Tag: Yankee Boy Basin

Yankee Boy Basin, Colorado, July 2020, Part 4

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,

Ken

Yankee Boy Basin, July 2020, Part 3

I hope these post on photography in Yankee Boy Basin are not getting boring.  Initially, I had only planned for two posts, but those got longer than I expected.  This will be a short post with only a couple of photos to review.

These two images are from our last evening to shoot here.  The weather report indicated a smallish chance for rain, so we thought we would get lucky and have a tremendously beautiful sky at sunset.  It did not turn out that way.  The sky was heavily overcast all around and it began to rain shortly after we got into position to shoot, so we cut our outing short.

An overcast evening in Yankee Boy Basin, Colorado.

The composition above, I thought at the time, was just a desperate attempt to get something, as it began to sprinkle, before we had to retreat.  I had reservations about even spending time editing this image or showing it to anyone.  After letting this one sit for awhile before editing it, I remembered why I made this image.

The tops of the yellowish-green vegetation, running diagonally from the bottom left corner, leads the eye to the dead, leaning tree trunk, which in turn points to the overcast, threatening sky, as if to say, “you better hurry and shoot now”.  So, I think, this composition worked better than I expected, when I was hastily making this image.

Wildflowers, Mountains and Sky in an overcast evening in Yankee Boy Basin, Colorado.

This final image is again one that I still have reservations about.  I’m trying to show the drama in the sky and soften it with the wildflowers in the foreground set below the rugged mountain peaks.  The softness of the wildflowers is enhanced by motion, created by the wind and a slow shutter speed.  This is usually not the kind of image I prefer.  Often I would increase the ISO under these conditions to get a fast shutter speed to freeze the motion in the vegetation and in the clouds. If there had been some side lighting on the wildflowers this would have been a much more impactful image.

Please feel free to critique my images.  Your feedback is always welcome.

Ken

 

Yankee Boy Basin, Colorado, July 2020, Part 2

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.

Thanks for following, stay well and safe,

Ken

 

 

Yankee Boy Basin, Colorado, July 2020, Part 1

I photographed a number of times in Yankee Boy Basin, near Ouray, Colorado during my July, 2020 summer visit to Colorado.  The main reason for returning to this area several times, is a simple one.  It just happened to be the closest, most easily accessible place for scenic landscape photography from the state park where my son, his wife, and I were staying.

Late day in Yankee Boy Basin, July 2020. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/22, 1.0s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 2.

Navigating rocky, bouncy 4WD roads is required for access to many of the best places for landscape photography in this area and Yankee Boy Basin is one that my son felt most confident in being able to get to safely, early in the morning, then have time for other daytime exploration.  In the evening, it was possible to photograph here at sunset and get back down the 4WD road before total darkness set in and we would get back to our campsites in time to get a reasonably good night’s sleep before getting up again in the early morning hours for a sunrise shoot.

There is a mountain stream with a number of waterfalls along it here.  The middle two falls seem to be the most photogenic, so we spent much of our time in that area.

Early morning in Yankee Boy Basin, July 2020. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/16, 1/5s, ISO 200. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 2.

To get the image above, I stood right up against the closest part of the waterfall on the right side of the photo, backing into a bush, shooting downstream at 14mm to get the waterfall on my right into the shot.

Early morning in Yankee Boy Basin, July 2020. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/16, 1/4s, ISO 200. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 2.

There were wildflowers growing along the stream and I often included those in my images.  The image above is made looking upstream at this waterfall, while standing in the edge of the stream bed.  Even at 14mm from my position, I could only get a small portion of the waterfall in the photograph, while also including the wildflowers along the stream edge.

Early morning in Yankee Boy Basin, July 2020. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/16, 0.4s, ISO 200. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 2.

Standing a bit further back from the falls, on a rock ledge at the edge of the stream, I could get the entire waterfall in the image, while including the wildflowers and the rock outcrop on the right.

Late day in Yankee Boy Basin, July 2020. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/16, 0.4s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 2.

Since I’ve photographed in this area a number of times, I tried not to duplicate compositions from other shoots, which is not easily avoided.  It takes some work to avoid the most common compositions here.  I had some reservations about the composition in the above image, thinking it is too complex, but I have gotten some positive feedback on it, so I guess it worked better than I anticipated.

Early morning in Yankee Boy Basin, July 2020. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/16, 1/3s, ISO 200. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 2.

Readers will note the heavily overcast sky in most of these images.  I always like to have clouds to give the sky more interest, but heavy overcast can limit or eliminate the “golden” hour light at sunrise and/or sunset.

Early morning in Yankee Boy Basin, July 2020. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/16, 1/4s, ISO 200. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 2.

