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,
This is a continuation of my photography effort in Yankee Boy Basin near Ouray, Colorado in July, 2020.
On a couple of our visits to this area, we drove past the waterfalls to try our luck with photographing variations in the local landscape. The images in this post are all from one morning’s shoot.
Pre-Sunrise light in Yankee Boy Basin, July 2020. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/11, 13s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 2.
This first image is a long exposure made before sunrise, but it is evident that the mountain peaks are already getting some early morning light. Even though it was a calm morning, there may be some foliage motion apparent in the long exposure.
Sunrise light in Yankee Boy Basin, July 2020. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/11, 0.8s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 2.
As the sun began to come up, I made a series of images, capturing the early morning golden light on the mountaintops, using the deep canyon, created by the many years of the stream flowing down the mountain side, with accompanying erosion, as a leading line into the image.
One of the subtle details that I like in these images is the shadow of another mountain peak that is superimposed upon the prominent, highlighted peak. I wish that I could say that I planned for this, but it was just an unexpected bonus.
Sunrise light in Yankee Boy Basin, July 2020. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/11, 0.6s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 2.
I experimented with variations on this general composition, trying to determine the most satisfying one. For the one above, I moved past the tree that was on my left and rotated to the right to include the single tree on the right and more of the area along the right of the canyon. For the one below, I included a clump of rocks in the lower right and rotated to the left a little. I like this composition better than any of the previous ones.
Sunrise light in Yankee Boy Basin, July 2020. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 16mm, f/11, 0.8s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 2.
The image below is a variation of the one above. I like this composition, too, but I still like the one above more, perhaps because the left side of the canyon stands out better in that image, as does the mountain peak at the top right, and the stream and canyon are leading more directly to that peak.
One might note that I edited out that dead tree limb in the lower left in the very first image in this post. I do not like that element in the other images, but removing it leaves some traces of the edit that might not be apparent to others that do not know that something was removed, but I know that the edit artifacts are there.
Sunrise light in Yankee Boy Basin, July 2020. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 15mm, f/11, 0.6s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 2.
I moved back near my initial position to include the tree on the left in the image below. One can see a hint of the golden hour glow on the far left peak coming through the top of that tree. That effect looked better in real life than it does in this image.
Sunrise light in Yankee Boy Basin, July 2020. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/11, 0.5s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 2.
I’ve highlighted the rapids in the stream a little in the editing process to emphasis its function as a leading line. I could probably improve the canyon’s and stream’s leading line function by a little more lightening along those, but I think the dark red rock along the canyon wall is sufficient and I do not want to take too much of the viewers eye off of that highlighted mountain peak.
Moving even more downstream along the canyon, I used a large boulder as a foreground object.
Sunrise light in Yankee Boy Basin, July 2020. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 16mm, f/11, 2.0s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 2.
To me, that boulder looks too close to the far wall of the canyon to be pleasing. I may take another look at the edit of this photo to see if I can create more separation here. The leading line of the far canyon wall with the trees along the top edge is still effective in this image, leading the eye to the highlighted peak at the top left. There is an additional leading line behind the trees, formed by another drainage, leading the eye up towards the highlighted peak near the center of the image. Maybe the greenery in that leading line could be lightened a little more to improve its function.
Sunrise light in Yankee Boy Basin, July 2020. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 20mm, f/11, 1/3s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 2.
My initial impression as I composed the above image was that it was not very interesting. But now that I’ve had more time to think about why I selected this composition, I like it more and maybe even more than any of the other compositions from this shoot. I like the light and color variation across the image and the leading line of the stream at the bottom left, intersecting with the drainage that goes diagonally across the image to the highlighted peaks at the top right. Maybe a little more editing might emphasize the leading lines better and maybe I could create more depth to separate that boulder in the right corner from the canyon wall.
The sky is rather dull in all of the images from this shoot. Clouds might have made all of these images more striking, but we have to work with what we have, when we only get to visit such beautiful places infrequently.
Higher resolution images can be viewed on my Flickr page by clicking upon the images. The images also look much better, when viewed on a computer screen, rather than the tiny screen of a phone.
Porphyry Basin, Colorado is accessed via a narrow, steep 4WD road off of US550 between Ouray and Silverton.
