Several Splendid Summer Sunset Skies

So I made another trip to Birch Bay, and was treated to one of the more colorful sunsets I've seen in a while, as well as choppier waves than I've seen there yet (or anywhere for a while). The first, from a few minutes after sunset, is probably my favorite. The clouds had turned a quite lovely color and some virga was starting to come down from them. Without further ado, here they are:

On an earlier day, I explored a spot by the Nooksack River to take some sunset pictures. The most interesting image, though, came a bit after sunset, when afterglow was still lighting the scene (especially Mount Baker). I used a wide aperture for this one, f/6.3, by default, since I couldn't get the whole scene in focus even with a narrow setting (the rocks were too close).

I'm not sure if I like it compositionally, but the colors are cool. Ideally, the rocks wouldn't be lined up in the center the way they are here. It might be worth a return visit to retry some similar compositions - now that I am familiar with the location, I'd be able to set up a shot more carefully. Anyway, here it is:

Next, a shot of the river and Baker from a bit earlier. While a wide depth of field worked better, the image isn't as striking overall. F/22.

This one was earlier in the evening, and I liked the warm color of the last bit of sunlight on the trees. F/20. This one took some trial and error with the polarizing filter - if I polarized it all the way, the blue of the sky became quite uneven and unsightly, so I had to back off a bit.

Summer in the Mountains

The inaugural post of summer 2015 will celebrate - what else - mountains! I made a trip up to the Chain Lakes trail, hoping to find some vanage points that I would be able to access at good lighting times of this sunny day (within roughly four hours of sunrise and sunset). Remarkably, wildflowers are peaking in the area, and Artist Point itself has much less snow than it did when I visited in late July last year. What a crazy weather year!

First is a shot of Mount Baker (bottom left) and some cool-looking cumulus clouds. I didn't notice these cloud forms at first - I had been working on a decidedly much less interesting perspective of Baker and, when finished, looked around at the sky after I had packed up. A good reminder to always look up and around you when hiking and at vantage points!

Next, an image of Mazama Lake, one of the Chain Lakes. I noticed that the lake reflected a lot more color when the wind was blowing, so for this shot I did the opposite of what I usually do and waited for a breeze to blow. The sunlight enabled me to use a shutter speed of 1/50 second and keep the heather flowers sharp.

Here is a closer shot of some gone-to-seed pasque flower (Anemone occidentalis) with Mt. Shuksan in the background. I found these on the trail up from Bagley Lakes to Herman Saddle. I used f/6.3 to blur the mountain while still keeping it distinguishable.

Below is a view down Bagley Creek with some Sitka valerian flowers in the foreground.

Below is a view from the slope between Ptarmigan Ridge and the lakes, into the Wells Creek drainage. I used a graduated ND filter to darken the sky and reduce contrast.

Below is a shot of some Sitka valerian and mountain spirea with Upper Bagley Lake in the background. Again, this one was taken while a slight breeze was blowing, increasing the sun reflections on the water. I used f/25 to get as much in focus as I could.

Next, two close-ups. The first is what I think is a color variant of small-flowered paintbrush (Castilleja parviflora) given the leaf shape and color. F/4.5.

Next is leatherleaf saxifrage, or Leptarrhena pyrofolia. I think that what I have photographed here are the fruits rather than the flowers. I saw a lot of these plants near lakes and streams.

Finally, the view of Mount Baker from Herman Saddle. I'm not all that enthused about this photograph because the lighting/contrast is rather poor, this image being taken at midday. However, I still wanted to share that great view.

Happy summer!

Another Sunset and a First!

I made a return visit to Birch Bay State Park the other day because it's such a nice place to see a sunset. As it was a Friday night, the beach was rather busy, but people were generally quite friendly, and the beach was certainly big enough to accommodate both other beachgoers and my own search for vantage points. The largest distraction was probably the hunger-inducing smells of people's picnics.

First is a view of the sunset through a big ol' piece of driftwood. I had to break out the heavy artillery for this one and use my ultra-wide lens. I used f/22 because I wanted to produce the sun rays you see here, as well as maximizing my area of focus. It's already edited - the contrast on this shot was quite high, and wasn't presentable in the camera's JPEG form. Editing from the RAW file, I was able to recover some of the shadows without blowing out the sunset itself.

