I Can't Remember the Title

I had a witty title for this post all figured out earlier today...but alas, it has disappeared into the forgetful recesses of my memory, just like the fact that I needed to put insoles in my hiking boots this morning. By the way, don't hike without insoles. Or without adequate water, for that matter.

I hiked on the Maple Pass Loop trail, which is definitely recommended. Lots of nice flowers and imposing views. And when you come across the spur trail that leads to Lake Ann, take that as well. It's a mostly level 1 mile round trip that passes through some nice floral displays (in addition to the view of the actual lake).

The first image is probably the most interesting lighting wise. But I'm dissatisfied with it for a ket reason: I used a graduated neutral density filter on it, which created an unsightly gradient on the sky and the trees in the upper right hand quarter of the picture. I also took this shot without the filter, and I'll have to play with them both in Lightroom to see which one I can make look the best. As I often do with landscape shots like this, I used a relatively narrow aperture (f/22) and set my focus point to between the flowers and the background (specifically, to slightly more than three feet, I think).

The next one is of Western red columbine, with the same mountain in the background as in the shot above. I used an aperture of f/11 to keep some detail in the background flowers and mountain. The trees ended up a little dark, but I think there's still enough detail to rescue the green color in editing. The only problem is that the picture is a bit tilted. I'm not sure how noticeable that is, but rotating it would lose some of the flowers.

This third one is of pink mountain heather flowers (apparently, according to my book, they're not technically heather...). I like it, except I wanted the out-of-focus branches on the left to stand out more - even f/16 was apparently not enough. As it is, the picture is a bit too monochromatic; all green and no shape. But not horrible. A square crop would probably make the composition better (albeit also more conventional).

This one was taken closer to midday, but is not too bad. It is front-lit, which helped keep the contrast relatively low. It's not as interesting as it would have been at an earlier time of day, but it works, and everything is in focus (f/29 and an in-between focus point). It was such a pretty view that I just couldn't resist an image.

This last one features fireweed and alder of some kind growing in a clearing (avalanche chute?).  I like the lines throughout the image. I used similar focusing tactics to the wide depth-of-field shots earlier in the post (f/22, in-between focus point).

Enjoy what's left of your weekend, everyone!