Porphyry Basin, Colorado

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.

Thanks for following,

Ken

 

Indiana Covered Bridges – October 2019 – Dick Huffman Bridge

The third stop on day two of photographing Indiana covered bridges was the Dick Huffman Bridge.  I’m including a link to another bloggers site for his coverage of this bridge, rather than my usual links to an official government site.

Dick Huffman Covered Bridge. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/160s, ISO 640, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

As I was making my first shots of this bridge a number of vehicles crossed at intermittent intervals, stirring up dust, which I had to wait to clear.  One pickup truck stopped just passed the bridge.  The driver got out and walked towards the bridge.  As he passed, he said he was going to check the water flow.  I thought maybe he was doing some sort of official survey.  As I walked back through the bridge and was passing him, he explained that the following day was the youth duck hunting season opening and that he was taking his son duck hunting by putting a boat in at another location and floating down the creek.  He had hopped to not have to paddle the boat, but the flow looked very minimal, so he was going to have to paddle down the creek.

Dick Huffman Covered Bridge. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/11, 1/160s, ISO 250, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

The bridge is not really leaning as much as it appears in the above photograph.  Shooting from this angle the wide angle distortion accentuates the tilt and I could not remove it without tilting the roadway in the process.

Back on the other side of the bridge, I walked through the wooded area bordering the creek and found a way to get down into the creek.  It was a little muddy along the creek edge, but I managed to avoid the worst of the mud.  However, I had a limited area in which I could move around in the muddy channel, unless I wanted to get really muddy.

Dick Huffman Covered Bridge. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 16mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 250, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

The log makes a good leading line object, but I wish I could have gotten closer to the bridge.

Until next time,

Ken

Indiana Covered Bridges – October 2019 – Houck Bridge

The second bridge I visited in my second day of photographing Indiana covered bridges in October, 2019 was Houck Bridge.  Although Houck Bridge seems to be in very good condition, it has been by passed and is now closed to traffic.

Houck Covered Bridge. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 400, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

One can still walk through the bridge, but not drive through it.  Access to the creek level is most easily gained from the west side.  There is also a sizable parking lot on the west side of the bridge, so I am guessing that this bridge is now set up as a prime tourist attraction.  A couple of people did come and go, while I was here.

The interior photograph is an HDR image made from multiple exposures.

Houck Covered Bridge. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, multiple exposures, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.
Houck Covered Bridge. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/16, 1/125s, ISO 640, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

Next up: Dick Huffman Bridge.

Ken

Indiana Covered Bridges – October 2019 – Oakalla Covered Bridge

After a day of other activities, I took another afternoon to visit more covered bridges in an area east of Indianapolis, Indiana.  I started at Oakalla Bridge, just south of the last bridge (Dunbar) that I had visited during my first day of shooting covered bridges.

Oakalla Covered Bridge. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 22mm, f/11, 1/160s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

I think most of the covered bridges have some graffiti on or around them and Oakalla Bridge seems to be popular with those who like to mark things with graffiti.  I saw some evidence of graffiti being painted over on the exterior of the bridge and other graffiti in the interior.

Oakalla Covered Bridge. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 18mm, f/11, 1/60s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

It is also easy to get down into the creek channel from one side of the bridge.  The long log in the creek below the bridge even has graffiti on it.

Oakalla Covered Bridge. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 250, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

There was plenty of room to move around on the wide sandy bank on one side of the bridge.  I made numerous images from this area, but in the end, I only chose a couple of those as most representative of the bridge and its setting to include in this post.

Oakalla Covered Bridge. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/11, 1/80s, ISO 100, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

More on Indiana covered bridges to come,

Ken

Indiana Covered Bridges – October 2019 – Rolling Stone

My third stop during my first day of photographing Putnam County covered bridges was the Rolling Stone Bridge.

This bridge got its name from a large boulder in the creek that moved, when the current was strong.  That boulder was destroyed, as it was deemed a threat to the bridge.

Rolling Stone Covered Bridge, Putnam County, Indiana. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 800, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

Rolling Stone is a short, single span bridge in an attractive setting.

I shot multiple exposures of the inside, then combined those to  create HDR images.

Rolling Stone Covered Bridge, Putnam County, Indiana. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/11, Multiple Exposures, ISO 800, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

The engineering and construction of these bridges is remarkable.  These were designed to last for many years, although these do require maintenance, mostly to the exterior, from time to time.

Rolling Stone Covered Bridge, Putnam County, Indiana. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, Multiple Exposures, ISO 800, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

I was able to get down to the creek and shoot from several viewpoints along the creek shoreline.

