Peninsula Trip 3: Hurricane Ridge

For the final post about my trip to the Olympic Peninsula, I'll be sharing images from near the Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center. Great views are available with minimal walking, making the area a good option for dawn/sunrise photography.

First, the meadows by the visitor center. F/22. This image took some doing - I tried this composition the first morning, only to be stymied by the wind (I couldn't get the lupine sharp). The second, morning, however, I tried again, and was able to succeed quickly due to the much calmer conditions.

The next two are from a nearby picnic area at sunrise. The first is looking at what I believe to be Mount Ferry on the left end Stephen Peak on the right. The second looks over the Elwha River valley. F/20 in both cases.

The next two images are from near Sunrise Point, north of the visitor center. I liked the way the sunlight was shafting through the hills. F/22 in both cases.

Finally, magenta paintbrush, probably Castilleja parviflora var. olympica, a subspecies endemic to the Olympics. I'm not sure whether I like the bright background, but it was a sunny day, and there wasn't much I could do about it. F/4.

Peninsula Trip 2: Hurricane Hill

While staying on the Peninsula, I hiked Hurricane Hill, which is a fairly short and sweet walk through wildflower meadows with killer views. It can also get quite crowded - but I started early enough in the morning that this wasn't a huge problem. Furthermore, the trail corridor was generally wide enough that I could set up my tripod to take a picture and still leave room behind me for hikers to pass.

First is a closeup of avalanche lily (Erythronium montanum). F/4.5.

Here's a view from near the summit. Lighting's a bit harsh, as I took this image after 10am, but I think it still works. F/22.

Next is a more backlit scene. Ideally, the contours of the distant hills would come out more clearly, but that might be improved in editing. F/22.

Finally, two more meadow and mountain views. Not as striking as the first one in this post, but still nice. In each of these, I used a graduated neutral density filter to prevent overexposure of the sky and mountains. F/20.

Peninsula Trip 1: Odds and Ends

I recently returned from a trip to the Olympic Peninsula. May main goal was to do photography in the Hurricane Ridge area, but before I get to that, here are some odds and ends from other locations.

First, a dawn view from the Hurricane Ridge Road. I used a graduated neutral density filter to keep the sky color from getting blown out. F/20.

Next, a dawn image looking out toward Mount Baker, from an overlook on the Hurricane Ridge Road, with some fog or low clouds creeping over the water. F/16.

Next, a couple flower closeups from the "Heart O' the Forest" trail, adjacent to the campground where I stayed. First is pink wintergreen (Pyrola asarifolia). F/4.5.

Next, Pacific waterleaf (Hydrophyllum tenuipes). F/5.

Goat Lake

Yesterday, I took a day trip to Goat Lake in the north Cascades. The lake is a challenging location to do photography; the length of the hike essentially prevents being present for the best light (unless you're backpacking). I booked it to the lake and got up there just after 10 am. The lighting was still a bit angled and there were some pretty drifting clouds; even so, there was no getting around the day's harsh lighting. So a lot of these images will need lighting work when I take the RAW files into Lightroom.

The first is an image involving the lake itself, from the path that extends around the shore past the main trail and day use area. F/22. I believe this mountain is Cadet Peak.

Next, two compositions involving clouds and the flanks of Cadet Peak, also from near the lake. F/22.

Below, some paintbrush (Castilleja) from a dry creek bed that intersects with the trail, with alder trees and a distant mountain in the background. F/4.5.

Next, a view of Elliott Creek early in the morning. Although the trail frequently puts you within sight of the creek, unobstructed views are hard to come by. This was my best attempt at a composition involving the creek. F/22, 1.6 seconds.

Another variation on the theme of mountains and clouds. If these peaks are named, I haven't yet identified them. F/16.

Finally, cow parsnip (Heracleum maximum or Heracleum lanatum) and old-growth forest. F/22.

A Splendid Summer Saunter

Happy Summer!

Today, I decided to beat the heat by doing some photography during the early morning hours. I arrived at the Big Four Ice Caves picnic area/trailhead at about sunrise. There was a pair of picnickers already getting set up there when I arrived. Who gets up that early? Weird.

Anyway. The first is my favorite, with a meadow of Sitka valerian in the foreground. The mountain behind me was already sunlit at this point, providing some nice illumination onto the flowers and weathered trees. F/22.

Second, Big Four and its reflection in a pond near the picnic area. Contrast is a bit high but probably workable. F/18.

Third, a view over the South Fork Stillaguamish from the bridge. I don't know the name of the mountain in the distance. This one will be a challenge to edit due to the high contrast, but I kind of like this composition. F/18.

Third, a view with some columbine in the foreground. The lighting is a bit harsh but I think this one still works. F/22.

Finally, a flower closeup on a twinberry bush. I will have to deal with the yellowish-green color cast reflected from the surrounding sunlit leaves. F/5.

Spring on the Sauk

Yesterday morning, I made a jaunt to the Old Sauk Trail near Darrington. I'd been there before, but only in the late autumn/early winter, and wanted to check out photographic possibilities this time of year. Turns out the forest and river views offer plenty of potential, and if I were to go back, there would also be some nice forest wildflowers to photograph (which I didn't focus on this time).

First is my favorite composition of the day; I'm particularly pleased because I don't get a lot of vertical compositions. F/18.

Next, two compositions involving the Sauk River itself. I used long-ish shutter speeds (1/3 second and 0.8 seconds, respectively) to blur the water's motion a bit. In the case of the first image of this pair, it made it difficult to freeze the motion of the willow leaves, so I had to sacrifice a bit of sharpness.

Finally, an image of some salmonberries in the foreground with an alder grove in the background. I used f/25 to get everything in focus. An aperture this narrow sacrifices a bit of image quality, but the result actually wasn't as bad as I had expected.

Memorial Weekend part 2

Here are the pictures from the second half of my trip to Fields Spring State Park last weekend. The landscape images here, as in the last post, will generally need some careful editing to get the sky colors and contrast right. Nevertheless, I was pretty pleased with how they turned out.

But first, a flower closeup. This is Brown's peony (Paeonia brownii), one of only two species of peony native to the U.S. F/4.5.

Next are two early-morning meadow views. The first uses a wide aperture, F/4, for a blurred background. The second uses a narrow aperture, F/22, for an opposite effect.

Next, an afternoon view from near the summit of Puffer Butte. I was attracted to the way the paintbrush at bottom right and the cloud at top left balanced each other. F/22. I was worried that I'd need to use a graduated neutral density filter, but it turned out not to be necessary.

Next, a landscape with some balsamroot flowers in the foreground (bottom right), with a flowery slope behind them and the Wallowa Mountains visible in the distance.

Next, two early morning canyon views, both at F/18. If you look closely at the first one, you can see a bend in the Grande Ronde river at center left.

Finally, another afternoon view with cumulus clouds. The white flowers in the foreground are prairie star. F/22.