Bluff Trail, Montaña de Oro State Park, California
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from United States

seen from Syria
seen from United States

seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States

seen from United Kingdom
seen from United Kingdom
seen from Chile
seen from Georgia
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Türkiye

seen from Malaysia
seen from Germany
Bluff Trail, Montaña de Oro State Park, California
Getting Travel Advice from the Welcome Center of a Forest (Congaree National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A view of some the surrounding forest I came across while walking the Bluff Trail in Congaree National Park.
Getting Outside Through Photos (Congaree National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: Views looking through a nearby forest while walking the Bluff Trail.
The Best Moments in Life Are Spent Outside (Congaree National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: Yes, one can also call the caption for this image “forest bathing,” given the tall loblolly pine trees all around me that morning while walking the Bluff Trail in Congaree National Park.
Everything Under the Sun and So Much to Explore! (Congaree National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: An image captured while walking the Bluff Trail in Congaree National Park. It was at this road crossing that I came across this more open area and decided to use the road ahead as a leading line leading off into the forest with the tall loblolly pine trees all around. As part of post-production, I made some selective adjustments to contrast, saturation, and brightness before cropping some of the upper and bottom portions of the image for a wide angle, panoramic feel to the setting.
Get Outside and Go Walking (Congaree National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A forested setting along the Bluff Trail in Congaree National Park not long after leaving the visitor center area. It was at this point that I came across this spot with the trail to my front where the sun was somewhat coming through the canopy of tree leaves. I decided to take advantage of that in order to not have the sun be too bright and blow any highlights, while still being able to later pull out the shadowed areas in post-processing. But the real focus of this image (other than just being a beautiful setting) was closing down on the aperture to f/18 on my Nikon SLR camera in order to bring out the distinct starburst look with the sun. For post-production work, I then worked with control points and color control points in Capture NX2 to bring out the contrast, saturation and brightness I wanted. I finally added a Foliage and Sunshine CEP filter to give that little bit extra for the final image.
Winter In The Canyon
Winter In The Canyon
The Bluff Trail In Sabino Canyon — Panorama by kenneThe bluff trail runs a short distance from Sabino Canyon Road to Sabino Creek.
View On WordPress
My Travel Paintings - Congaree National Park Under Tall Trees by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: Getting Face-to-Face Help from the Friendly Trees of Congaree. I captured this image while walking under tall Loblolly Pine trees while walking the Bluff Trail one Sunday morning in Congaree National Park. I uploaded the image here on Flickr (www.flickr.com/photos/14723335@N05/48450291857/in/album-7...). There was something magical about looking up with the tall trees all around and coming together likes spokes on a wheel that day. That’s the story behind this image and forest bathing, if you will. As for painting this image, I tried to keep it simple using a thicker brush stroke for the trees to use as the basis for where I’d have the leaves. I then blended some other wood-like colors to give it what I get was a more natural look. I then used layers, on tope and below, to paint the leaves with varying shades and hues of yellow and green. The last part was painting the skies and adding a look to vary that blue with greens and darker blues with some clouds. In the left center foreground of the painting, you'll find that stick figure image of me "hiking" with my Cubbies hat, loving my time exploring the bottomland hardwood forest of Congaree National Park in South Carolina :-)