My oldest son drove us up the road to the basin in July, 2020. On the way up the mountainside, we passed a canvas tent with a stove pipe jutting from the top. It was obvious that someone had set up that tent for a long term camp. Upon arriving at the end of the 4WD road at an old mine site, it became apparent who was living in that heavy duty tent. First we saw a large flock of sheep spread across the high mountain meadow, then a horse staked out nearby the roadway, two sheep dogs, and a lone shepherd watching over the sheep.
Sheep, Porphyry Basin, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 50mm (before crop), f/11, 1/200s, ISO 320. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Effects Pro 4.Sheep, Porphyry Basin, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 70mm (before crop), f/11, 1/160s, ISO 200. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Effects Pro 4.Sheep, Porphyry Basin, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 70mm, f/16, 1/80s, ISO 250. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Effects Pro 4.
We wandered around the old mine site with its collapsed wooden structure and other scattered debris, being careful to not step on old rusty nails or other potentially harmful items lying around on the ground.
K Marks The Spot, Porphyry Basin, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/320s, ISO 320. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Effects Pro 4.
The basin is beautiful with an abundance of wildflowers, a mountain stream and a waterfall. It was bright daylight so I hand held my Nikon D850, shooting with a fast shutter speed to freeze the motion of the flowers. It was too bright to get a long exposure of the waterfall for that silky, flowing water effect.
Wildflowers and Waterfall, Porphyry Basin, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/320s, ISO 320. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Effects Pro 4.Waterfall, Stream and Sheep in Porphyry Basin, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 24mm, f/16, 1/200s, ISO 320. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Effects Pro 4.Waterfall and Stream, Porphyry Basin, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 24mm, f/16, 1/200s, ISO 320. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Effects Pro 4.Waterfall and Stream in Porphyry Basin, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 24mm, f/16, 1/250s, ISO 500. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Effects Pro 4.An iPhone image of wildflowers in Porphyry Basin, Colorado. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Effects Pro 4.
Higher resolution images can be viewed on my Flickr page by clicking on the images in this post.
Mosquitoes swarm relentlessly around us as we walk the short distance through a forested area to the Yampa River behind our campsite. We are covered in bug repellant. Still the mosquitos buzzing around our heads are an unpleasant distraction. We go down a steep bank with the aid of a rope tied to a tree, getting onto a sandbar in the river. We are shooting sunset photographs at this location our first evening in Echo Park.
Yampa River, Echo Park, DNM. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/11, 1/160s, ISO 500. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.
As usual, when shooting in a canyon, the late day light illuminates only a portion of the canyon wall.
Yampa River, Echo Park, DNM. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 17mm, f/11, 1/20s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.
The light on the far canyon wall reflects into the river with just a sliver at the edge of the sandbar.
Yampa River, Echo Park, DNM. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/11, 1/20s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.
The top edge of the cliff side to the right of Steamboat Rock gets only a small wedge of late day sunset light.
Yampa River, Echo Park, DNM. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/16, 1/10s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.
I make a number of shots, capturing the sunset highlights and the reflections in the river.
Yampa River, Echo Park, DNM. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/16, 1/8s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.Yampa River, Echo Park, DNM. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 16mm, f/16, 20s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.
To smooth the ripples in the river, I use a seven stop neutral density filter and a long exposure.
Yampa River, Echo Park, DNM. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/16, 1/5s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.
Each time I change the composition, I acquire a shot with a 3 stop soft graduated neutral density filter to balance the foreground and sky exposure, then add the seven stop ND for a long exposure.
Yampa River, Echo Park, DNM. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/16, 30s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.Yampa River, Echo Park, DNM. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 18mm, f/16, 1/3s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.Yampa River, Echo Park, DNM. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 18mm, f/11, 30s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.
I like the way the long exposure shows the motion of the river current in the photo above. By the time these last two images are made, the golden hour light is gone, so we call it a day. We venture once again through the mosquito infested woods back to our campsite.
We are looking forward to a sunrise shoot tomorrow.
