#looking wnw

[thorsenmark]

I Like Starting My Day with a View of Mount Wilbur (Glacier National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While staying at the Many Glacier Hotel and a view looking to the west-northwest across the waters of Swiftcurrent Lake to ridges and peaks of the Northern Lewis Range and Continental Divide. This is in Glacier National Park. I decided to center the mountainside and peak in the image with a leveled-on view. I later worked with control points in DxO PhotoLab 6 and then made some adjustments to bring out the contrast, saturation and brightness I wanted for the final image.

[thorsenmark]

A Morning Glory Along the Shores of Rainy Lake by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A setting extending to the west-northwest while taking in views across the waters of Rainy Lake around the area of International Falls, Minnesota. With earlier captured images, I had zoomed in with the focal length as I was watching bald eagles around the island in the image center. Here I pulled back to include some foreground interest with a nearby shoreline, as well as the lake waters itself. One can see the very distant shoreline on the other side with the Canadian border in Ontario.

[thorsenmark]

A Walk Amongst the Forests in Voyageurs National Park by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A setting extending to the west-northwest while taking in views as I enjoyed a walk and hike along the Oberholtzer Trail in Voyageurs National Park. This is located in the Rainy Lake portion. What I wanted to do in capturing this image was to focus on the trail I had just walked while angling my Nikon Z8 Mirrorless Camera slightly downward. I felt that would help to bring more of a focus to hiking trail and have the forest of trees, seemingly all around me by not including their upper portions. The rest was later making adjustments with control points in DxO PhotoLab 9 to bring out the contrast, saturation and brightness I wanted for the final image.

[thorsenmark]

Looking at Wildflowers While Enjoying Views of Mount Saskatchewan (Banff National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: Here I backed up after finding this patch of fireweed. I wanted to include it in the image...kind of like the river and mountains were the idyllic backdrop to appreciate wildness of nature.

[thorsenmark]

Ready for That Peace by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A setting looking to the west-northwest while taking in views across meadow present at Bruhel Point. This was at a parking area pullout at along the Pacific Coast Highway. What I wanted to capture with this image was a look across the meadow to the waves coming into the shore along the Pacific coastline. By angling my Nikon SLR camera slightly downward, I felt I was able to create more of a sweeping view leading up to the horizon. That in turn would bring the horizon a little higher into the image and minimize what I felt was more of a negative space with the blue skies above.

[thorsenmark]

Make Time (Indiana Dunes National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A look back to the west-northwest across the waves and waters of Lake Michigan as they were rushing to the shore in this part of Indiana Dunes National Park. I was heading off to start the walk along the Dune Succession Trail. Hearing the rushing waters with the wind blowing was a definite draw, and what I wanted to capture with this image. For post-production, I then decided to once again try out the sky replacement setting in Photoshop with this image. The sunset colors with the clouds definitely seemed appropriate for this national park setting in what I had wanted to experience in person. 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 4 and then made some adjustments to bring out the contrast, saturation and brightness I wanted for the final image.

[thorsenmark]

Early Morning View of Trees at Nuttall Parking (New River National Park & Preserve) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A view looking to tree tops and blue skies above while in a parking area at a trailhead that I was to hike shortly after taking this photo .

[thorsenmark]

Tucked in Off the Beaten Path by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: An unnamed creek I came across in the Ouachita National Forest with a view looking downstream to the west-northwest. In someways, I was using that storm-surged creek as a leading line through the forest, but I was really more focused on the autumn colors present in the leaves. Given the overcast skies present, I was able to meter for those leaves and not have to think about any blown highlights. 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.