Old Barn at Sunrise

Old Barn taken on the morning of the next day.  I would like to hear which of the images is preferred by any viewers and why. 

Delapidated Barn - Two different Days

Old dilapidated barn in Pleasant Grove, UT taken during a sleet storm.   Look at the enlarged image and look for the white vertical streaks of falling sleet.    

Final Quaking Aspen Photograph for the Season

One final image of a stand of straight relative smooth Quaking Aspens behind Mount Timpanogas  just before the road was closed for the season.  The road is blocked by gates,  since there is no winter maintenance on the Alpine Loop.  It is inaccessible from November 1st until late May, at least by automobile.

These young trees are straight, tall and smooth unlike other stands made of older trees which are crooked and gnarled.  In this stand, it is the pattern of the vertical trees and not the scar patterns of the bark which are interesting.  I utilized a blue filter to achieve a tonal balance which makes the background dark in this black and white rendering. 

Last of the Yellow Quaking Aspen Leaves

I really love photographs like this.  The image was shot with my 300mm F4 lens of the six top leaves of the small backlit Aspen.  The highlights must not be blown.  I positioned the camera so the the lens was not in direct sunlight and the background was in deep shadows.  I take care to make sure that the red channel is not blown even lowering the exposure in post processing so that the veins in the leaves are visible.

The translucent appearance of the stems as well as the leaves appeals to me.

I look for these scenes.  Often, I decide to use only the 300mm and look settings where this lens will produce this close up effect.

Young Quakies in the Snow

This stand of young Quakies after a late October snow storm.  Notice how the trees are much smoother and straight in this stand.  Soon there will be no winter maintenance on this road so the area will only be accessible on ski's or by snowmobile. 

Stand of Mature Quakies with Background of Young Quakies in Full Color

This is my favorite stand of mature Quakies with the young trees in the background in full fall color.  The sun is high enough and behind the trees so that the background trees are backlit.  I locate my camera putting it behind a large tree to block the direct sunlight from the front of the lens.  There is very little side light so there is very little pesky problem of blown highlights from direct sunlight on white bark.

Dealing with Sunlight White Quaking Aspen Bark Utilizing HDR

In the photograph, I dealt with the sunlight on the white bark of Quaking Aspens using high dynamic range (HDR) imaging.  In this early morning image, seven exposures were captured from -3 to +3 EV, developed in NX2, converted to Jpegs and then imported into Photomatrix Pro.  I developed this image starting with the "natural" preset in PPro to avoid the grunge look.  This scene has close to the 4-5 EV dynamic range.  I generally take a full set of images and then select the set of images where the highlights at the lowest exposure are clearly not blown and the shadows at the other end are not totally black.  I process all the images of the set identically.

Lone Red Maple amongst the Quaking Aspens

This Maple was hidden in a stand of Quakies in an early morning sun.  The Maples turn to fall colors and loose their leaves very quickly so timing is everything.  The white bark of many Aspens presents a difficult photographic challenge in the sunlight.  I find that I need to watch my exposure carefully, adjust the image to not blow highlights and then protect the shadows in NX2.  In this photograph, I am not interested so much in shadows details which simplifies the post processing somewhat.

Panorama of Fall Stand of Quaking Aspens

Panorama of mature Quaking Aspens behind Mt Timpanogas near the Alpine Loop.

Patterns in the Old Quaking Aspens

The is photograph is of a stand of mature Quakies.  As the trees mature over time,  the dark scar patterns become more pronounced and dramatic.  The stand of younger trees in the background are beginning to turn the signature yellow color color of Aspens. 

Quaking Aspens Reflected in a Small Pond

Deer Creek Overlook Panorama of Fall Color at Sunrise

Deer creek overlook at sunrise on a clear morning. I waited for the shadows to just play as I wanted. Enough light to show the entire slope on the right but still have shadows of the ridges. The Maple colors only show of a week of so at this altitude. Spectacular! The Quakies will turn yellow next but the reds will be gone.

