#looking wsw

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Waterfall Roaring in a Seemingly Endless Cascade Down a Mountainside (Lassen Volcanic National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A cascade waterfall I came across on the return portion of the Kings Creek Falls Trail in Lassen Volcanic National Park. The view is looking to the west-southwest. In composing this image, I chose to center the waterfall and use the canyon walls around it to frame the setting. I had to watch the exposure as there was a large dynamic range between the right portion of the image caught in sunlight with the left portion in shadows. The rest was evaluating the images that I captured until I found one that seemed to have that exposure and look I wanted.

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Roanoke River and a View Along the Blue Ridge Parkway by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: From an overlook along the Blue Ridge Parkway and bridge crossing of the Roanoke River, The view is looking upstream and to the west-southwest. In composing this image, I angled my Nikon Z8 Mirrorless Camera slightly down where to create more of a sweeping view. I also chose to use the river as a leading line as it cut through this forested and Blue Ridge Mountains landscape. The rest was later making adjustments with control points in DxO PhotoLab 7 to bring out the contrast, saturation and brightness I wanted for the final image.

[thorsenmark]

Blue Skies Over Ridges and Peaks in the Mojave Desert by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A setting looking to the northwest while taking in views across the Mojave Desert setting at a roadside pullout along California State Route 127.

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When I Close My Eye, I Dream About Mountains (Joshua Tree National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While at Keys View and looking to the west-southwest across a mountain desert landscape with some snow still present from a recently storm. This is in Joshua Tree National Park. My thought on composing this image was to take advantage of the dead, fallen tree and use that to add to the setting in the image captured with the ridges and more distant snowcapped peaks of several mountain ranges in southern California. With the sun behind me, I felt I was able to capture more details, from near to far, including more in the peaks of the San Gorgonio Mountain and San Jacinto Mountains. The rest of the image composition was then a matter of aligning myself to find that angle with the tree, ridges, and mountain peaks. 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]

Mount Athabasca and Hilda Peak (Icefields Parkway) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: This is the view one can let soak in next to the Parker Ridge pullout near the boundary of Banff and Jasper National Parks. For me, this image is about the whole of the view including Mount Athabasca and Hilda Peak. I also found the image a nice change in color contrast. There's the greens of the evergreen forest and then the browns of the mountainside. Finally there's the blues and whites of the skies above.

[thorsenmark]

Blue Skies Over Ridges and Peaks in the Mojave Desert by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A setting looking to the northwest while taking in views across the Mojave Desert setting at a roadside pullout along California State Route 127.

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A Field of Yellow Daisies (Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While enjoying a roadside stop along Cascade River Road at Monogram Creek, I found it quite easy to wander around taking in views of some nearby trees that reminded me of the Hoh Rainforest in the Hall of Mosses. Here though, I stopped to take in the small patch of yellow daisies. Composing the image was merely a matter of finding that angle where I could capture a view sweeping across the tops and making it seem like it stretched on and on. I decided to then find a point about a third away across the image to focus while opening up the lens aperture.

[thorsenmark]

Details in the Waters Falling (Olallie State Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While many of the other images captured that afternoon at Lower Twin Falls focused on a longer shutter speed, I did feel the want and desire to capture those small details with a quicker shutter speed on these waters falling. The tentacle of water still comes out for the image, but the focus is much more on the details of the water.