Oxbow Loop Sunshine

On a recent morning, I made a quick trip to the Oxbow Loop Trail out of North Bend. It's a short and easy loop (less than two miles total). The trail is mostly in the woods, with a few glimpses of the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River, some ponds, and Russian Butte. I was expecting (and hoping for) overcast skies, but the forecasts exaggerated the extent of morning clouds, and I spent my entire time at the Oxbow Loop in full sunshine. This had its advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, the angled sunlight was fun to experiment with, and the blue sky made it easier to include hills and mountains in my compositions. On the other hand, the sunlight meant that lighting contrast was high, and I lost some image quality in dark or background areas of most of these images.

First, a hazy view of Russian Butte framed by leaves, mostly of bigleaf maple. This is probably my favorite of the bunch. F/14.

Next, another framed view of Russian Butte, this time with the Middle Fork Snoqualmie just barely visible. I like the framing and the lighting in this one, but I wish the river had been more prominent. F/16.

The trail accesses the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River at one point. My last visit to the trail was in the spring, when the water level was high and there wasn't much of a gravel beach at all. This time of year, the lower water levels make it easy to roam the riverbanks. Here's a view from one of those banks. F/18, 1 second.

Here's another view of the river. I was worried that the large rock at lower left would be too bright, but it's actually okay. I tried a version of this composition without it, standing a few steps to the right. While the lighting was easier to work with, the sense of depth wasn't as compelling. F/18, 1/8 of a second.

Finally, a forest shot with red alder trunks in the foreground. To get good detail in those trunks and some of the other dark areas, I had to overexpose the background highlights just a touch. I can correct for that in Lightroom, to an extent, although the result is never as good as a proper initial exposure. Still, given the difficulty of a forest shot in sunny conditions, I was surprised and gratified that this one worked at all. F/18.