#azimuth 222

[thorsenmark]

Sunset Highway (Great Basin National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: At a roadside pullout just off Nevada Hwy 50 with a view looking to the southwest and the mountains in Great Basin National Park. This was one of several images I captured using the LCD screen on my Nikon SLR camera to line up the center stripe and road with the more distant ridges and peaks. 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 and colors with the clouds seemed appropriate for this national park 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]

Overcast Skies Over Mountains and Diablo Lake (HDR, Black & White, North Cascades National Park Service Complex) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: The original set of TIFF images I captured I brought into Aurora HDR Pro and used a template I'd created for a natural, realistic type look. I then brought the HDR image into Capture NX2 where I used a technique I'd read from Jason Odell in his book on Capture NX2. He described it as an Ansel Adams look using and LCH editor and then adding Black points and White points before converting to black & white. I captured this at the Diablo Lake Overlook in Ross Lake National Recreation Area and North Cascades National Park Service Complex.

[thorsenmark]

I Will Walk to the Mountains in Celebration of Being There (Glacier National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A setting looking to the southwest while taking in views across the waters of Swiftcurrent Lake with a mountain backdrop of Mount Gould, Angel Wing, and Grinnell Point. This is in Glacier National Park.

[thorsenmark]

My Time for a Getaway in White Sands National Park by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A setting looking to the southwest while taking in views across eroded formations, buttes and temples present at Mather Point in Grand Canyon National Park. This point is not far from the turnaround point along the loop trail. One can see the dried up lake bed with its flat surface just beyond a nearby, dune ridge in the image. My thought on composing this image was to raise the horizon higher into the image and take advantage of a sweeping view that I could capture from some high ground I was on.

[thorsenmark]

Under the Shade of Nearby Mangroves by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: I captured this image with a view extending to the southwest while walking along the shoreline of White Horse Key in the Ten Thousand Islands area of Florida. My thought in composing this image was to capture a look along the path I was on with the waters of the Gulf of Mexico coming up to the shoreline and nearby mangroves casting shadows across to my front. I pulled back on the focal length so that I could include more of the setting while still keeping the horizon off the distance more or less leveled-on.

[thorsenmark]

Finding Solitude in My Silence by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: Finding Solitude in My Silence The rhythm of waves on a nearby shore The sun shining brightly above Blue skies all around Just a world with magic and excitement And me listening to the wonder of it all Another work of short poetry or prose to complement the image captured late morning while walking around and exploring White Horse Key. This is in the Ten Thousand Islands area of Florida with a view extending to the southwest. My thought in composing this image was to capture a leveled-on view with the horizon, using the curve of the shoreline as a leading line and to add foreground interest, with the trees as the main focus for the image. The Gulf of Mexico waters and blue skies would be that backdrop to complement the setting.

[thorsenmark]

Gulf of Mexico Living in Dry Tortugas National Park by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: During a voyage on the Yankee Freedom Ferry while docking at Fort Jefferson in Dry Tortugas National Park, the view extended southwest to the South Coaling Dock Ruins. But what also drew me into this image was the turquoise and deep blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico that extended from there across the image to a distant horizon.

[thorsenmark]

Glaciers Amongst the Mountains in Jasper National Park by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While at a roadside pullout along the Icefields Parkway with a view looking to the southeast to ridges and peaks around the Columbia Icefield area. This is in Jasper National Park.