Deer Creek Overlook Panorama of Fall Color

This panorama is from the Deer Creek overlook towards the south on a day of storm clouds. Provo Peak is in the center skyline and the southern peak of Mount Timpanogas is just seen on the skyline on the right. I set the F-stop and then determine a reasonable exposure for the entire panorama and set the camera to manual. This is a single row panorama taken with a 35 mm lens.

Mount Timpanogas Sunrise Panorama Version two

Second panorama of an Autumn Timp Sunrise taken about 30 minutes after sunrise. The red color is gone so the light is golden. This panorama is composed of 5 images taken in a single row using a 35 mm lens with the camera in the portrait orientation. I am impressed with the quality of the stitched panorama image, if care is taken to rotate about the lens entrance pupil.

Panorama of Mount Timpanogas at Sunrise

Panorama composed of 8 images in two rows of the north peak of Mount Timpanogas at sunrise. This panorama was taken from the Timpooneke trail head area above the campground. For about ten minutes the color of the peak really is red! This beautiful little meadow is beautiful all time of the year, although I have not visited in the winter. The Alpine loop will be closed for the winter in a few weeks and this place will be accessible only on skis, snowmobiles or dog sled. Yes there are dog sledders here.

Panorama of Fall Stand of Quaking Aspens

Early fall stand of Quaking Aspens along the Alpine Loop behind Mount Timpanogas. This relatively old stand of Quakies with younger trees in the background shows the familiar pattern of black scars in their trunks. I was attracted to these gnarled patterns. This stand could actually be one tree. Quakies come up from the roots. These trees may all be clones.

Bald Eagle Watches over Pass Lake

Bald Eagle watches over Pass Lake in the High Uintas. I didn't see a single trout break the lake surface but he still remained on watch. I had my 70-200 but chose in this shot not to zoom in. I wanted to show the eagle's perch above the lake.

I keep saying don't leave lenses behind. My 300 mm coupled with 1.4 TC would have gotten a pretty good shot of this guy.

First Fall Snow in Utah's High Uintas - Pass Lake

October 8th snow fall in the Uintas. Pass Lake is located just east of the Bald Mountain pass near the Mirror Lake highway about 32 miles east of Kamas, UT. The Bald Eagle mentioned above is in a tree, center right. He sat there long enough for me to change to a longer focal length - still too short.

Uinta reflections just appeal to me. These small lakes are just perfect. They are tucked in amongst the trees which calm the breeze.

First Fall Snow in the High Uintas - Lilly Lake

October 8th and the first real snow storm of the fall for the High Uinta Mountains of northern Utah. This is Lilly lake east of Kamas Utah along the Mirror Lake scenic highway. The lake is at about 10,000 feet just before the Bald Mountain pass (10,760 feet). The road will be maintained for a few more weeks and then become impassable until spring. Earlier in the blog, in the section entitled "Reflections of the Uintas" this lake was shown in early June.

The b&w rendering is great for showing the reflections of the trees in the water.

Three Views of the Scarlet Bugler -- In the Landscape

Another Scarlet Bugler flower by the roadside where the flowers is shown as part of the landscape photograph. Now you can see that this beautiful wildflower is growing high up American Fork canyon. The photograph was shot using a 12-24mm lens at 12 mm and a small aperture to keep the entire scene in focus.

I like the way that the wide angle lens accentuates the near field perspective, so that the flower is the main subject of the photograph but is still shown in context.

Unfortunately, I could not show clearly is that this flower is at a very edge of a 200 foot very steep slope.

Three Views of the Scarlet Bugler -- The Bouquet

I love to photograph wildflowers as bouquets of more than one species of flowers. I do not know the name of the small delicate white wildflower. This photograph shows how the blossoms mature along the raceme. Shown is the progression from new bud to full bugle and finally to the stamen left after the blossom drops.

The flower is growing out of a gray Granite cliff. The Nikon 300mm F4 lens has great bokeh. I had to maneuver so that the entire raceme was at the same depth from the camera so that a wide aperture could be used.

Three Views of the Scarlet Bugler -- The Close-up

The close up. Taken with a 300mm F4 lens of an early Scarlet Bugler at the mouth of American Fork Canyon. The photograph was taken just after a late spring snow storm. The large drops of water function as lenses. Unfortunately, I did not have a macro lens along so I could not capture a true macro image.