Next is a view of the sunset itself. It's a bit more generic, but I still like it, and like the slight water blur I got at 1/13 of a second. Again, the sun rays you see are due to a narrow aperture, f/25.

Lastly, my first-ever wildlife photograph: a bald eagle that some kind beachgoers pointed out to me! I would have liked to zoom up closer, but my lens only goes up to 200mm - I haven't invested in anything more because I typically don't do wildlife! Who knows, though. I was lucky in this shot because the eagle stood quite still, basically posing for me. Anyway, if you want to see some real bird photography, explore the work of my friend Tyler Hartje. But here's my picture:

Discovery Park Trip

The fireweed are blooming at Discovery Park! First, a closeup. I've done a similar composition before (see the first photo in this post from last year). Today's, however, has the advantage of the sunrise light and thus more interesting coloration. F/6.3 to keep recognizable form in the rest of the flower.

Next, another relatively close shot of fireweed flowers that turned out well. F/4.

Next is a closeup of ocean spray flowers. The contrast between the shaded background and the bright flowers was enough to make the background look black, which I think is a somewhat cool effect here.  Thankfully, the sunlight was filtered by some high clouds, helping prevent overexposure. F/4.5.

A slightly less close shot of some ocean spray. F/5.

Below is a wider shot of the fireweed right at sunrise. I've done compositions from this spot quite similar in concept to this one, but I think this particular one uses the space better, not requiring any drastic cropping like this one did. I was closer to the closest stalk in this case, and thus was able to convey a better sense of depth.

For the last two, I did a little experiment in perspective. I did some wider shots looking up at fireweed stalks, which is not something I can remember doing before. I think the first is the stronger of the two, due to the cloud positioning, but I like both of these compositions. F/22 and F/25 for maximum depth of field.

Down to the Last Drop

Last night, I paid a visit to Birch Bay State Park, hoping to find a sunset. My instincts were correct, especially since, at least this time of year, you can watch the sun set all the way to the horizon, unobstructed by any nearby mountains or islands. Tip: If you visit this park, be sure to have your Discover Pass or your day pass - the rangers were checking!

First, we have some yarrow in the foreground. My intention for this shot was for it to not be a straight silhouette, but to have some discernible detail in the flowers themselves. I think this image works in that regard, and would even more so upon editing. F/5.6.

Next, I couldn't resist a straight-on shot of the sunset, just before the last bit of the sun dipped below the horizon. I think it turned out rather well, and I'm particularly pleased with the way the orange shows up on the water. There's a bit of pincushion distortion visible on the horizon, but it's not too severe in this shot and will be pretty simple to correct.

Lastly, a shot of a wave a bit after sunset. I'm not so sure about the square crop - I don't think square crops lend themselves as well to landscapes as rectangular crops - but it was what ended up fitting the composition best. I used a shutter speed of 1/5 of a second to blur the water a bit.

Some Proper Mountains

Yesterday's trip took me up the Mt. Baker Highway to the Hannegan Pass trail. It was a very sunny day, which actually proved a bit troublesome (sunny days = high contrast), particularly since I hadn't prepared adequately and thus didn't get out the door as early in the morning as I would have liked. I thus found myself photographing while the light was worsening, and didn't any photographs from the pass/end of the trail itself because they would have coincided with midday when the lighting is worst. Oh, well, many lessons learned.

On the way there, I stopped at a spot on the access road that features a view of Mt. Shuksan over what I think is a channel of the North Fork Nooksack River. I've been here before, and I think I identified the waterway incorrectly as Ruth Creek. The first image looks at Shuksan itself.

The next two feature the water itself in the foreground. For some reason, these compositions aren't as compelling as I had envisioned, but I thought I post them anyway. I think part of it is that the water still looks like it has glare, even with the polarizing filter. We'll have to see what can be done in Lightroom to improve color and contrast. I used shutter speeds of 1/2 second and 1/3 second, respectively.

Next, the landscapes from the Hannegan Pass Trail itself, in the morning before the sun got too high. Below is a view of Ruth Mountain and the valley of its eponymous creek, with paintbrush in the foreground.

Next we have some cow parsnip (Heracleum lanatum) with part of Nooksack Ridge in the background. I think this one turned out rather well despite the high contrast of the sunshine.

Pictured below is a peak that was unnamed on my map. With the leaves framing it, and the lack of snow on the mountain, this image almost connotes "jungle." I suppose the lower and middle elevations of the Cascades are jungles in their own way.

