#azimuth 283

[thorsenmark]

HDR in the North Cascades National Park Service Complex (HDR) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: Needless to say, walking around the Diablo Lake Vista Point is a sight to take in! Here I was walking from one vista view to many others...more of a slight change in direction/azimuth to a look across Diablo Lake to ridges and mountains of the Eldorado Massif. For this image, I brought in five TIFF images into Aurora HDR Pro and applied a preset I developed for a natural type look for landscape settings. I then export the TIFF image into Capture NX2 and implied some control points, and color control points and some CEP filters for the final image.

[thorsenmark]

Returning for the Mountains by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While walking the Fay Canyon Trail in Coconino National Forest. This was a view looking to the northwest to peaks and cliff walls of Bear Mountain. My thinking in composing this image was to use the forested setting around me and have those peaks and outcroppings of Bear Mountain seemingly rise above all of that. Blue skies would then be that color contrast to complement the earth-tones below. I later worked with control points in DxO PhotoLab 4 and then made some adjustments to bring out the contrast, saturation and brightness I wanted for the final image.

[thorsenmark]

Denali Has a Way of Taking One's Breath Away! (Denali State and National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: This was a view looking to the west-northwest while taking a break hiking up a mountainside along the Little Coal Creek Trail in Denali State Park. When a friend and I had stopped at the north viewpoint before starting on this hike, Denali had been out, but the angles with the foothills had minimized taking in the full “alpenglow" of the mountain peak with the morning sunlight. It was only later as we hiked up the mountainside and cleared the forested area that we were able to take in the views people often imagine seeing of the Great One, Denali. 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 3 that I’d recently purchased after moving away from Capture NX2.

[thorsenmark]

An Official Vacation Guide to Pinnacles National Park! by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While walking the Condor Gulch Trail in Pinnacles National Park with a view looking uphill and to the southwest across a hillside of trees leading up to the namesake pinnacle formations. I would be walking amongst those high peaks later that morning.

[thorsenmark]

Sweet Caroline, Part Two! (Capitol Reef National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While walking the Chimney Rock Trail with a view looking to the west while on a morning hike in Capitol Reef National Park. The story behind the caption with this image is a hike I did about five years prior one afternoon on a trip to this national park. While at an overlook around the same location, there was no one else around and I had that Neil Diamond song, Sweet Caroline, stuck in my head. Wide open space and no one around, why not sing out loud :-)

[thorsenmark]

This is Capitol Reef National Park-land! by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While hiking the Chimney Rock Trail with a view looking to the northwest and across the Utah high desert in Capitol Reef National Park. My thoughts on composing this image was to take advantage of the high ground I was on and capture a more sweeping view that lead up to the cliff walls and monocline of the Waterpocket Fold. The blue skies and clouds would be that color contrast to complement the earth-tones in the lower portion of the image.

[thorsenmark]

There's Not a Lot of Traffic in Copper Falls State Park by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: I captured this image from the Doughboy's Trail Bridge in Copper Falls State Park with a view extending to the west and upstream as the Bad River flowed by. Given the overcast skies, I chose to angle my Nikon Z8 Mirrorless Camera slightly downward and raise the horizon. I felt that and using a portrait orientation would create more of a sweeping view looking up the river.

[thorsenmark]

Our Time in Voyageurs National Park by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While on a boat tour with the Grand Voyageur Tour in Voyageurs National Park with a view extending to the west-northwest to several unnamed islands on Kabetogama Lake. I wanted to keep a balance between the blue waters and skies above while using the islands and forest of trees as a divider between the two.