I had never photographed the Scarlet Bugler before and thought them rare. The mouth of the canyon is at 4300 feet. The summit of the Alpine Loop, which circumnavigates Mt Timpanogos, is 8060 feet, so as spring matured the flowers were found at higher elevations. Scarlet Buglers were everywhere.

Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge

Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge is located in the far western Utah desert west of Provo, UT and about 25 miles from Utah's Nevada border. FSNWR is a continuously flowing set of natural springs in the center of nowhere. The Federal government has built a series of dikes which create several large shallow ponds. It is a stop over refuge for migrating birds unlike Bosque del Apache which is also a wintering destination.

The springs are at the base of the distant hills behind the refuge sign. From the ground, one would not even know it was there.

The old Pony Express trail went near the springs for obvious reasons. A dirt road marks the trail even today. The trail can still be traversed across Utah and Nevada today.

In February, I was the only visitor. There is a visitor's center staffed by one or more BLM people. I drove around the large ponds on the dikes looking for birds primarily. The longest lens with me was only 200mm, too short, of course, for most birding. I did learn that the many of birds tolerated my getting close whilst in the car but took off if I stopped and got out to photograph. I am going to return soon armed with my 300 mm and 1.4 TC. I also purchased a bean bag and have practiced photographing from the car window.

Flock of Ducks

There were some birds in abundance. Ducks and Coots were in several of the ponds.

Swans

Group of four Swans, I chased around the refuge. Stay in the car and get a longer lens. The mountains with some snow cover makes a great backdrop. These guys were quiet unlike the Canada geese I have photographed often.

The refuge published a listing of bird likely bird populations versus time of the year. I will wait until the first frost to return when the knats are gone.

Fish Springs is at least 80 miles from the nearest cell phone tower, so its either no telephone or satellite phone. The claims of 95% coverage for wireless, is for population count and not land area.

Backyard Zinnias

If I wish to isolate a flower, I often look for well lit blossoms with a dark background. Moreover, flowers with a strong red color content can be problematic for digital cameras. I use spot metering and under expose the image. I always shoot flowers in raw and then adjust the exposure in the raw file, checking the red channel, for this flower, to avoid blown red highlights. The objective is to retain as much detail in the texture of the petals whilst retaining accurate color rendition.

I chose a late afternoon sunlit setting, the Golden Hour. The bright light and long shadows enhance the texture and detail of the petals. These images were shot at 200 mm and an aperture of F2.8 - 3.5 which further isolates the blossom.

Hummingbird at 1/3200 second

Plenty of light and a 1/3200 second shutter speed but still not enough to stop action the wings, but close as the wings change direction. Since they hover, I got more keepers that I expected. What marvelous birds.

I am really surprised to see that Hummingbirds are attracted to Zinnias! There is a Hummingbird feeder in this backyard setting that the birds completely ignored. In the space of 20 minutes there were multiple visits by more than one Hummingbird. Two were there at one point in time. One of the birds chased the second bird off. "This is my territory!"

Harvesting Nectar

Most of the petals of this blosson are long gone but apparently the nectar is not. There was a lot of light but not enough to stop action the wings, but got this shot of the bird drinking nectar.

Backyard Zinnias and Visitors

Zinnias are a beautiful and hardy late summer flower. I did non realize that they are a favorite of hummingbirds. While photographing flowers in the late afternoon light this little fellow came to visit. At on point in time he hovered no more than three feet in front of me looking me over. The shutter speed for the image on the left was 1/640 second, not fast enough to stop the motion of the wings.

Portraits in the Poppies

All of these family portraits were taken in the evening golden hour when the contrast of the sunlit portions of the photographs is not too high. The poppies do not bloom all at once, so that new blossoms appear over a matter of two or three weeks. The flowers are mixed in with Sage brush, trees, June grass and bushes. Beautiful setting are found in many places. It is common for several groups to be there taking photographs. What a place!

Portraits in the Poppies

Family Portraits in the Poppies

Portraits in the Poppies

Poppies at Sunrise

Just one of the bunches of Poppies looking east into the sun rising over the mountains. The poppies are in patches like this mixed in with the surrounding trees, grasses and Sage brush. Pick a time, find a place and choose a composition to show this beautiful place off.

