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.