Rolling Stone Covered Bridge, Putnam County, Indiana. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/11, 1/200s, ISO 2000, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.
Rolling Stone Covered Bridge, Putnam County, Indiana. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/11, 1/250s, ISO 3200, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.
Rolling Stone Covered Bridge, Putnam County, Indiana. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 21mm, f/11, 1/160s, ISO 800, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.
Rolling Stone Covered Bridge, Putnam County, Indiana. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 18mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 800, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

More on Indiana covered bridges later,

Ken

Indiana Covered Bridges – October 2019 – Pine Bluff

The second stop during my first day of photographing covered bridges in Putnam County, Indiana was at the Pine Bluff Bridge.

Pine Bluff Covered Bridge, Putnam County, Indiana. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 800, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

The setting around Pine Bluff is more attractive than that around Cornstalk (see previous post) and this will be a great place to shoot, when the fall colors peak.

Pine Bluff Covered Bridge, Putnam County, Indiana. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 800, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.
Pine Bluff Covered Bridge, Putnam County, Indiana. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 20mm, f/11, 1/30s, ISO 640, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.
Pine Bluff Interior HDR.  Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, Multiple Exposures, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

I found a way to get down to the creek, where I could walk along the edge of the creek and beneath the bridge to shoot it from both sides.

Pine Bluff Covered Bridge, Putnam County, Indiana. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 640, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.
Pine Bluff Covered Bridge, Putnam County, Indiana. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 640, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

I experimented with the DxO Nik Selective Colorization of a monochrome image with a couple of the photographs taken of this bridge, bringing out the red color of the bridge after converting the images to monochrome.

Pine Bluff Covered Bridge, Putnam County, Indiana. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/8, 1/400s, ISO 1600, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.
Pine Bluff Covered Bridge, Putnam County, Indiana. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/8, 1/400s, ISO 1600, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.
Pine Bluff Covered Bridge, Putnam County, Indiana. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/1
80s, ISO 800, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

The photo above is my favorite of this bridge with the curved road leading to it.

A country road leading to Pine Bluff Covered Bridge, Putnam County, Indiana. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/3.5, 1/125s, ISO 500, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

The final image here is looking back from near the bridge down the roadway leading to the bridge.  I know this will be a great place to try to return to another time, when the fall colors are at their peak.

More on Indiana covered bridges to come,

Ken

Bisti Wilderness, May 2019, Day 7 Sunset

The destination for a final sunset shoot on the last day of my May 2019 visit to the Bisti Wilderness was the same as yesterday’s, since yesterday’s sunset light was obscured by heavy clouds on the western horizon.  I really liked my chosen location and this was my last chance to shoot here on this visit.  There were some clouds today, but not so heavy as yesterday.

The light turned out to be good at sunset, but not great.  The clouds on the western horizon blocked the light until just a few minutes before sunset.  Even after the sun dropped below the denser clouds, there were still wispy clouds defusing the light.  However, I think I got a few good images.

North Bisti hoodoos and vista at sunset. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 48mm, f/16, 1.0s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.
North Bisti hoodoos and vista at sunset. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 70mm, f/16, 1.0s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

As yesterday, I had to navigate carefully getting into position for various compositions, being careful about where and how I walked, where I stood near steep drop offs and using care in setting the tripod.  This was not a place in which to get careless or make sudden, unplanned moves.

North Bisti hoodoos and vista at sunset. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 52mm, f/16, 1.0s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.
North Bisti hoodoos and vista at sunset. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 55mm, f/16, 0.6s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.
North Bisti hoodoos and vista at sunset. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 42mm, f/16, 0.6s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.
North Bisti hoodoos and vista at sunset. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 42mm, f/16, 0.6s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

This post wraps up my May 2019 visit to the Bisti Wilderness.  There is still much that I have not seen or photographed here, so I expect that I will return sometime in the future.

I hope that my readers have enjoyed following along with my experiences and photography here.

Ken

Bisti Wilderness, May 2019, Day 7, Sunrise

I am reluctant to get out of my sleeping bag this morning.  I linger there for 10 more minutes after the alarm, considering whether to sleep in or go out for a morning shoot.  Eventually, I convince myself to face the morning.  After all, this is my last morning to shoot here.

This morning I will make up for yesterday’s mistake.  In route to my planned destination, I stop to shoot a blue hour silhouette.  One that caught my eye yesterday morning;  but I hastened by then, mistakenly thinking I did not have time to linger.  I am a little later at this location today.  The scene does not look as good as it did yesterday.  Mistake made and likely to be repeated, even though I am reminding myself to take the shot, whenever the opportunity presents itself.

