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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
