Tag: Silver Jack Reservoir

2018 Colorado Fall Color Road Trip – Day 4

The last night camping along Owl Creek Pass Road was the coldest night I experienced on this trip.  When I awoke in the pre-dawn hours the temperature inside the Sportsmobile was 45 degrees F.  I turned on the furnace to bring the temperature up to a more pleasant 55 degF, as I dressed and prepared coffee.  As I was preparing to leave the campsite for the final day of photography, I noted a patch of frost on the inside of the windshield and a bit of frost on the exterior.  The frost quickly disappeared after starting the van and putting the heater setting on defrost.

I drove on Owl Creek Pass Road towards Silver Jack Reservoir and pulled into a wide pull out just before a cattle guard just south of an access road to Silver Jack Reservoir.  This area was a mile or so further north of the area where I had shot the morning before.  I gathered my gear, including knit hat and gloves, since it was still a bit frosty prior to sunrise.  I walked down a slope in a pasture towards the broad drainage into Silver Jack Reservoir, looking for a good vantage point from which to shoot the mountainside to the west, dodging cow patties as I went along.

A frosty cow pie. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

I set up the tripod and camera in a place where I thought the view was best and one that allowed me to move around a bit, if necessary, then waited for the sunrise, choosing initial compositions and taking a few test shots.

The sky was clear, much different than the previous morning.  I made a number of photos, as the morning light moved from the top of the mountainside downward towards the drainage, from a couple of slightly different vantage points.

A fall scene off of Owl Creek Pass Road near Silver Jack Reservoir, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 32mm, f/11, 1/6s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe LR and Skylum Luminar 2018.
An early morning fall scene near Silver Jack Reservoir, Owl Creek Pass Road, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 32mm, f/11, 1/5s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

The compositions from my chosen location were a bit limited.  It was difficult to avoid the foreground clutter, with the 24-70mm lens that I had elected to use this morning, and many of the shots looked so similar or otherwise just did not turn out as I wanted, that I am posting only a couple that I liked best.  I chose to shoot with the 24-70mm, since I was rather sure that the 14-24mm wide angle lens, that I had used the previous morning, would be too wide for what I wanted to shoot today.  It is possible that the 80-400mm lens might have been a better choice in this location for shooting beyond the foreground clutter and I certainly could have gotten some good shots of the mountain peaks with that big lens.

Finished shooting here, I drove north on Owl Creek Pass Road, exploring the area and looking for favorable places to maybe get mid-morning shots of the colorful Aspens.  I walked around in an Aspen forest, shooting with the wide angle 14-24mm, which I found to be a bit difficult to work with in the woods.  Nearly all of the shots that I had high hopes for, turned out poorly, but I do like the one below with the long shadows cast by the trees.

Fall forest shadows. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 15mm, f/11, 1/100s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

After shooting in the forest, I continued driving along Owl Creek Road, enjoying the great fall day and the scenery, stopping occasionally to shoot with my iPhone.

A scene in one of the Silver Jack camp grounds that are run by the forest service. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
A side road off of Owl Creek Pass Road, Colorado. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
A mid-morning fall scene along Owl Creek Pass Road, Colorado. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

Along the roadway, I encountered a lone cow that stood in the middle of the road, staring at me.  I stopped to wait for it to move along.  As it continued to look at me, I picked up the iPhone with the intention of getting a photo of it.  As soon as I did this, it turned and started to walk away down the road.  I followed, slowly.  Eventually, it moved to the edge of the roadway and I pulled up beside it, stopped and it stared up at me.  Again I picked up the iPhone, aimed it at the cow and it immediately turned and walked away.  Again it stopped in the middle of the road to stare back at me.  Again I started to shoot it with the iPhone and again it began to walk away.  I can only surmise that it was a camera shy cow.  I really wanted a shot into its eyes as it stared, but I only got shots of it walking away.