The image above is taken a few yards downstream from a waterfall, looking downstream at the mountainside in the distance.  During one similar photo shoot one afternoon, there was a family of three or four (man, wife and one or two young boys) in the area.  I kept trying to avoid them and had to wait several times as they walked into and out of my compositions.  If you are a purist landscape photographer, you know we try to avoid people in our shots most of the time.  Some tourists know this and try to minimize their interference with photographers, while others are totally unconcerned about walking directly in front of a photographer.  While composing an image similar to the one above, something hit the graduated neutral density filter mounted on the front of my lens, startling me, and I immediately heard the father, standing above me on the stream’s bank,  scolding one of the boys.  It turned out that the boy was throwing rocks in an indiscriminate manner and it was one of those rocks that struck my camera.  If not for the flexibility of the filter, it would have shattered rather than just get scratched.  If not for the filter, the lens would have most likely had significant damage.  Neither of the parents said a word to me about this event.  I had expected one would have at least inquired about damage and apologized for the kid’s action, which might have resulted in an injury and/or significant camera gear damage.  The scratches on the filter sometimes result in light streaks in my images.  Fortunately, I had the filter and much of my more expensive camera gear insured via scheduled property on my homeowner’s insurance policy, so I recuperated much of the replacement cost of the filter.

Early morning in Yankee Boy Basin, July 2020. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/16, 1/4s, ISO 200. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 2.  Looking downstream at the base of a waterfall.

Yankee Boy Basin is popular with hikers and a good campsite for those that want to get the necessary early morning start on a hike up Mount Sneffels.  Still we saw only a few people during our early morning and late day visits here.

It is common to get afternoon thunderstorms in the upper elevations of the Rocky Mountains, but during the time we were here, there were more than the usual storms.  Some days were rainy for much of the day, which limited the time interval with our favorite light at sunrise and/or sunset.  We had to sometimes cut short our photography time to avoid the rain and get back down the mountainside before getting caught in a storm.

Of all the photos that I shot here, the one below is my favorite.

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.

This image has so much of what landscape photographers look for in an image, late day sunlight highlighting the mountain tops, light beams in the clouds, silky smooth, flowing water and a sinuous stream leading the eye from the waterfall into the image.  More prominent wildflowers would have made this even better.

Since we visited here multiple times, there will be at least one more post of photos from this area.  Please click on the images to view them in higher resolution on my Flickr page.

Thanks for following,

Ken

Yankee Boy Basin

Yankee Boy Basin, located in the Colorado Rocky Mountains near Ouray, Colorado, is accessible via a 4 wheel drive road.  My oldest son, who provided the 4×4 Jeep, and I spent several early morning and evenings in the basin, since it was a relatively easy place for us to get to and there were multiple photography opportunities in the area.

Yankee Boy Basin

It is best to have a high clearance vehicle with skid plates and good off road tires before attempting to travel this road.  If the road is not wet, it might be possible for a high clearance vehicle equipped with only stock tires and an experienced driver to make it up the road.  On one of our outings there, a thunderstorm came up at our destination, so we went back down to a safer place to wait out the storm.   We encountered a young man in a Subaru Outback, who was planning to make the trip up the 4×4 road.  His vehicle had stock tires and no skid plates.  My son, who has some 4 wheel drive road experience and has been up this road a number of times, advised him not to try the road with his vehicle;  however, he told him that he could follow us, if he liked, and at least he would have someone nearby in case he had difficulty.   He tried to follow us up the road, but very soon got to a point where his tires could not get sufficient traction on the wet rocks and he turned around.

We ended up aborting one of our planned evening shoots due to a continuing storm.  We had hoped to get gorgeous views with clouds and mountainsides illuminated with the late evening light as often happens after a storm; but the storm and sky showed no signs of clearing, so we retreated to our campsites, where we were treated to sky, clouds and a double rainbow; but I only had time to shoot a few iPhone photos before these all faded away.

A view from Ridgeway State Park, Colorado, after an early evening rain.
This is the kind of sky we had hoped to see during our aborted Yankee Boy Basin evening photo shoot.

Yankee Boy Basin is a picturesque setting and can be covered with wildflowers in the early summer months.  There were some wildflowers remaining during our visit in late July, but they were mostly past their peak bloom.

Early morning view in Yankee Boy Basin

The 4 wheel drive road follows a stream much of the way and there are a number of waterfalls and lovely cascades along the way.

Early morning light above Sneffles Creek
Early morning in Yankee Boy Basin
Sneffels Creek Waterfall
Early morning light in Yankee Boy Basin along Sneffels Creek
Yankee Boy Basin Waterfall
Yankee Boy Basin Waterfall
Early morning in Yankee Boy Basin
Sneffels Creek Cascade
Sneffels Creek Waterfall/Cascade
Close up view of a portion of a waterfall on Sneffels Creek
Close up view of one of the Yankee Boy Basin waterfalls

At the end of the 4 wheel drive road is a small lake surrounded by mountain peaks.  A popular hiking trail begins at the end of the 4 wheel road that takes one to Mount Sneffels, 14,158 feet high mountain, which many hikers like to bag.

The elevation everywhere in this area is high enough that one not used to it might have some difficulty with the thin air.  As I’ve gotten older, I’ve noted that higher elevations are more of a problem, but so far I’ve not had altitude sickness.  I can move around quite well at altitude, as long as I am not carrying a load; but as soon as I pick up a loaded day pack and camera gear, the effort to walk up an incline becomes noticeable, requiring frequent stops to catch my breath.  I’m sure that my normal sea level life adds to the altitude effect.

One of the fun things about such outings as this is meeting other people with similar interest.  On our first morning in the basin, we chatted with the only other person there, who was also into photography and from the same metropolitan area as me.

I hope that you enjoy this post and I welcome your comments and suggestions.