#azimuth 211

[thorsenmark]

A View of Castle Rock from the North Cascades Lodge at Stehekin (Black & White, North Cascades National Park Service Complex) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A conversion to black & white with Capture NX2 where I used some color filters to bring out a much richer tonal contrast and darker skies to contrast the mountain peaks caught in the sunlight for the final image. This was captured in the Lake Chelan National Recreation area in the North Cascades National Park Service Complex.

[thorsenmark]

I Wonder If Those Above Us Wonder in Amazement Looking Below As We Do Looking Up? (Congaree National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: Sometimes even on days with overcast skies, one happens to look up and find that small break where blue skies seem to come out and add that contrast of colors to compliment a setting. This was not long after leaving the visitor center on the Boardwalk Loop Trail. I was trying to capture that image of the trees coming together above me like spokes on a wheel. Metering the image was a little trickier in not blowing any highlights from the brighter areas of the tree canopy while still being able to pull out the more shadowed areas and minimize color cast when I worked with that in Capture NX2.

[thorsenmark]

My Navigations in Great Smoky Mountains National Park by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: At the roadside pullout and parking location along the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park with a view looking to the southwest while taking in a setting of the Roaring Fork flowing by.

[thorsenmark]

Tales and Adventures of Exploring Shasta-Trinity National Forest by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While walking along the shoreline of Castle Lake with a view looking to the southwest. This is located in Shasta-Trinity National Forest. In composing this image, I walked around until I could find a foreground interest to add to this setting while including the backdrop of the distant shoreline and mountainside.

[thorsenmark]

Spring Aspens in Baker Creek of Great Basin National Park by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A setting looking to the southwest while taking in views of aspen trees along the Baker Creek Loop in Great Basin National Park. My thought on composing this image was to look slightly upward with my Nikon SLR camera and have the forest fill the lower portion of the image from edge to edge. The blue skies and clouds above would help to, in my mind, better highlight the forest and leaves caught in sunlight.

[thorsenmark]

Photographing Nature in Great Smoky Mountains National Park by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A setting looking to the southwest while taking in views across a grassy meadow and walking back along a trail from the John Oliver Cabin. This is in the Cades Cove area of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. My first thought when I composed this image had been to focus on what I thought might have been a black bear wandering around the forest on the other side of the meadow. I later shifted the composition to capture a look across that meadow and frame a view beyond the forest with the mountain ridge (Cobb Butt, Cobb Ridge) as a distant backdrop. 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]

Hoodoos Stretching as Far as the Eye Can See! (Bryce Canyon National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While walking the Queens Garden Trail with a view looking to the southwest in Bryce Canyon National Park. My thought on composing this image was to take advantage of the way the eroded ridges with hoodoos seemingly criss-crossed the other. I felt this created a layered look across Bryce Amphitheater. The next thing I had to consider was the large dynamic range with the cliff walls off in the distance caught in the morning sunlight and the nearby hoodoos in the nearby shadows. I was able to meter for some of the closer in areas in the sunlight and later pullout the more shadowed areas, while removing any color casts present using DxO PhotoLab 5.

[thorsenmark]

Living a Tradition of Solitude in Indiana Dunes National Park by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A setting looking to the southwest across a dried out gully and creek bed covered with fallen leaves while taking in views along the Bailly Chellberg - Little Calumet Loop.