The camera shy cow. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
Owl Creek Pass Road near Silver Jack Reservoir, Colorado. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
Aspens in fall color and evergreens along Owl Creek Pass Road, Colorado. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

I began to make my way along Owl Creek Pass Road towards highway 550 and Ridgway, where I would spend the night in Ridgway State Park before heading to Bisti in New Mexico the following morning.

Along the way, I was hailed by someone driving a jeep coming up the road in the opposite direction.  I stopped to see what was going on, thinking that they might be wanting to warn me about road conditions ahead.  It turned out to be the couple that had visited my first campsite (the ones that wanted to use my campsite the following day).  They easily recognized my vehicle since it was the only one like it in the area and they just wanted to chat.  We only had time for a brief conversation, since other vehicles began to accumulate behind them.  I also had conversations with others (campers, tourist, photographers, hunters) that I encountered at various locations in this area.  It is always interesting to learn about others and their backgrounds, experiences, etc.  and surprising how many times we find people with similar backgrounds, who are familiar with seemingly unusual places we or our family members have lived.

Future posts will cover the couple of days that I spent shooting in the Bisti Wilderness area in New Mexico, which is becoming one of my favorite places for photography.

2018 Colorado Fall Color Road Trip – Day 3 – Part 2

After the early morning photo shoot, I continued along Owl Creek Pass Road, enjoying the fall scenery and looking for a place for mid-morning photography and some experimentation with PC (Perspective Control in Nikon terms) lenses, commonly referred to as tilt/shift lenses.

Tilt/Shift lenses are typically used in product and architectural photography.  The shift allows one to make vertical objects, like buildings, look vertical, rather than tilted, as they do with ordinary lenses.  The tilt function of the lenses allows one to get a deeper depth of field with a large aperture, rather than having to go to a small aperture for a deep DOF.

Within the past twelve months I purchased a couple of used PC lenses from local photographers.  The lenses are quite expensive, if purchased new and not cheap, when a good used one is found.  The first one that I purchased was a Nikon PC-E 24mm.  The photographer that I acquired it from had used it for wedding photography, a surprising use of this lens, I thought; but one can get some special effects with it that makes for unique photographs.

The second tilt/shift lens that I acquired was an older Nikon PC85mm.  The photographer from which I purchased it had used it for product photography.  I had seen some interesting landscape photos taken with such a lens,  so I wanted to experiment with one and not wanting to spend a fortune on a lens that I might not use often, I knew it would be more economical and practical to get a good used lens.

These lenses are all manual focus, which can be a challenge for us older folks as our eye sight becomes less sharp.  The metering is also manual with PC lenses.  The PC-E (E designating electronic) will meter with the lens in the non-tilt, non-shift mode, so the exposure needs to be determined prior to shifting or tilting or one might shoot test shots and adjust the exposure by trial and error.  I found it best to estimate the exposure prior to tilting, shoot a test shot after tilting and tweak the exposure as appropriate.

Thinking that a forest might be a suitable place for experimentation, I found a couple of places near Silver Jack Reservoir where I could walk into an Aspen forest just off of a roadway.  A few of the test shots are posted below.

Experimenting with a tilt-shift lens, Nikon PC85mm. Note the line of focus in the upper third horizontal portion of the image with blurring to either side. Nikon D850, Nikon PC85mm, f5.6, 1/125s, ISO 64. Note the large aperture. It is possible to get a large depth of field with large apertures with tilt-shift lenses.

Many of the Aspen trees along the roadway into a parking area at Silver Jack Reservoir had initials or names, etc. carved into the trunks.  I happened to note that the tree on the left of the above image had my initials on it.  (No, I did not put them there).  Your eyes are ok, the image is blurry except along a horizontal band in the upper 1/3 of the photo.  The technique for getting such an image is to focus on a nearby subject, then tilt the lens to bring more distant subjects into focus.  You will notice that the large f/5.6 aperture gives a good depth of field through a portion of the image.

Experimenting with a tilt-shift lens. Nikon D850, Nikon PC 85mm, f/8, 1/125s, ISO 64. Moving to smaller apertures gives a broader area of focus through the central portion of images.