Guardian of the Pass.  Large Bisti Hoodoo at blue hour. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 60mm, f/16, 30s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

After shooting the silhouette, I proceed towards my intended destination, the place high up on a hill at the end of a canyon, where I shot under a heavily overcast, morning sky early in the week.  I am anticipating excellent sunrise light at that location this morning.  As I hike, I become concerned about getting there sufficiently early and I am not enthusiastic about my choice of location today, either.  The Conversing Hoodoos are along my route, so I decide to check those for possible morning shots, since I am not satisfied with the results of my sunset shoots of those features.

Arriving at the Conversing Hoodoos and looking around, I conclude that there is a high probability of excellent golden hour morning light on the most interesting features, so I abandon my original plan in favor of shooting here.

I plan several compositions, shooting test shots in the pre-sunrise light as I await the sunrise.  The sky is clear with no obstructions.  There are hills to the east, which may limit some light on the lower portions of my compositions and maybe block the very first sunrise rays from my subjects.  As the sunrise light strikes the hoodoos, I am elated  that my change of plan is working out well.

Conversing Hoodoos at sunrise. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 32mm, f/16, 1/6s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.
Conversing Hoodoos at sunrise. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 34mm, f/16, 1/5s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

After the golden sunrise light passes, I continue shooting with fully lit subjects for a few minutes.  I am not excited by any of the pre-sunrise nor post sunrise shots, so I am not sharing those.

Finishing my early morning shoot, I walk at a leisurely pace back towards the parking lot, looking for other places to shoot along the way.  Maybe I chose an uninteresting route to the parking lot.  I’m not finding interesting compositions in the later morning light; but I take time to make a few images anyway, hoping something jumps out at me.   I decide that none of these attempts produce any interesting results.  My lack of energy this morning might be relevant to my failure to get interesting shots in the post sunrise hour.  Frame of mind matters in artistic pursuits.

This is my last day here.  I have one more sunset shoot, weather permitting.    Until then,

Ken

Echo Park, Dinosaur National Monument, Colorado, July 2019, Day 3 Sunrise

On the morning of our third day in Echo Park, Dinosaur National Monument, Colorado, my oldest son and I returned to the Yampa River and the nearby grassy meadow for our final photography shoot before packing up and heading back to Denver.

Yampa River Morning, Echo Park, DNM. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 19mm, f/11, 0.8s, ISO 1600, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

We again went onto the bar in the river channel just east of the confluence of the Green and Yampa Rivers to shoot in the pre-sunrise and sunrise light.

Yampa River Morning, Echo Park, DNM. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 16mm, f/11, 0.5s, ISO 1600, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

I made compositions similar to those of the previous day’s sunset shoot, capturing the morning sky, the canyon walls and reflections of those in the river.

Yampa River Morning, Echo Park, DNM. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 16mm, f/11, 1/8s, ISO 1600, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

Clouds moved across the sky as the light changed.  I shot towards the east and the rising sun, then made a few images toward the west.

Yampa River Morning, Echo Park, DNM. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 16mm, f/11, 1/6s, ISO 1600, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.
Yampa River Morning, Echo Park, DNM. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 16mm, f/11, 8s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

I turned again to the east and north as the sky and clouds became brighter, which created more contrast in the images and brighter reflections in the river.

Yampa River Morning, Echo Park, DNM. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 15mm, f/16, 0.4s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.
Yampa River Morning, Echo Park, DNM. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 18mm, f/16, 0.4s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

As the sun rose behind the canyon walls, the clouds became brighter and more colorful.

Yampa River Morning, Echo Park, DNM. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 18mm, f/16, 1/4s, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

After shooting in the river channel, we climbed back onto the meadow and made more images as the morning light advanced across the sky.  The moon transited across the sky to the south as we shot.

Echo Park Morning, DNM. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/16, 0.4s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

Today, rather than using rocks in the meadow as foreground objects, I put tall clumps of grass in the foreground.

Echo Park Morning, DNM. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/16, 1/5s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

Shooting with the wide angle lens results in distortion, some of which can be taken out, but not all of it.  Note how the rock outcrop on the right side of this image appears to be tilted in towards the middle of the image.  Trying to take out this tilt with the tools in Adobe Lightroom will affect the rest of the image in an undesirable manner.

Echo Park Morning, DNM. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/16, 1/3s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

There were a few scattered thistles in this meadow and I used one as a foreground object.

