Fall color in unconventional places

From Sunday's hike to Two RIvers Lake in RMNP. I noticed these tiny leaved plants on the forest floor had gorgeous yellow and orange colors. On my way down I shot a few images of it. Most very long exposures as it was getting quite dark quickly.


The forest floor comes alive. Buy a print.
Technical: Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16mm at 11mm, ISO 200, f/8, two exposures of 1/4s and 2.0s blended manually in Photoshop. Originals developed in Lightroom.

I really like the color contrast here with the greens from the trees, the yellows and reds from the shrubbery, the sunset colors and the blues in the sky.


A bed for tired bears. Buy a print.
Technical: Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16mm at 11mm, ISO 200, f/11, 4.0s. Original raw file developed in Lightroom.


Fallen giant. Buy a print.
Technical: Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16mm at 11mm, ISO 200, f/11, 2.5s. Original raw file developed in Lightroom.


Patches. Buy a print.
Technical: Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16mm at 11mm, ISO 200, f/11, 15s. Original raw file developed in Lightroom.

There was a lot of fall color in the park but I thought it was nice to see images that did not involve seas of aspen once in a while.
Google+ post.

Marigold Pond Evening Stillness

I went to RMNP yesterday evening ostensibly to photograph fall colors, but ended up scouting out the trail to Two Rivers lake and Lake Helene as I just felt like hiking and escaping the throngs and throngs of people that were in the park gawking at Elk and leaves. That turned out to be a good choice as I met only a couple of hikers and had the place to myself. This area has several traditional sunrise pictures and has been on my wish list for a while. On the other hand, I have never seen an image of it in the evening. This makes sense as the light comes from behind then and you don't get the nice glow on Notchtop mountain which is what people go for. Unfortunately for a variety of reasons I did not make it for sunrise but the evening turned out to be very nice too. The water in the lakes was the most still I have ever seen it anywhere in RMNP ever. Below is an image that will be followed by more from different lakes and areas around the trail.


Marigold Pond evening stillness. Buy a print.
Technical data: D300, Tokina 11-16 mm at 11mm, f/11, 1/4sec, ISO 200, polarizer to emphasize reflection and 2 stop grad ND. Image interpreted in Lightroom.
Google+ post. On flickr.

Friends under the stars

From Canyonlands

This image was taken on a bike trip along the white rim trail in Canyonlands National Park. This is ISO 200, 11mm, f/2.8 and a 30s exposure. three stop filter lowering the exposure of the bottom half so we can see the milky way at the top. My buddy Craig had built a propane fueled firebox, so that we could have a campfire where we were not allowed to have one. Brought us much attention from the park rangers who could see us from the Island in the sky but didn't realize it was a propane flame instead of a campfire.

Boulder brook - Fall color in RMNP

This last Sunday I was working on finishing up a book chapter that I was already behind on on the deadline. I finished it somewhere Sunday morning, so I had some time in the afternoon to go out. So I set off for RMNP to see some fall color. Last year I visited Boulder Brook and I wanted to do this again as it was gorgeous. This is a small stream that runs along aptly named Boulder Brook trail for a while. It is only a short way from the trailhead, but I decided to explore the entire trail as it was still some time before sunset. It turns out that the most interesting parts I think are at the bottom in the part where the brook can only be heard from the trail, so a little bushwhacking is involved.


The red, the yellow and the green. Buy a print.
Stitched from 9 images (3 rows of 3) shot at 35 mm using the 35 mm f1.8 DX. ISO 200, f/16, 4s.

I love the red roots from the mosses that grow beside the trail. The color contradicts very nicely with the yellow of the fallen aspen leaves. I now realize that this is close to the same view (but more intimate) of an image that I shot last year in the rain, which can be found here and is described in a previous blog post.

A second viewpoint is here:


The thin blue line. Buy a print.
Stitched from 9 images (3 rows of 3) shot at 35 mm using the 35 mm f1.8 DX. ISO 200, f/16, 2.5s.

Walking back I saw some great color up in the sky, but arrived at the trailhead just too late for the really gorgeous sunset colors. Nevertheless I shot a quick pano that I will include below.


The gorge. Buy a print.
Assembled from 8 shots (4 each two and a half stops apart) at 35 mm, f/8.0, 1/5s - 1s, ISO 200.

Due to the vertical format of this blog, I had to make the image small. You can get a very large view of it by clicking on it.

Speaking of Dream Lake

Here is an old image from it in winter. I Developed it to be close to what the Velvia looks like that I shot simultaneously (and never scanned at high quality).


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There is also a newly developed vertical composition available here. I need to get back to it and Emerald Lake at sunrise sometime soon.

I'll leave you with a shot of Hallett peak coming up to Emerald Lake (visible through the trees):

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