The first image looks down the South Fork Stillaguamish River from a little beach at the end of the trail. The trees in the background are a bit dark, but not so dark that they couldn't be salvaged in editing - I had to split the difference between underexposing them and overexposing the water. Speaking of exposure, you probably noticed that I used a long shutter speed to blur the water. True enough - although I didn't want to blur it too much. I originally tried 1 or 2 seconds (I can't remember exactly), but that blurred the water too much and made it looked too smooth and tranquil. I wanted to convey a different feeling and communicate the choppiness of the rapids there. 1/3 of a second did the trick.
Next is a closeup of some moss on a branch. I tried a variety of compositions; this one, the closest, ended up being the best. I am not sure what kind of moss is featured in the image; perhaps I will look it up later, although identifying moss can be tricky for an amateur like yours truly. I used f/4.2 to isolate areas of focus on the moss.
Speaking of moss, here is a landscape of mossy trees along the trail. Winter is a double-edged sword when it comes to landscapes of mossy trees. Since the leaves are gone from branches and bushes, the mossy shapes beneath are easier to see. On the other hand, however, the dead leaves and bare salmonberry twigs on the forest floor and in the understory can be a distracting element. I had to crop this images to eliminate as much of that as possible. F/16 to put all of the tree trunks in focus.
And, lastly, two images of the old lime kiln itself. The kiln was used to fire limestone into lime, which was used to build the Everett & Monte Cristo Railroad. I wanted to highlight, with both compositions, the mossy growth that has emerged both on and around the kiln.
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