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Cholla Cactus Garden Under Overcast Skies (Joshua Tree National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While walking around the Cholla Cactus Garden with a view to the west across an open area filled with the namesake cactus. This is in Joshua Tree National Park.

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An Image Created from a Single RAW Image with Aurora HDR Pro (Congaree National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: I later did some work to adjust the saturation, brightness and contrast of the TIFF image in Capture NX2.

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Cholla Cactus Garden Under Overcast Skies (Joshua Tree National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While walking around the Cholla Cactus Garden with a view to the west across an open area filled with the namesake cactus. This is in Joshua Tree National Park.

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Wave Upon Wave, With No End in Sight (White Sands National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While walking the Alkali Flat Trail with a view looking to the south across the white sands and dune formations present in this part of the national park. My thought on composing this image was to use the high ground I was on with this one doing formation and angle my Nikon SLR camera slightly downward to bring the horizon a little higher into the image. That would help to create a sweeping view across the dune formations and have them seemingly be a “wave upon wave.” The other thing I had to keep in mind was not blowing any highlights with the very bright landscape to my front. I made certain to lower the exposure setting and later making adjustments to the highlights and colors in post production with DxO PhotoLab 6.

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Moon Over the Ridges of Pinnacles National Park by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A setting looking west to the moon seemingly hanging over a nearby ridge at a roadside pullout in Pinnacles National Park. My thought on composing this image was to find a balance between the ridge crossing to my front with that of the moon, hanging in the skies above. I exposed for the highlights, knowing I could pull out the more shadowed areas later in post-production.

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Mountain Solitude in Joshua Tree National Park by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: In Joshua Tree National Park while at Keys View with a view looking to the west across the mountain desert landscape present. I felt that the ridges coming off the main mountain range helped to create a layered look leading to the more distant snowcapped peaks of the San Gorgonio and San Jacinto Mountains. I moved around as best I could to align the two distant mountain ranges on both sides, while not having the nearby ridges block portions of them.

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Aspens and Evergreens on a Mountainside in Colorado by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While at a roadside pullout along US Route 550 (San Juan Skyway Scenic and Historic Byway) with a few looking up a mountainside to aspens and evergreens. What drew me into this setting was the aspen leaves shimmering in the passing breeze, while caught in the light of the afternoon sun. The rest of the image was just aligning myself to capture a view looking up mountainside, while minimizing any lens artifacts from the sun above. 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 7. I then exported a TIFF image to Nik Color Efex Pro 4 where I added a Polarization, Foliage, and Pro Contrast filter for that last effect on the image captured.

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Get Yourself to White Sands National Park! by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While walking the Alkali Flat Trail with a view looking to the west across the white sands of the Alkali Flat and dried lake present in this part of the national park. The rest of the thought in composing this image was the more distant mountains with its ridges and peaks and the unusual cloud formation on top :-)