The photo above is also taken with the PC 85mm, but with an f/8 aperture.  Moving to a smaller apertures seems to widen the area of focus, as it increases the DOF.

A PC-E 24mm image in an Aspen forest. Nikon D850, Nikon PC-E 24mm, f/8, 1/125s, ISO 64.

The 24mm PC-E is a bit easier to work with than the PC 85mm.  It seems to give more leeway in acquiring focus while tilting than does the PC85mm.  In the above photo, I first focused on the rough bark on the tree on the left, then tilted the lens to increase the DOF.  Tilting the lens also affects the near focus a bit, so that a portion of the near object goes out of focus as the more distant objects come into focus.

Nikon D850, PC-E 24mm, f/6.7, 1/125s, ISO 64.

The lower photo above is the same composition as the previous one, but with a larger aperture.

Nikon D850, Nikon PC-E 24mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 64.

The same composition as previously, but at f/11.  I think the wider focus area is apparent.  The lighting changed, as well as the aperture, so the exposure is a bit different.

Perhaps these are not the best images for illustrating the effects obtained by these lenses, but I’m thinking the tilt function can be useful for emphasizing certain aspects in an image, perhaps with a “tunnel” vision effect.

These lenses also rotate, so one can put the tilt and shift at various angles.  So far, I’ve only experimented with vertical tilts; but I think tilting at various angles to the camera will be appropriate in some situations.

These lenses all are configured by the manufacturer with the tilt and shift at 90 degrees to each other; but, as I have learned in my research on these lenses, these can be easily reconfigured to have the tilt and shift aligned in the same direction, making it possible to keep vertical objects vertical, while also increasing the DOF with the tilt function.  I have not yet tried this, but I am thinking that I might.  One might pay Nikon or a professional camera shop to reconfigure a lens, but it is an easy do-it-yourself operation, just be careful with the E versions, since there is wiring within these lenses and one cannot rotate the lens parts more than 90 degrees or damage to the wiring is probable.  Information on how to modify these lenses (Nikon and Canon) can be found via an online search.  Here is one link that describes the procedure for Nikon PC lenses http://www.achim-sieger.de/en/axis-change-pc-e-nikkor-24mm/

The 24mm PC-E is a very sharp lens and can be used in a non-tilt, non-shift mode as an ordinary 24mm prime.  While shooting with no tilt and no shift, I noted that occasional breezes shook loose leaves and I thought shooting them as they fell might make interesting photos and maybe brief time lapse videos.  I could not use the built in time lapse function of the D850 very easily, since the breezes were not predictable, so I elected to just shoot a series of shots using the remote release, whenever the leaves began to fall.  I did not even take time to set the camera to continuous mode, I just used the remote release to shoot as quickly as I could press the shutter release button.  It is best to view the following photos and time lapse videos on a large screen, otherwise the falling leaves are not easily observed, in this very brief video.  To make a longer video, would have taken much more time and many more shots and I did not think it worthwhile to expend that much effort to do so. (This video is also posted to my Flickr page).

Falling Aspen Leaves. Nikon D850, PC-E 24mm (cropped), f/11, 1/125s, ISO 64.

The falling leaves are fairly easily seen in this cropped version (just above) of one of my images.

Look for very brief yellow spots within the video to see the falling leaves.  If nothing else were moving, I might have made gotten leaf trail type images (similar to star trails); but if nothing else were moving, there would be no falling leaves, either.

I got feedback from one of my blog followers regarding the video format (mp4).  Apparently, not everyone can view these formats.  While I can convert an mp4 to an avi and other video formats, I cannot view an avi on my MAC computer, so I have no idea how the avi looks or even if it will work in this post.  I tried to insert an avi into this post, but I’m rather sure that it would not be visible, so I removed it.  At this time I have no solution for this problem.

I later used the PC-E 24mm to photograph at Bisti in New Mexico and I will post photos from that shoot in a later post.  I’ve not yet had time to review those photos in detail, so I hope I have suitable ones to share from that shoot.