Snoqualmie Valley autumn

I spent this morning poking around the Snoqualmie/North Bend area looking for some fall colors. Fall color in the lowlands of western Washington can be inconsistent, but it's often more photogenic than I expect.

First, a composition that uses the sun. I used an aperture of F/22 and partially obscured the sun with a branch to achieve the ray/star effect. The hazy shape of Mount Si is visible in the background. From the Snoqualmie Valley trail/Three Forks Natural Area.

Next, the Snoqualmie River from the Snoqualmie Valley Trail. This worked surprisingly well for a sunlit shot, in my opinion. F/18.

Next, two river shots from earlier in the morning, at the Three Forks Natural Area, when the sun was still behind the hills.  They'll need some attention to lighting and white balance - what you see here are some preliminary tweaks through the old Picasa program, which helps, but not as much as Lightroom will. F/20.

Finally, two shots from later in the day at a drive-up viewpoint. Contrast is high, but I like how the colors turned out and would be willing to play around with them in Lightroom. These ones look over what I think is at this point the Middle Fork Snoqualmie. Mount Si, of course, is the landform in the background of the first in this pair. F/18, F/20.

Baker River Fall

Yesterday, I visited one of my favorite destinations, the Baker River trail north of Baker Lake. It's my goal to photograph it in every season, and I'd yet to go there in mid-autumn. High country trails get all of the attention this time of year, and for good reason, but there's interesting fall color to be had in the lowlands as well.

First, two views of the forest. Vine maple was really the star of the show, particularly in semi-open areas where it seems the leaves are more likely to take on a reddish color. F/20 in both cases.

Next, a view of Mount Shuksan from Sulphide Creek, at the end of the trail. With some tasteful lighting work in Lightroom, this image will look even better. F/20.

Finally, two views of the Baker River, the first from the bridge and the second nearby, F/18 and F/16. In the second case, I used a shutter speed of 1/3 second to blur the water a bit, but not too much - longer shutter speeds didn't look as nice, as they made the water in the foreground too blurry and indistinct.