25 Mar 15. The three days we spent in Grand Tetons Nation Park back in 2007 were primarily days of rain interrupted by brilliant sunlight poking down through the clouds. The combination of the sunlight punching through the dark clouds made for some amazing images with colors that were hard to believe while we were watching and likely even harder to believe when seen in a photo taken in that light when you weren't there to observe firsthand. Today's submission is just one such image. Some of the aspen groves were in full yellow while we were there and when seen in that harsh lighting were almost unbelievable, but we did see it and likely will never forget it. What makes it real is that the grass and trees are green in the image and although it may be hard to believe if you are not one of us who work with digital images, the color "green" in most photos is primarily made up of yellow. Thus, if the yellow of the leaves had been manipulated to look like they do, the greens in the image would have shifted to yellow also. This was one of those "you had to be there at the right moment" shots as this intense golden color lasted for less than 5 minutes. Then the clouds moved, and everything got dull and ugly with the rain commencing once again. But at least we got the 5 minutes!! The base image was adjusted for max tonal range, and then given a wee bit of micro contrast adjustment. Nikon D200; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/320 sec @ f / 8.
26 Mar 15. Today's Theatrical Thursday's submission is another shot of Ludlow Falls, but this time as an oil painting. This was taken on our second visit to the falls and to my surprise there was more water flowing this time - March vs January - than there had been on the previous trip but without the area having received a greater amount of precipitation. I'm thinking this could be a great area to visit year round. Nothing much more to say about these falls that I haven't said previously. The base image was adjusted for max tonal range, given a tiny amount of micro contrast adjustment, and then run against a oil painting filter. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1 sec @ f / 29 on a tripod.
27 Mar 15. Heading out the other morning early I encountered a bit of fog which also meant that I was seeing lots of little drops of water hanging onto just about anything possible along with a slight breeze moving everything of a small nature. A tree in a local parking lot provided an opportunity to shoot some drops of dew hanging from a red branch and also reflecting the tiny limbs nearby. I took a few shots at different angles trying to compensate for the movement which although not much, was magnified by the closeness of the subject to the lens. This was my favorite of the group. It isn't as sharp as I would have liked, but if you move back about 36 inches from the screen it will be acceptable sharp, sorta like looking at a billboard from the road. I took the base image, cropped it for best composition, did a bit of detail extraction on the dew drops, then added a tiny bit of micro contrast boost. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/500 sec @ f / 7.1.
