#azimuth 103

[thorsenmark]

A Look Across Saint Mary Lake to Ridges and Peaks of the Hudson River Divide (Glacier National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While at a roadside pullout along the Going-to-the-Sun Road with a view looking to the east across the waters of Saint Mary Lake with Curly Bear Mountain and Red Eagle Mountain as a backdrop. This is in Glacier National Park.

[thorsenmark]

Seeking More Fresh Air Outside (Capitol Reef National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While walking around Panorama Point and a view looking to the east across the varying desert landscape in this portion of Capitol Reef National Park. My thinking in composing this image was to use a portion of high ground that I was walking upon and angle my Nikon SLR camera slightly downward to create more of a sweeping view across the setting leading up to the cliffs and monocline off in the distance. The blue skies and clouds would be that color contrast to complement the earth-tones in the lower portion of the image.

[thorsenmark]

Morning Sunlight Bathing the Forest While at Diamond Point (New River Gorge National Park & Preserve) by Mark Stevens

[thorsenmark]

Ozark Baths and Bathhouse Row (Hot Springs National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: An image captured while standing in front of the Ozark Bathhouse. I backed up as far as I could to capture this image and later used the Perspective tool in DxO PhotoLab 3 to bring out a more leveled on view of the front of the building.

[thorsenmark]

Looking Up the Side of Cathedral Mountain (Denali National Park & Preserve) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A view looking to the southeast while on a bus ride into Denali National Park & Preserve. I can't recall if the bus stopped at this point, but I did brace myself and use a focal point such that I would minimize any of the movement experienced. I discovered many years ago on a train ride to not include things nearby while moving as they tended to have a blur or drift that would sometimes distract from the image. Here I found a point up this mountainside and used a quick enough shutter speed to minimize that effect. I did some initial post-processing work making adjustments to contrast, brightness and saturation while playing around as I learned how to work with DxO PhotoLab 3 and then used the ClearView tool to reduce some of the haze present.

[thorsenmark]

That God has laid His fingers on the sky by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While at a roadside pullout along U.S. Route 163 with a view looking to the east-southeast to the Big Indian sandstone formation in Monument Valley. In composing this image, I decided to zoom in with the vocal length and have much of the formation fill the image center. I wanted those to include some foreground to add some interest to the image, as well as using the blue skies above as a backstop to highlight the formation too. The rest was later making adjustments with control points in DxO PhotoLab 7 to bring out the contrast, saturation and brightness I wanted for the final image. The caption used is from a poem by W.B. Yeats, That Man who dreamed of Faeryland

[thorsenmark]

In the Shadow of a Dune Ridge by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While taking in views looking to the east and across a sandy landscape with dune formations and wild grasses in Monahans Sandhills State Park. What I wanted to capture with this setting was the contrasts with the shadowed area from the dune ridge and that of the sandy area caught in sunlight. The rest was metering the image with the large dynamic range to properly expose and not blow any highlights, while being able to later pull out the shadowed areas.

[thorsenmark]

Tales and Adventures in Exploring the Bisti Badlands by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While walking around and exploring the Bisti Badlands with a view looking to the east to some eroded formations present in this part of Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness Area.