#looking ese

Letting Nature Pamper Me with Snapshots of Jasper National Park by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While at a roadside pullout area along Maligne Lake Road with a view looking to the east-southeast. This is in Jasper National Park. My thought on composing this image was to capture a view from a high point I was on along the road, looking down and then across this valley between the mountains. I decided to more or less center that valley and have the nearby forest as a foreground interest. But what really drew me into the setting were the Medicine Lake Slabs off in the distance. I worked to get an angle to bring them higher into the image, while still including some of the blue skies and clouds above. I did some initial post-processing work making adjustments to contrast, brightness and saturation in DxO PhotoLab 6. I then exported a TIFF image to Nik Color Efex Pro 4 where I added a Foliage, Polarization and Pro Contrast filter for that last effect on the image captured.

Discovering the Benefits of Being Outdoors in the Mountains and Amongst the Forest (Blue Ridge Parkway) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A setting looking to the ease-southeast while taking in views from a bridge watching the waters of the Roanoke River flow downstream. This is along the Blue Ridge Parkway just outside of Roanoke, Virginia. My thought in composing this image was to align myself and center the river with the image as a leading line and keeping both hillsides of trees on either side. The blue skies would then be that color contrast to complement the image with earth-tones present in the lower portion.

A Road Leading Me into the Mountains of Jasper National Park by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A setting looking to the east-southeast while at a roadside pullout along the Maligne Lake Road in Jasper National Park. What I wanted to capture with this image was to include the road as it led into the mountains with the nearby forest around. I then zoomed in with the focal length and aligned myself to have this setting fill most of the image, while still having a little bit of blue skies above.

Letting the Mind Wonder While the Body Wanders (Katmai National Park & Preserve) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A view looking to the east-southeast across the waters of Naknek Lake after finishing the Dumpling Mountain Trail. This was along the lake shoreline at Brooks Camp with the ridgelines and peaks of Mount Katolinat and Mount La Gorce off in the distance. With this image, I decided to not angle my Nikon SLR camera downward as I really didn't feel that sweeping view across the lake would add much to the image. The mountains and the mostly cloudy skies had the drama that I felt best captured this setting that afternoon. 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.

Morning Sunlight Casting Shadows Across the Badlands at Panorama Point (Badlands National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: An idea I got from another photographer while planing a trip to Badlands National Park and the nearby Dakotas area. For this image, I used a tripod to mount my Nikon SLR camera and then used a CamRanger so that I could meter and compose the image captured. I found that and then making manual adjustments to the shutter speed gave me better feedback for an image captured. I later used some CEP filters in Capture NX2 (Low Key, Polarization and Graduated Neutral Density) which seemed to best bring colors. shadows and tones even with the bright sunlight as I faced that morning at this overlook point.

Under the Shade of a Tree With Sunlight Shining Down (Montezuma Castle National Monument) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A setting looking up at a nearby tree and then beyond to the skies and sun shining above. This was while walking to the main area and exhibits at the Montezuma Castle National Monument. When I noticed the sun shining down through the trees, I recalled a friend giving me some advice on creating and bringing out more of a starburst look with the sun by closing down on the camera lens aperture. To minimize blowing any highlights present while still being able to bring out the more shadowed areas underneath the trees, I decided to work an angle that used the tree leaves to mask some of the sun’s brightness. 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.

Petrified Logs and Fragments in Blue Mesa (Petrified Forest National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A rather giant chunk of petrified wood on a natural sandstone pedestal I came across while walking the Blue Mesa Trail in Petrified Forest National Park. In composing this image, I decided to use the badlands present as a backdrop while centering this petrified piece of petrified wood more or less in the center of the image. One can see fragments of petrified wood and other rocks scattered across this national park landscape.