#azimuth 138

[thorsenmark]

A Lake, Forest and Mountains in Lassen Volcanic National Park by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A setting looking to the southeast, offering a vista of Reflection Lake’s shoreline while walking along the namesake trail. I was definitely drawn into the layered composition of this scene. The shoreline had young evergreen trees, with older ones nearby. The lake seemingly shimmered with waves from the afternoon breeze with a forested landscape on the distant shoreline. In the background, Lassen Peak stood high with blue skies all around. I chose to work with HDR Efex Pro 7 to better bring that complete color setting in the image. I later exported a TIFF image to DxO PhotoLab 8 where I did some final adjustments with contrast, saturation and brightness for the final image.

[thorsenmark]

More Snow Coming into Joshua Tree National Park by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: At a roadside pullout along the main park road with a view looking to the southeast across a recently snowed landscape. My thought on composing this image was to angle my Nikon SLR camera slightly downward and create a sweeping view across this national park landscape, leading up to the more distant hillsides with its rock formations. I wanted, though, to include some of the skies above, as I felt the snow storm coming in had some details that added to the complete setting.

[thorsenmark]

Imagining a Look Across a Grassy Meadow to a Forest of Trees (Voyageurs National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While walking along the Oberholtzer Trail in the Rainy Lake area of Voyageurs National Park with a view extending to the southeast from an overlook and break in the trees. Here I zoomed in with the focal length (about 500’ based on Google Maps measurement) on my Nikon Z8 Mirrorless Camera to this one group of trees on a nearby island in the Black Bay area. I chose to get down low behind this grassy meadow that extended out to capture a look over that to the trees. I later worked with control points in DxO PhotoLab 9 and then made some adjustments to bring out the contrast, saturation and brightness I wanted for the final image.

[thorsenmark]

Otter Lake Waterfalls Along the Blue Ridge Parkway by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A setting looking to the southeast while taking in views of the waters Otter Lake Waterfalls. This is at a roadside pullout along the Blue Ridge Parkway. In composing this image, I chose to use a look across the waters and have the forest of trees as a backdrop. I also liked the angled look with this setting.

[thorsenmark]

This Is Not Something About Piña Coladas by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: This Is Not Something About Piña Coladas It’s about getting outside Enjoying some sunshine Feeling rain drops on your head Letting one’s toes dig into the earth below Walking through the woods Looking high into the skies Taking a peak at blue waters beyond a break in the trees It’s about a joy in wildness It’s not just an escape So much as it’s living Another work of short poetry or prose to complement the image captured one afternoon in Temperance River State Park with the namesake river flowing into Lake Superior beyond and opening and nearby trees. The view extends to the southeast. What drew me into the setting was a memory of similar type images I captured back in 2011 on a trip that included a portion of the northwest corner of Washington State around Cape Flattery. While not exactly the same in features, there were elements in the setting that reminded me of it with the waters and the way they interweaved amongst outcroppings and small islands with tall trees all around and extending out to a large body of water. Here it was Lake Superior with the state park.

[thorsenmark]

Seeing the Sights of Great Smoky Mountains National Park by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: At a roadside pullout along the main loop road in the Cades Cove area with a view looking to the southeast while taking in the Cades Cove Riding Stables and a backdrop of the Western Great Smoky Mountains (Cold Water Knob, Rocky Top, and Chimney Rocks based on PeakVisor app). This is in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. My thought on composing this image had been to capture sweeping view looking across the grassy meadow leading up to the stables. I liked the way the stables were seemingly nestled in with a backdrop of the mountains.

[thorsenmark]

Looking Glass Rock from a Stop Along the Blue Ridge Parkway by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While at a roadside pullout along the Blue Ridge Parkway with a view looking to the southeast to ridges and peaks of the Great Balsam Mountains with Looking Glass Rock as the prominent peak in the image center (based on Peak Visor app on my iPhone). My thought had been in composing this image to center the peak, while including some of the nearby forest and shrubbery vegetation as a foreground interest. I liked that look of beyond the nearby trees. The other thing was to meter the image properly so as to not blow any of the details and highlights present in the overcast skies and low cloud cover that morning. I did some initial post-processing work making adjustments to contrast, brightness and saturation in DxO PhotoLab 7. I then exported a TIFF image to Nik Color Efex Pro 7 where I added a Polarization, Foliage, and Pro Contrast filter for that last effect on the image captured.

[thorsenmark]

More Snow Coming into Joshua Tree National Park by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: At a roadside pullout along the main park road with a view looking to the southeast across a recently snowed landscape. My thought on composing this image was to angle my Nikon SLR camera slightly downward and create a sweeping view across this national park landscape, leading up to the more distant hillsides with its rock formations. I wanted, though, to include some of the skies above, as I felt the snow storm coming in had some details that added to the complete setting.