I got up early Sunday morning, September 23, left the Bisti south parking area about 5AM and headed out into the dark wilderness area. I started out with a headlamp, but soon switched to a brighter flashlight, as the normally bright headlamp just did not seem bright enough this morning. It is one of those headlamps with multiple functions and it would not switch to the brightest mode. This is a good reason to have backup light sources, when hiking in the dark. I had another headlamp in my Camelbak, but the flashlight was easier to get to.
There are landmarks that are an aid to navigation during the daylight hours, but in the dark it is not possible to see those landmarks from a distance. Fortunately, my GPS device, linked to my iPhone via Bluetooth, with a preset route made it quite easy to navigate towards my destination in the dark. Before I got to my destination, an area with many hoodoos of various sizes and wing like or fanciful shapes, it became light enough that I no longer needed the flashlight.
I scouted the area for awhile before it got very light, looking for a good place to begin the early morning shoot. I made a number of photos prior to the sunrise. Since the light was still dim, getting good images was a challenge and those images required more extreme editing to bring out the details and produce more attractive images.
Early dawn in Bisti. This is an HDR image created from 6 images in Skylum Aurora2019. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 48mm, f/11 at various exposures.Early dawn in Bisti. This is an HDR created from three images, using Skylum Aurora2019, with final edits in Nik Color Efex Pro 4. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 24mm, f/11, various exposures.Pre-dawn in Bisti. Converted to monochrome in Nik Silver Efex Pro 2. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 44mm, f/11, 1/5s, ISO 250.Pre-dawn in Bisti. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 31mm, f/11, 1/4s, ISO100. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro4.
I am never really satisfied with these low light images in which the heavy handed editing often produces unnatural results and, even though, it is an artistic expression, being artistically handicapped, I’ve never felt completely comfortable with the results.
When the sun rose above the eastern horizon, there was magnificent light on many of the hoodoos.
Early morning light in Bisti. This is a composite of three images focus-stacked in Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Color Efex Pro 4. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 65mm, f/11, 1/10s, ISO 64.Early morning in Bisti. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 40mm, f/11, 1/13s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.Early morning in Bisti. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 24mm, f/11, 1/15s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.Early morning in Bisti. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm, f/11, 1/25s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4Early morning in Bisti. Several images focus stacked in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm, at 62mm, f/11, 1/25s, ISO 64.
Early morning in Bisti. Focus stack of several images in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.Early morning in Bisti. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 48mm, f/11, 1/40s, ISO 64. Edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.Early morning in Bisti. Focus stack of several images in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 45mm, f/11, 1/40s, ISO 64.
Note that I focus stacked images to extend the depth of field in many of my photos here. This requires a bit more work in capturing sufficient images and much more time in the editing process, especially on my old, slow iMac.
I continued to shoot even after the “golden” hour, which is very limited in duration and I wanted to make the most of the limited time that I had for shooting here. I felt that the contrast and shadows would still allow for the making of good images.
Early morning in Bisti. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm, f/11, 1/40s, ISO 64. Edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.Early morning in Bisti. Focus stack of several images in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm, f/11, 1/30s, ISO 64.Early morning in Bisti. Focus stack of several images in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 52mm, f/11, 1/30s, ISO 64.A small Bisti Hoodoo and its shadow in early morning light. Focus Stack of two images in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.
I am becoming more interested in monochrome photography and this area is superb for this, since the colors are mostly muted, but the contrast, textures and shadows make for interesting monochrome compositions.
An unavoidable progression. Three small Bisti Hoodoos and their shadows in early morning. Focus stack of several images in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nike Silver Efex Pro 2. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 42mm, f/11, 1/40s, ISO 64.Three small Bisti Hoodoos and early morning shadows. Focus stack of several images in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.Bisti Hoodoos and early morning shadows. Focus stack of several images in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 40mm, f/11, 1/40s, ISO 64.Early morning in Bisti. Focus stack of several images in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 46mm, f/11, 1/60s, ISO 64.Small Bisti Hoodoos. Focus stack of several images in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nike Color Efex Pro 4. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 62mm, f/11, 1/30s, ISO 64
As the morning wore on, I meandered around the area looking for additional subjects and for ideas for shooting at another more appropriate time of the day.