Glowing Poppy

The 'Glowing' flower effect achieved by layering two versions of the image, one the original the second a blurred version of the same photo brightened with increased saturation.

Poppies Gone Wild

This abandoned stone farm house was built in the mid 1800's in the town of Alpine Utah which is located in far northern Utah county. The owners planted red poppies which have spread in the area around the home. They bloom in June when the grasses are green before the dry period of late summer. The bright red blossoms contrast with the surrounding grasses and sage brush to provide many attractive photo opportunities.

This view is looking to the northwest. The second image is looking directly to the north at Lone Peak which forms the border between Utah and Salt Lake Counties. In June there is still a lot of snow on the mountain peaks.

The city of Alpine owns this property and maintains it as a hiking area which will not be developed.

Upper Provo River Falls

These falls in the upper Provo River art located in the high Uinta mountains, 80 miles east of Provo Utah. The Provo river runs from the west end of the Uinta mountains near Bald Mountain to Provo Utah where is empties into Utah Lake. Since Utah lake empties into the Great Salt lake to the north, the waters of this river never reach the ocean.

This is high alpine country. The river starts from Bald Mountain at an altitude above 11,000 feet. These falls are at about 10,000 feet.

As with all the photographs in this section, the falls were shot with a neutral density filter to slow the shutter speed. The eddy currents in the pool at the base of the falls are especially attractive to me.

Cascade Springs behind Mount Timpanogos

Cascade Springs is a unique environment for northern Utah. It is a spring fed area of several acres situated behind Mount Timpanogos in Utah's Wasatch mountain range. A group of small springs, which flow freely at a constant rate year around, results in very lush greenery in what is a semi arid area, especially in summer. The area is home to many species of wildflowers and wildlife such as moose, elk and deer.

Moss on Rocks

This little stream in American Fork Canyon is almost always in the shade. Natural springs in the mountain side to the right keep the bank perpetually moist so moss grows on the rocks and banks all year. The kind of setting typical of the northwest in the US is not common in the mountains of Utah. Long shutter speed achieved by using a ND4 filter.

Spring Run Off Falls in American Fork Canyon

This beautiful little water fall in American Fork Canyon exists only in the late winter and early spring. By late June the snows melt and the falls disappear. Shot with a neutral density filter (ND4) and high F number to achieve shutter speeds greater than two seconds. Shot at 12mm to exaggerate to perspective of the stones at the bottom of the falls.

Uinta Reflections

The Uinta Mountains east of Salt Lake City are filled with several small lakes. Often in the morning and evening, when the air is calm, there are simply stunning reflections produced by the glass smooth surface of the lake waters of surrounding trees, mountains and sky in this high alpine area.

The Uinta mountain range is the only East-West mountain range in the US. It extends for 150 miles along the southern border of Wyoming with Utah. The range contains all of the peaks in Utah above 13,000 feet including Kings Peak, the highest elevation in Utah. The Uinta's differ from the Wasatch mountain range just east of Salt lake City and Provo Utah. Salt Lake City rests at an elevation of 4200 feet and the Wasatch mountain peak at around 11,500 feet. Consequently, the Wasatch range is spectacular as viewed from the west. The peaks rise over 7000 feet from the valley floor!

The peaks in the Uinta's are higher than those of the Wasatch mountains, but they rise only about 3,000 feet from the surrounding 9,000 to 10,000 ft high alpine 'Basins'. Spring comes late and everything remains green for the entire summer. The air is cool and clear because of the altitude. A great place of the study of reflection on glass like lake surfaces.

The Canoe and Rock at Moosehorn Lake

This is a photograph of Moosehorn Lake. The foothills of Bald Mountain are to the left. The glass like water surface was in this small cove. I chose a view which shows the details of the rock and the canoe with their reflections in the surface of the water.

Morning Reflections on Lilly Lake

Sunrise on Lilly lake which is located west of the Bald Mountain pass. My objective here was to capture this photograph when the sunrise had not reached the surface of the water. The crisp clear calm air enhances the natural coloring of this scene.