Once the sun was too high to do any landscapes, I made some closeups in what shaded areas I could find. This first one features miner's lettuce in the foreground (Claytonia perfoliata) with Pacific bleeding heart (Dicentra formosa) in the background. F/5.

This is one that I don't think I've photographed before: Fendler's waterleaf (Hydrophyllum fendleri). F/5.

Finally, columbine (Aquilegia formosa). I thought that the sun-dappled background, if I managed to blur it enough, might be interesting, with its different shades of green. This composition probably would have been better with just a solid green background, because that would have detracted less emphasis from the flowers themselves. As it stands, though, I think this was a decent use of the conditions at hand. I used F/8 to preserve some recognizable shape in the background flower.

Larrabee Trip

The weather was so nice last night that I couldn't resist making a quick sunset trip to Larrabee State Park. Clear skies promised a good sunset and the air was fairly still, making compositions involving leaves and branches more of a possibility. For this first one, I used F/22 to put everything into focus.

Next is an image from right after sunset. I used a shutter speed of 1/2 second to blur the water a bit and give the scene a more tranquil feeling. As far as geography is concerned, I'm not 100% sure what islands those are; I should have brought a map. Whatever is roughly west or southwest of Larrabee.

An Island Day!

For a bit of a change of pace from last week's wilderness adventures, I headed this time for two island destinations - Ebey's Landing on Whidbey Island and Deception Pass State Park on Fidalgo Island. The weather was great for photography - not too breezy, and overcast but still bright. Occasionally the sun would intrude, but the weather stayed remarkably consistent for most of the day. It had been a while since I'd visited Ebey's Landing, and I wanted to give it another try. Moreover, I'd never been to Deception Pass in late May - I usually go in mid- or late April - so I wanted to see what I could find there as well.

We'll begin with the photographs from Ebey's Landing. First is a closeup of fiddleneck (genus Amsinckia). The WNPS plant list for Ebey's Landing lists four varieties of Amsinckia in the area and I am not sure which this is. In any case, I used f/3.8 to maximize the selective focus effect.

Second, we have fool's onion (Brodiaea hyacinthina). I stopped down to f/5.6 to get a bit more of the flowers in focus than the widest setting would have provided.

Below is a small lupine bloom, at f/7.1 to get a bit more form in the background leaves and flower. I think it's one of my better lupine closeups to date.

Last, not quite as close up, is what looks like a variety of geranium, with the fields of the historic reserve area in the background. I used f/8 to get a bit more definition in those fields and make the color bands come through.

Next, we'll transition to some more landscape-ish shots from Ebey's Landing. This one looks more or less northwest from one of the trailheads; the flowers in the foreground are again what looks like some sort of geranium (or perhaps a couple different varieties, if the pink and white aren't variants of the same species). I used f/18 to get everything in focus, including the distant beaches in the background.

Below is an image from the farthest point along the trail, looking roughly southeast with yarrow and vetch in the foreground and Perego's Lagoon in the background. F/25 to get everything in focus.

On a little side trail (it was overgrown but had definitely been cut as a trail; I wasn't trampling the meadows, I swear), I found this clump of lupine whose flowers had some interesting yellow and red coloration. They might be tree lupine (Lupinus arboreus); that's the only lupine with yellow flowers on the WNPS list. This photo sets them against the beaches and Perego's Lagoon down below. F/29.

Finally, a wild rose, also with the beaches and lagoon in the background. I tried this first with a narrow aperture but thought this one worked better with a wider setting (F/6.3). I think this did a better job of accentuating the flowers themselves.

Now on to Deception Pass State Park, specifically the Lighthouse Point trail, where all of the pictures that turned out well were closeups.

First is nodding onion (Allium cernuum). I stopped down just a bit to f/5 to get a slightly more substantial area of the flower in focus.

Next, another member of the onion family, Hooker's onion (Allium acuminatum). F/5, similarly to the last one.

The next one looks like it might be in the clover or pea family, but I don't have a good ID on it yet. F/5.

Finally, two images of broad-leaved stonecrop (Sedum spathulifolium). I'd seen these flowers budding here before, and it being later in the spring this time, I headed back to where I had seen them to photograph them blooming. I set my small tripod all the way on the ground to put the flowers at eye level; in the past, I've photographed stonecrop top-down. For selective focus, I also used the widest aperture I could - f/3.3 in both cases.