After scouting about a mile along the Tejas trail earlier in the day, I went out again late in the day, planning to be near the far end of my scouting hike to get a shot of the most prominent feature on the mountainside east of the trail. After arriving at that point on the trail, I very soon realized that the sunlight was not going to illuminate that feature as I had hoped. Only a small portion of the intended subject would be highlighted with most of it being in shadow. So I began hastily backtracking down the trail to check out other possibilities. The next pre-scouted site that I attempted did not work out either, so I continued back along the trail.
I arrived at another pre-scouted site that looked more promising and proceeded to make a number of shots, none of which were greatly impressive. However, I managed to get one that I could edit and make look presentable.
A late afternoon scene along the Tejas Trail, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/10s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom, DXO Nik Viveza 2 and Color Efex Pro 4.
There was good light on the mountainside, but the shadows were quickly encroaching upon the scene. If not for motion in the vegetation, I could have tried creating an HDR image or stacked a number of images. In this image I applied color, contrast, brightness and structure adjustments in DXO Nik software via numerous control points. Then more adjustments in DXO Nik Color Efex Pro 4. I added a vignette frame around the edges to eliminate an obvious vignette in one corner of the original image that was caused by my filter holder.
Moving a bit more back down the trail, I stopped to shoot in another location, before the light disappeared completely. Again I had to make a number of exposures, trying to balance the shadows and highlight, but none came out really well and HDR was, again, not an option.
Late day sunlight along a mountain top in Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 42mm, f/11, 1/20s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom, DXO Nik Viveza 2 and Color Efex Pro 4.
One can see how far the shadows have moved up the mountainside in just a short time interval. This image is edited in a very similar fashion to the previous one. I could have brought out more detail in the shadows, but chose not to do so in this case.
I tried a few more shots as I moved back down the trail, but none worked out very well. The evening was pleasant and there was a full or near full moon that evening, so the walk back to the RV parking lot was quite pleasant and well lit by moonlight, so I did not have to get out my headlamp.
This photo shoot did not turn out as well as I had hoped, but at least I got a couple of reasonable images and had a pleasant moonlight hike back along the trail.
I had picked out a few possible places for sunrise shots the following and last morning of my visit, but none of those were really appealing, so I decided to forego getting up early for a morning shoot and get an earlier start on the road to the next destination.
This park has much more to see than I had time to get to. In particular, McKittrick Canyon is reportedly very nice in the fall, so maybe I can make another visit one fall. I would also like to get into the gypsum dunes in the Salt Basin. So I really need to find time to plan another visit.
After a strenuous previous day and getting to bed late with no firm plans for where to go for early morning photos, I decided to sleep in a bit and scout the area again during the morning and afternoon for possible locations for sunset photos.
After breakfast, I walked the trail to the visitor center looking around for possible photo locations along the way. Since I had hiked a substantial portion of the Guadalupe Peak Trail the previous day, I figured that I had earned the right to purchase and display a pin from the park in my collection, so I picked up the pin and inquired about the road into the Salt Basin, hoping to get time to visit the gypsum sand dunes in the western portion of the park. No one there had any update on the condition of the long clay road into that portion of the park. After thinking about this, I decided against attempting to get into the Salt Basin on this trip. I only had that afternoon and the next morning to spend in the park and the Salt Basin area is a day use area only, meaning no overnight camping or parking there. For sunrise photos, I would have to get up early the next morning and drive quite a way to get to the access road and then there was no way to know if I would be able to drive the last portion of the road and I would have no idea of where to go, anyway. For sunset photos, I ran the risk of losing my already paid for second night in the RV site, where the slots are on a first come basis; but there seemed to be no way to show that a site was already taken, if no vehicle was parked there. This eliminated the gypsum dunes for sunset photos.
Upon returning to my vehicle, I decided to check out the Tejas Trail from which I thought I might be able to get late day shots with golden hour light as I had observed it the previous evening on the mountainside to the east of the trail.
The lower portion of the Tejas Trail is much easier than the Guadalupe Peak Trail. Again I hiked with only my Camelbak with water, snacks, GPS (for safety and for recording waypoints at possible photo sites) and iPhone. I looked for possible photo sites along the trail, making a number of iPhone scouting shots. These shots were all taken around mid-day to early afternoon, so the light was harsh with the sun almost directly overhead, so there were not even any shadows to give the photos depth.
I am presenting a few of those scouting photos in this post with comments regarding the ideas for later DSLR images and some notes on editing photos.
Someone from McAllen, TX left this mark on a tree along the Tejas Trail in Guadalupe NP. iPhone Photo
This first image is an example of what is seen much too often and illustrates what one should not do in our national parks. Someone just could not resist defacing one of the trees along the trail.
An old tree trunk with highlights along the Tejas Trail in Guadalupe NP. iPhone Photo
Even with mid-day light, it is sometimes possible to get interesting images. The one above is a portion of a gnarly, weathered, fallen tree, mostly in the shade of another tree with sunlight dappling across it. This is a jpeg image, so the editing is limited; but I’ve tweaked it a bit in Adobe Lightroom, then applied additional editing in DXO Nik software. I typically like to add several filters in Color Efex Pro 4, depending upon the photo, with a slight touch of brilliance, detail extraction, sometimes a graduated neutral density and a slight skylight filter. One has to be careful not to over do it with these filters. Sometimes, I will note that a favorite filter is just too much and I either have to tone it down or eliminate it.
A scouting photo along the Tejas Trail, Guadalupe NP. iPhone Photo
I hoped to get sunset light on the features in the mountain side, but I also needed something in the foreground and/or framing objects. So I experimented with these concepts as I walked along the trail. I applied a little lens fall off vignetting in the above image to tone down some of the unattractive foreground and to reduce the plain sky.
A scouting photo along Tejas Trail, Guadalupe NP. iPhone Photo
Another foreground/framing possibility is illustrated here. Again, I used a little lens fall off vignetting to reduce the foreground clutter and to add a focusing effect into the image.
A scouting photo along the Tejas Trail, Guadalupe NP. iPhone Photo.
The image above has a vignetting filter, that I do not often use, applied in Nik Color Efex Pro 4. I thought it worth experimenting with in these flat, bland photos. I think this one serves quite well in this case. It tones down the foreground clutter, reduces the plain sky and focuses on the main subject.
A scouting photo along the Tejas Trail, Guadalupe NP. iPhone Photo
I kept hiking along the trail, trying to get closer to this particular feature on the mountainside, hoping to find a good vantage point to photograph it later in the day. Here, again, I’ve added vignetting to reduce the foreground clutter and focus the eye on the main subject.
A scouting photo along the Tejas Trail, Guadalupe NP. iPhone Photo
The boulder in the lower right anchors the foreground in this image and I think with it located diagonally from the peak in the upper left, helps to give this image some depth and visual tension. Vignetting is used again to reduce the unattractive clutter around the edges and guides the eye into the image. The vignette center can be moved and in this case, it has been moved slightly to the left.
A scouting photo along the Tejas Trail, Guadalupe NP. iPhone Photo.
This is just an experiment with a monochrome version of the previous image. Sometimes harsh light images can be more appealing images in monochrome. In this case, the lack of shadows results in too flat an image to be interesting.
A scouting photo along the Tejas Trail, Guadalupe NP. iPhone Photo
Just another experimental foreground for the prominent feature in the mountainside. The Cholla is weathered and not very attractive; but there is at least a hint of clouds developing in the sky.
A scouting photo along the Tejas Trail, Guadalupe NP. iPhone Photo
Ah, if I could find this at sunset, I think I would get a good image!