Alien Woman? Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 56mm (prior to crop), f/11, 1/10s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
I had spotted the above hoodoo on the previous day’s scouting. I think it may be one that I saw referred to as an “alien woman” in someone else’s post, but the GPS coordinates of that post do not coincide with this hoodoo. So either there are more than one of these or the coordinates in the other’s post were incorrect, which I think may be the case, since in that post the photographer commented that he could not find the “alien woman” in a subsequent visit to Bisti. Of course, these hoodoos are temporary and one of this sort might disappear over a relatively short time interval.
This “alien woman” hoodoo is in a difficult place to photograph at anytime of the day, but it is probably best shot in the afternoon, rather than the morning. I did not think I would get back here again on this trip, so I shot it anyway, if for nothing more than a record of it’s existence and location, recording its GPS coordinates on my InReach Explorer.
Bisti Hoodoos. Focus stack of several images in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 38mm, f/11, 1/50s, ISO 64.
The above hoodoos are in the vicinity of the “alien woman”, just a bit more to the east. These are moderately sized ones and would probably be best photographed earlier in the morning. One can see that these are fragile and easily damaged. I have seen photographs of people standing on some of the larger hoodoos in Bisti, which is not a good thing to do, it is not only dangerous, but could result in injury to oneself and possibly destroy or damage the hoodoos.
Hoodoo Window. Focus stack of several images in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 48mm, f/11, 1/60s, ISO 64.
The “elephant head” like hoodoo above bridges a gap in the supporting structure, making a window in the rock.
The Seal Hoodoo? Focus stack of several images in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 56mm, f/11, 1/50s, ISO 64.
The smaller hoodoo in the background (above) looks like one that I have seen referred to as “The Seal”; although, I thought “The Seal” was located more to the west, so maybe this is not “The Seal”.
The aquarium/fish face hoodoos. Focus stack of several images in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 58mm, f/11, 1/60s, ISO 64.
I can imagine that the caps on these hoodoos look like fish faces, so I am calling this the “Aquarium” or “Fish Face Hoodoos”.
Dark Tower. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 26mm (prior to crop), f/11, 1/30s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.
I made numerous images of the features above with the intention of focus stacking them; but when I looked at those photos, they just did not measure up to what I thought I saw when making them. Consequently, I cropped one image to include the major features on top of this hill. Since the back side of the tallest feature is in shadow, converting to black and white, makes it look like a “dark tower”, surrounded by guardian hoodoos. (The one on the far left looks somewhat like a shark). This image contains a view of “The Seal” from another angle, just to the left of the dark tower.
Finally realizing that the best of the morning light was gone, I headed back to the parking lot. Just as I approached my vehicle, the photographer, whom I had met at The Nursery the previous afternoon, came out from his RV to greet me, saying “I knew when I saw you leaving at 5AM that you were serious about photography”. Standing in the parking lot between our vehicles, we chatted for quite a while. I was entranced as he talked much about his background and experiences as a photographer and as he offered suggestions on photographic topics that I questioned him about. Near the end of this impromptu discussion, he said, “If you don’t mind, I have copies of a book that I offer to those I find with a serious interest in photography and I would like to give you one”. Of course, I accepted and he autographed the book for me. The book, The Ancient Shape of Man, is filled with beautiful, very sharp, large format monochrome images.
The gift from John Eric Hawkins, whom I chanced upon in Bisti.
Meeting and conversing with John Eric Hawkins and receiving his book as a gift was the highlight of this trip. I found his website listed in the book, which he told me he has not updated for awhile; nevertheless, his website has beautiful images and more information about John Eric. His website is worth a visit for those of you interested in fine art photography.
Be sure to check out the images in this post on Flickr, where these appear in higher resolution and in a larger size.
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After early and mid-morning photos on day 3 along Owl Creek Pass Road, I drove around exploring other areas and spur roads off of the main forest road, looking for another suitable campsite that would put me near a place for sunset photos. Many of the best campsites were already taken and I ended up across the creek from my first night’s campsite, where I saw a couple of hunters breaking camp. I pulled into the site, struck up a conversation with the hunters, the younger one a chemical engineer from Missouri and son-in law of the older one from Arkansas. The older hunter has been coming to this area since the 1970s. They had been elk hunting, unsuccessfully; but they had an antler shed, which they offered to me. Having no desire for the shed, I left it at the campsite for someone else to find. After they finished loading their considerable camping and hunting equipment, including an OHV, onto a trailer and into their pickup trucks, they headed out and I moved into the flattest area of the site. This campsite was very open and it was a sunny day, so I put out the solar panels and allowed them to charge the Sportsmobile batteries, until about an hour before sunset, then I packed those away, since I did not want to pack them up after dark and I expected it would be dark soon after my sunset shots.
