The first two images come courtesy of Washington Pass along the North Cascades Highway. When I arrived, to my dismay, the road to the viewpoint was still closed. Nevertheless, there were still some photographic possibilities to be had. The first image represents the view from the highway (there was still enough room in the turnout to pull over and park. I didn't stand in the road to take pictures, Mom). The second image represents the view from the road to the viewpoint - I walked around the road closure gate and walked a ways. The trail to the true viewpoint was still under several feet of snow, but the road was already clear, and I didn't see any harm in strolling up to take a few pictures. Many other travelers pulled over at the pass, but didn't walk past the closure gates - in contrast to October, when the road was closed due to the government shutdown, and people were swarming past the gates.
I don't like including gray, cloudy sky in my compositions as a general rule, because it ends up looking whitish and bland. I did it this time primarily because I had no choice. The fact that clouds obscured parts of the mountaintops (Liberty Bell and the Early Winters Spires) helps, though, as does the fact that the clouds weren't too bright.
Next, a view of the Methow River from the Lost River Road, near Mazama. There were a number of pullouts with views of the river, but this one had the best view of the snowy mountain in the distance (not sure which peak it is). I used a narrow aperture, f/22, for two reasons - to get everything in focus, and to enable a relatively long shutter speed (1/3 second) to blur the water. The exposure for this one was tough, despite the fact that it was late in the evening. The rapids at the bottom are a bit overexposed, but I think that could be remedied in Lightroom. I used a polarizing filter to deepen the blue of the sky and cut some of the glare coming off the river.
This one comes from an adjacent pullout; I wanted to frame the mountain with the cottonwood trees growing along the far side of the river. The mountain is a bit more obscured than I would prefer, but this was the best I could do. I used a polarizing filter, again to darken the sky, and an aperture of f/16 to make sure everything was in focus.
Finally, two images of Eightmile Creek, which flowed right alongside my campsite - which, by the way, was probably the nicest campsite in which I've stayed thus far on any of my photography camping trips. Lots of nice trees, bushes, and nice views of the creek. (I will say that the campsite at Kamiak Butte where I usually stay is also nice. It's more bushy and private, but it doesn't have a creek.)
I used apertures of f/20 and f/25, and exposure times of 1/2 and 1/3 of a second, respectively. I set my tripod up on a rock in the creek for a more direct perspective. This only happened, though, after I inadvertently sent my tripod in for a brief swim. A good reminder to always be careful when photographing in and around water!
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