, 1/1250s, f/11, ISO 1250, 80-400mm at 400mm (before crop). Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.Goose, Williams Creek Reservoir, Colorado. Nikon D850, 1/1250s, f/11, ISO 1250, 80-400mm at 400mm (before crop). Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.Goose, Teal Campground. Nikon D850, 1/640s, f/11, ISO 1250, 80-400mm @ 400mm (before crop). Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Modules.
As I attempted to get closer, the geese did as they usually do and took to the water.
Geese in Williams Creek Reservoir. Nikon D850, 1/1600s, f/11, ISO 1250, 80-400mm @ 400mm (before crop). Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Modules.
Please do not fly away, stay tuned for more at Teal Campground and Williams Creek Reservoir,
After my sunrise shoot and breakfast, I went back out with my 80-400mm lens mounted on my D850 to shoot wildflowers. I shot handheld, so I used a fast shutter speed and continuous (burst) mode in an effort to get shots with the best focus, as the flowers moved in the breeze and my unsteady hands added to the movement.
Wildflower with Ant. Teal Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, 1/640s, f/5.6, ISO 640, 80-400mm at 400mm (before crop). Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.
One of the interesting things about shooting this way, is that one never knows exactly what one will get as a result. Later when reviewing and editing the photos one might discover some small details that were not obvious, when shooting from a distance with a big, non-macro, lens. Wildflowers almost always have numerous insect in or on them.
I discovered a translucent spider in one of my shots, but it was not good enough to present. Big disappointment, that spider looked really cool.
Fairy Trumpet Wildflower, Teal Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, 1/500s, f/5.6, ISO 400, 80-400mm at 400mm (before crop). Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.
These red trumpet like flowers come out of a bud that is a contrasting purple with a deeper purple at its base.
Wildflower, Teal Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, 1/640s, f/5.6, ISO 500, 80-400mm at 400mm (before crop). Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.Wildflower, Teal Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, 1/500s, f/5.6, ISO 400, 80-400mm at 400mm (before crop). Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.
There was a heavy dew this morning, but I found capturing the sunlight sparkling in the dew drops was quite difficult with my big lens. But the flower above with the dew drops looks a bit like some creature with one drop looking like an eye.
Wildflower, Teal Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, 1/250s, f/5.6, ISO 200, 80-400mm at 300mm (before crop). Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.
Some flowers were obviously past their prime.
Leaves, Teal Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, 1/500s, f/5.6, ISO 800, 80-400mm at 400mm (before crop). Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.
These curly, fuzzy, reddish leaves were on low growing plants and difficult to get a good close up of. I had to crop in very closely to get this image.
Wildflower, Teal Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, 1/6400s, f/5.6, ISO 640, 80-400mm at 400mm (before crop). Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.Fairy Trumpet Wildflowers, Teal Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, 1/640s, f/5.6, ISO 500, 80-400mm at 400mm (before crop). Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.Wildflower, Teal Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, 1/800s, f/6.3, ISO 1000, 80-400mm at 400mm (before crop). Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.
I shot many images of the plant above, initially of those just coming out of the ground without the cone flower pod at the top of an eventually tall plant. The leaves of these are very fuzzy, and with the many early morning dew drops, all of the images look out of focus; although, I’m sure not all of them could have been out of focus. Nonetheless, I am refraining from posting most of those fuzzy looking images. Those yellow bulb like features eventually develop into yellow flowers, but I did not get good images of those.
Wildflowers, Teal Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, 1/500s, f/6.3, ISO 1000, 80-400mm at 400mm (before crop). Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.
I really like these tall stalks with the many blue to purple flowers with the green to red stems. It appears that ants like these, too.
Wildflowers, Teal Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, 1/640s, f/6.3, ISO 1000, 80-400mm at 400mm (before crop). Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.Spent Wildflower Trio, Teal Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, 1/400s, f/5.6, ISO 400, 80-400mm at 400mm (before crop). Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.Wildflowers, Teal Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, 1/500s, f/5.6, ISO 640, 80-400mm at 400mm (before crop). Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.Thistle, Teal Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, 1/800s, f/6.3, ISO 1250, 80-400mm at 400mm (before crop). Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.
Thistles always make good subjects for wildflower photos with their long stems and variations in physical features as they develop beautiful purple flowers then fade away.
Thistles, Teal Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, 1/500s, f/5.6, ISO 1000, 80-400mm at 80mm (before crop). Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.Thistle Progression, Teal Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, 1/320s, f/5.6, ISO 400, 80-400mm at 220mm (before crop). Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.Thistle Flower, Teal Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, 1/320s, f/5.6, ISO 400, 80-400mm at 220mm (before crop). Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.
The upside and downside to photographing wildflowers is that there are infinitely many ways to capture them and maybe posts on such subjects get a bit long and monotonous.
Note that I have not identified most of these flowers. Not that I did not try for awhile. It is just too frustrating to do so. I’ve yet to find a good online wildflower reference that is easy to use. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the images and you can ignore my blathering about them.
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.
Back on Colorado 149, after departing Thirty Mile Campground, I stopped for a snack and to stretch my legs at a pull out along the Rio Grande. I remember this spot from other visits. I think I probably stopped here many years ago on my first drive along this route.
Rio Grand River, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/250s, ISO 200, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.
There is a good view of a bend in the river and the cliffs along the river banks at this large pull out.
CO 149 intersects US 160 at South Fork. I headed west on US 160 towards Pagosa Springs. Along the way, I noted a viewpoint sign for Treasure Falls. There is a large parking lot for this attraction and there were many vehicles in the parking lot. It was a weekend day and maybe the crowd would be much smaller on a weekday. I actually drove a little past the official parking lot, pulling out at a wide pull out a little further down the highway. I walked back to the parking area to check out the area, taking a mask and just my camera with the 24-70mm lens.
There was no view of the falls from the parking area. There were information signs for the falls and two trails to the falls, the typical tourist type trail, which most of the folks were taking, and a primitive trail. Wanting to maintain a social distance from all those here, and because I wanted something more natural, I chose to take the primitive trail. I do not suggest this trail for anyone not in fairly good physical shape. It was, indeed primitive, steep with slippery muddy slopes, logs and rocks to scramble over; but there was not a crowd of people on it. However, I was behind a family that had to stop frequently to catch their breath (giving me a good excuse to stop for the same), so I waited at a distance for them to proceed. The primitive trail took longer than I had anticipated to get to the falls.
An information sign at the Treasure Falls parking lot.
Arriving at the falls, it took more effort to keep a distance from others and I made sure to wear my mask all the time in that area. There was a small viewing platform at the falls, which I avoided, electing to keep to the downstream area away from as many people as possible.
Since I did not bring a tripod on this hike, I hand held my camera, so I could not get a long exposure shot of the falls. I also did not have filters and the sky was bright and over exposed.
Treasure Falls, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 24mm (before crop), f/8, 1/25s, ISO 200, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.
It was possible to hike to the base of the falls, but I decided not to try that on this visit.
Treasure Falls, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 24mm (before crop), f/8, 1/60s, ISO 200, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.
I took the easy trail back to the parking lot. That trail was quite busy with folks coming up the trail, so I wore my mask and stepped away from those approaching. The trip on this trail back to the parking area only took a few minutes.
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.
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.
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,