Echo Park Morning, DNM. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/16, 1/4s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

The first of the sunrise rays began to show up on the top of the large rock outcrop on the east side of the meadow

Echo Park Morning, DNM. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/16, 1/125s, ISO 1250, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

and a little later on the rock outcrop on the west side.

Echo Park Morning, DNM. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/16 1/125s, ISO 1250, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

We were fortunate to have scattered clouds this morning to add interest to the sky.

Echo Park Morning, DNM. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/16, 1/125s, ISO 1250, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

This wraps up the highlights of my July 2019 Colorado road trip,

Ken

Bisti Wilderness, May 2019, Day 6 Sunset

As usual, I was all alone in the north Bisti parking area overnight.  After returning from my early morning shoot, a few people came and went during the mid-day hours.

A young German couple, Tobias and Daniela, parked next to me and we chatted for a few minutes before they headed out into the wilderness area.  They were in the US for 4 weeks, traveling via automobile from Phoenix to Pittsburg, seeing sites along the way.  The couple returned before 6PM, stopping by to show me a few photos of various places that they had visited so far on their current trip to the US, giving me ideas of other places to visit.  Daniela’s blog site is Daniela’s Urlaubs Blog.

I am always amazed at how much international travel the Europeans do.  I know traveling between countries in Europe is easy,  but many travel outside Europe on a regular basis.  I have met numerous Europeans who are on extended vacations, spanning weeks.  I know that their labor laws assure their citizens of liberal holiday time, but they must budget a lot for their travels, even if they take advantage of cheap airfare, motels, car rentals, etc.  Still, it makes sense to me that if one is traveling so far, taking a long vacation is justified.

During the afternoon, there were dark, heavy clouds all around the area and I could see distant rainfall in numerous directions.  Some  of those rainfall events seemed to be heading directly towards my location, but it did not rain on me.

Bisti Panorama with storm clouds. iPhone photograph with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

I made the panoramic shot above with my iPhone from atop a hill just inside the Bisti Wilderness and just north of the parking area.  This hilltop is the nearest place, where I could get a weak cell signal for making calls, getting e-mails and checking the weather, if the weak, intermittent signal lasted long enough to do so.  This shot is to the south, showing the massive cloud cover, which might not bode well for a sunset shoot.  The Sportsmobile is just a little rectangular blob near the center left edge of this image.

I made preparations to go out for sunset photography, although it was very cloudy in the west and the wind was increasing in intensity.  I stuffed my rain shell into my backpack before heading out, just in case of rain.

I hiked to a place, which I had previously scouted for sunset photography, high up on a hard rock platform, overlooking a large array of hoodoos with a wide vista over the desert area.

North Bisti Hoodoos. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

I made a number of test shots with my iPhone and DSLR of several compositions about an hour before sunset, as I waited and prepared for the warm sunset light.  These shots and my observations of the light indicated that the golden sunset light would be very limited today.  With this in mind, I carefully walked around on top of my perch area to determine how and where to quickly set up the tripod and camera, during the brief time that I would have to shoot at sunset.  Some of my chosen setup locations required carefully planned steps to safely get into position and care in setting the tripod, so I wanted to practice my moves.

North Bisti Hoodoos. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.
North Bisti Hoodoos. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.
North Bisti Hoodoos. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

I was excited about the possibilities for shooting here.  Unfortunately, a large mass of clouds on the western horizon obscured the sun at sunset time.  This is such a great place to shoot sunset that I will have to try again tomorrow evening, which will be my final chance to shoot here on this trip.  At least I have a few iPhone and DSLR images, just in case tomorrow’s sunset light is no better.

North Bisti Scene near sunset. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 52mm, f/16, 8.0s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.
North Bisti Hoodoos and Valley near sunset. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 48mm, f/16, multiple exposures, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules. Helicon focus stack of 9 images.
North Bisti scene near sunset. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 70mm, f/16, 1/4s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

At the time I made these shots, there would have been golden hour light on the two large features on the left of the above image and on the mass of hoodoos in the image below, if the clouds on the western horizon had not blocked the direct rays of sunlight.

North Bisti Scene. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 42mm, f/16, 0.4s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.
North Bisti Hoodoos near sunset. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 52mm, f/16, multiple exposures, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules. Helicon focus stack of 9 images.

The DSLR images in this post have embedded links to the photos on Flickr, where these can be viewed in higher resolution.

I like these compositions and views, but the light that I had anticipated was not realized.  Hopefully, tomorrow will be better.

Until then,

Ken