#azimuth 56

[johnnyslittleanimalblog]

Brown Bears Hanging out at Brooks Falls (Katmai National Park & Preserve) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: I captured this image at the Falls Platform with a view looking to the northeast at the Brooks Falls while observing brown bears in Katmai National Park. It was the first time I had a chance to get up close on this observation platform since a trip several years back...I was quite happy to be back again!

[thorsenmark]

Mountain Peaks Beyond Some Nearby Trees by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: This was captured at Washington Pass in Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest. In order to capture this image, I had to try to maneuver myself around the large rocks and boulders at this overlook point. What I wanted to capture was to use the nearby trees as "look beyond," so to speak. I then worked the aperture and shutter speed to get that good enough exposure between some brighter highlighted areas of the nearby trees with the sunlight reflecting off of it and some of the more shadowed areas of the mountainside off in the distance. What I was also attempting to do was not have all of the image filled with the far-off mountainsides, but rather balanced with some of the blue skies and white, puffy clouds above.

[thorsenmark]

Wanderings of the Pigeon River Along the Border by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: I captured this image with a view extending to the northeast while walking along the High Falls Via Falls Trail. The setting is in Grand Portage State Park and along the Pigeon River which is the border between the United States (Minnesota) and Canada (Ontario). My thought as I composed this image was to focus on the calm waters with its many reflections and the trees and short bushes all around this park between two nations. I was drawn in the tranquility of the setting.

[thorsenmark]

Shark River Slough and a Prairie of Sawgrass (Everglades National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: Along the Shark Valley Loop in Everglades National Park with a view extending to the northeast across a sawgrass prairie and freshwater slough. My thought in composing this image was to have a wide-angle focal length and raise the horizon higher into the image, creating more of a sweeping view across this national park landscape.

[thorsenmark]

A Lone Contrail Streaks Across the Skies Over Some Nearby Hoodoos (Bryce Canyon National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A setting looking to the northeast while walking the Queens Garden Trail and taking in views across hoodoos and other eroded formations present in Bryce Canyon National Park. What drew me into this setting was the backdrop of the blue skies and that one lone contrail that seemingly cut across the skies. 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]

Savoring Views of the Black Canyon While Hiking the Warner Point Nature Trail (Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A view looking to the northeast of the canyon with a little sliver of the river flowing downstream. Even though I did angle my Nikon SLR camera slightly downward to capture more of a sweeping view across this canyon and gorge, I was still able to include some of the blue skies above and distant peaks of the West Elk Mountains. I initially used Nikon ViewNXi to export a TIFF image with minimal processing of only a landscape setting and white balance. I then worked with DxO PhotoLab 3 to finish up post-processing by making adjustments to saturation, brightness and contrast.

[thorsenmark]

Images Alone Are Certain Good, But Being There Is Betterer! (Grand Canyon National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A view looking to the northeast while at the overlook at Duck On A Rock Viewpoint in Grand Canyon National Park. I pulled in on the focal length and angled my Nikon SLR camera slightly downward in order to capture a more sweeping view across the eroded formations, temples, and buttes. The idea in composing the image was to have the namesake rock formation a little left of center in the image but use that as a layered approach to then leading the eye into the Grand Canyon itself with all its wondrous formations.

[thorsenmark]

Mountain Peaks Beyond Some Nearby Trees (Black & White) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A conversion to black & white using Silver Efex Pro 2 where I used some color filters to bring out a much richer tonal contrast for the final image. Captured at Washington Pass with a view looking to the northeast in Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest.