#azimuth 104

[thorsenmark]

Forest and Mountains Along the Akamina Parkway (Waterton Lakes National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While at a roadside pullout along the Akamina Parkway with a view looking to the east across a nearby meadow and forest to more distant ridges and peaks coming off Mount Crandell. This is in Waterton Lakes National Park. My thought on composing this image was to pull back on the focal length and capture a wide angle view, allowing me to have most of the full heights of the nearby trees as well as the mountain peaks off in the distance. The other thing I felt important to include was the partly cloudy skies above and metering the exposure properly to include the details present in the skies above. I was later, able to pull out the more shadowed areas in post-production and bring out the colors I wanted for this setting.

[thorsenmark]

Letting Nature Pamper Me with Snapshots of Jasper National Park by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While at a roadside pullout area along Maligne Lake Road with a view looking to the east-southeast. This is in Jasper National Park. My thought on composing this image was to capture a view from a high point I was on along the road, looking down and then across this valley between the mountains. I decided to more or less center that valley and have the nearby forest as a foreground interest. But what really drew me into the setting were the Medicine Lake Slabs off in the distance. I worked to get an angle to bring them higher into the image, while still including some of the blue skies and clouds above. I did some initial post-processing work making adjustments to contrast, brightness and saturation in DxO PhotoLab 6. I then exported a TIFF image to Nik Color Efex Pro 4 where I added a Foliage, Polarization and Pro Contrast filter for that last effect on the image captured.

[thorsenmark]

A Road Leading Me into the Mountains of Jasper National Park by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A setting looking to the east-southeast while at a roadside pullout along the Maligne Lake Road in Jasper National Park. What I wanted to capture with this image was to include the road as it led into the mountains with the nearby forest around. I then zoomed in with the focal length and aligned myself to have this setting fill most of the image, while still having a little bit of blue skies above.

[thorsenmark]

Forest and Mountains Along the Akamina Parkway (Waterton Lakes National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While at a roadside pullout along the Akamina Parkway with a view looking to the east across a nearby meadow and forest to more distant ridges and peaks coming off Mount Crandell. This is in Waterton Lakes National Park. My thought on composing this image was to pull back on the focal length and capture a wide angle view, allowing me to have most of the full heights of the nearby trees as well as the mountain peaks off in the distance. The other thing I felt important to include was the partly cloudy skies above and metering the exposure properly to include the details present in the skies above. I was later, able to pull out the more shadowed areas in post-production and bring out the colors I wanted for this setting.

[thorsenmark]

Letting the Mind Wonder While the Body Wanders (Katmai National Park & Preserve) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A view looking to the east-southeast across the waters of Naknek Lake after finishing the Dumpling Mountain Trail. This was along the lake shoreline at Brooks Camp with the ridgelines and peaks of Mount Katolinat and Mount La Gorce off in the distance. With this image, I decided to not angle my Nikon SLR camera downward as I really didn't feel that sweeping view across the lake would add much to the image. The mountains and the mostly cloudy skies had the drama that I felt best captured this setting that afternoon. 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.

[thorsenmark]

Petrified Logs and Fragments in Blue Mesa (Petrified Forest National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A rather giant chunk of petrified wood on a natural sandstone pedestal I came across while walking the Blue Mesa Trail in Petrified Forest National Park. In composing this image, I decided to use the badlands present as a backdrop while centering this petrified piece of petrified wood more or less in the center of the image. One can see fragments of petrified wood and other rocks scattered across this national park landscape.

[thorsenmark]

Spray Falls in Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A setting extending to the southeast while taking in views along the Lake Superior coastline with Upper Michigan in Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. This was while on the Pictured Rocks Cruises. With this image, I focused on the waterfalls to my front with Spray Falls, attempting to center it in the image, while including some lake waters and the forest of trees above the coastline to add to the NPS setting captured.

[thorsenmark]

Enjoying the High Life While Walking Along the Condor Gulch Trail (HDR, Pinnacles National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While walking the Condor Gulch Trail with a view looking east and then down and across a canyon between ridges in Pinnacles National Park. My thought on composing this image was more of a look back along the path I had just hiked but also a little bit of capturing the view with the nearby ridges the way they opened up with the canyon or draw below and then the more distant ridge. The other thing I had to keep in mind was that the sun was in the direction that I was facing and definitely affecting any exposures that I attempted to capture. I chose to work with Aurora HDR Pro to better bring that complete setting in the image. I later exported a TIFF image to DxO PhotoLab 6 where I did some final adjustments with contrast, saturation and brightness for the final image.