The views from this site were very similar to those on my first night and first morning of camping, but with more trees and the creek between me and the mountainside. I walked around the area and down along the creek, looking for suitable places from which to shoot, then had a sandwich, potato chips and Gatorade for dinner, while waiting for the late afternoon light.
The photos from this site were so similar to those from the first day of shooting and with more clutter in the foreground, that I initially thought about not including any in this blog; but as I looked at them a second time, I thought some might look better, if converted to monotone or edited with one of my other image editors, in addition to Lightroom adjustments to the raw images. So I did just that, experimenting with Nik Silver Effects Pro and Color Effects 4 and Skylum Luminar 2018 software.
The photos posted here are also posted to Flickr (just click on an image), where the images will be sharper and brighter than in this post.
One of only two color photos chosen to post from this shoot. I’m not really enthralled by this composition and in particular the bland sky, but I think it might be the best of the color images that I captured during this shoot. I processed the raw image in Lightroom and Luminar 2018. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 46mm, f/11, 0.4s, ISO 160.This is the best sunset light that I saw on this feature. I might have brought out the colors in the foreground a bit more, but I wanted the emphasis to be on the rocks in the mountainside. Raw image processed in Lightroom and Nik Color Effects Pro 4. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm, f/11, 1/20s, ISO 160.I really wanted to see the cliff face in this image appear colorful in the setting sunlight, but it never got as much light on it as I wanted. At least, the color bands, shadows and highlight along the rock face add interest in this version. The trees in the foreground are colorful, with contrasting color and shapes, but just did not seem to work as well in the color image.This large cliff face was just south of my campsite. The rock is not colorful and the setting sun did not produce a colorful glow at any time as the sun went low on the horizon, so this and all the other color photos of this feature were bland. In this B&W conversion, I wanted to emphasize the rock along the edge and top of the mountainside, while keeping hints of the trees in fall color in the foreground. The sky was mostly bland, adding minimal interest, other than the cloud along the right side, so I made the sky go mostly dark, making the cliffside look as if it had been purposely light painted. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm, f/11, 1/10s, ISO 64.Those of you who have viewed the photos from my first blog about this photo trip will recognize this feature. In this B&W version, I like the contrasts produced by variations in the tree foliage color and the shape of the trees in the foreground, as well as the highlight on the rock outcrops. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm, f/11, 1/13s, ISO 160.This is a similar view to that in the above photo, with more sky, less of the trees in the foreground and more of the mountainside. The sky was bland, so I let it go black to emphasize the rock along the skyline, while retaining the hints of fall color in the deciduous trees. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm, f/11, 1/15s, ISO 64.The rock face in the original color photo is very colorful in the setting sunlight; but the foreground is distracting in the color photo. I have kept a hint of the foreground color in the trees in this image, while highlighting the rocks with its texture and shadows. I like the way the two tall evergreen trees appear to be pointing towards the rising moon and the diagonal lines formed by the tree lines and the jagged, horizontal line of the top of the mountainside, both converging near the rising moon. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm, f/11, 1/15s, IDO 64.I was trying to capture the reflection of color in the sky in the branch of the creek near the center of this image, but it just did not fit well with the rest of the image. I like this B&W conversion with the fall color in the trees, showing up brightly against the dark evergreens. I do not like the tree along the left edge, but I could not find a pleasing composition of this scene that excluded that tree. There is also a halo effect, produced by the Nik Silver Effects Pro software, that is quite noticeable along the top of the peak on the right side of the image. I do not really like this effect; but I currently do not know how to eliminate it. I’m sure there must be a way to tone this down. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 30mm, f/11, 1/3s, ISO 160.
The opinions expressed about the images here are my subjective ones. I welcome your feedback, opinions and critiques, as I can always use those to improve my work.
