#azimuth 165

[thorsenmark]

It's Good Seeing an Old Friend (Arches National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: Even after doing this hike many years ago on a trip to Moab, there's something about that feeling when the eyes catch this setting with its amphitheater like feel and the Delicate Arch off in the distance.

[superbnature]

Wake Waters and Mountain Peaks by MarkCStevens https://ift.tt/2OE9KCD

[thorsenmark]

The Sun with Wildfire Haze Skies in Inyo National Forest by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A view looking to the south and then up above some nearby evergreen trees. This location is at Starkweather Lake at a roadside pullout on the drive to Devils Postpile National Monument. I had a few thoughts when it came to composing this image. One was to take advantage of the haze and how it filtered down the sun. On a blue skies day with the sun out, highlights would've been blown and it might not have been the best of an image captured with artifacts on and across a lens. What I had to focus on was balancing the highlights present with the haze-filtered sun and being able to pull out the more shadow areas later on and post production. Another idea was to capture a look beyond, using the trees to somewhat frame a view with the sun in the skies above.

[thorsenmark]

Being Seemingly Surrounded by Tall Trees in Yosemite National Park by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: From a roadside pullout around the Fern Spring area with a view looking to the south-southeast to a nearby forest of tall trees present in this part of Yosemite National Park.

[thorsenmark]

A Sky Replacement Amongst the Woods of Inyo National Forest by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While walking around the Starkweather Lake area with a view looking to the south above some nearby tree to a sun somewhat hidden in the haze from nearby forest wildfires in this part of the Sierra Nevada mountains. My thinking in composing this image was to capture a view that included some of the nearby trees to kind of frame a setting looking up at the skies with the sun above. I metered the image based on the brighter portions of the skies above, knowing I could later pull out the more shadowed areas in post production. It was as I began working on the image in post production that I then decided to once again try out the sky replacement setting in Photoshop with this image. The sunset colors with the clouds definitely seemed to work better for this national forest setting. So the skies are part of the Adobe stock images in Photoshop but all else is captured with my Nikon D850 SLR camera. I later worked with control points in DxO PhotoLab 5 and then made some adjustments to bring out the contrast, saturation and brightness I wanted for the final image.

[thorsenmark]

The Sun with Wildfire Haze Skies in Inyo National Forest by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A view looking to the south and then up above some nearby evergreen trees. This location is at Starkweather Lake at a roadside pullout on the drive to Devils Postpile National Monument. I had a few thoughts when it came to composing this image. One was to take advantage of the haze and how it filtered down the sun. On a blue skies day with the sun out, highlights would've been blown and it might not have been the best of an image captured with artifacts on and across a lens. What I had to focus on was balancing the highlights present with the haze-filtered sun and being able to pull out the more shadow areas later on and post production. Another idea was to capture a look beyond, using the trees to somewhat frame a view with the sun in the skies above.

[thorsenmark]

Being Seemingly Surrounded by Tall Trees in Yosemite National Park by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: From a roadside pullout around the Fern Spring area with a view looking to the south-southeast to a nearby forest of tall trees present in this part of Yosemite National Park.

[thorsenmark]

A Sky Replacement Amongst the Woods of Inyo National Forest by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While walking around the Starkweather Lake area with a view looking to the south above some nearby tree to a sun somewhat hidden in the haze from nearby forest wildfires in this part of the Sierra Nevada mountains. My thinking in composing this image was to capture a view that included some of the nearby trees to kind of frame a setting looking up at the skies with the sun above. I metered the image based on the brighter portions of the skies above, knowing I could later pull out the more shadowed areas in post production. It was as I began working on the image in post production that I then decided to once again try out the sky replacement setting in Photoshop with this image. The sunset colors with the clouds definitely seemed to work better for this national forest setting. So the skies are part of the Adobe stock images in Photoshop but all else is captured with my Nikon D850 SLR camera. I later worked with control points in DxO PhotoLab 5 and then made some adjustments to bring out the contrast, saturation and brightness I wanted for the final image.