America's Mountain

Gallery: LandscapePosted October 8, 2011230 views10 comments

I'm like a kid with a new toy. This image is from the first discovery excursion in our new home state and has a sample of things Colorado. The turning leaves with a storm brewing above Pikes Peak. This place is so rich with potential images it will take time for me to settle down and become more selective and thoughtful before tripping the shutter. But for now, I'm having lots of fun, and I personally needed to remember why I started taking pictures more years ago than I'm willing to confess.

300s with a 70-200 f2.8 wide open at 1/320. At 100% the leaves are sharp and distinct, so this may look like it suffers from some compression issues. Finding the right WB was a processing challenge too. There are so many colors of light in this scene. But other than that, it's pretty straightforward Lightroom 3 processing. Your C&Cs are welcome - and needed to get me settled down again.

Comments

10 comments

Comment posted by Bill Chambers on October 8, 2011 at 5:49 PM

Beautiful scene Russ. The OOF FG is a little bothersome, but the color is great, as is the BG.

Registered on April 10, 2005, 753 Posts, 21216 Comments

Comment posted by Jake Case on October 8, 2011 at 7:31 PM

Lots to love in this scene, as far as the white balance goes, it looks great to me. I do wonder why you chose the f/2.8 aperture as I think your depth of field suffered greatly from that. I'm assuming you handheld it, and at a long focal length you were worried about camera shake, but if you had this on a tripod, I think you had plenty of play to close up the f-stop some. Regardless, you comp and processing look great, and it's nice to hear of your new home inspiring you so much.

Registered on December 13, 2010, 38 Posts, 167 Comments

Comment posted by Bruce King on October 8, 2011 at 8:02 PM

I like the colors and the layered composition. This image really expresses what I remember about my time in CO. I hear what Bill is saying regarding the OOF grasses but I don't think it hurts it too much. Beautiful shot.

Side note-used to party at the Stone Fort in Monument..... mid-80's. Is it still there?

Registered on January 14, 2010, 276 Posts, 2212 Comments

Comment posted by Russell Colletta on October 8, 2011 at 8:07 PM

Howdy guys, I chose to use the lens wide open because I actually wanted to blur the FG. The lens was on a tripod that was about 18 inches off the ground. I was hoping to add some sense of depth to the image and position the trees just below the mountains rather than a normal eye level view. F2.8 also allowed me a fairly fast shutter without increasing the ISO, as these leaves were gently quaking. I need to play with my camera and test it's high(er) ISO image quality. It seems okay up to about 800, which would have only given me two stops for the same shutter speed and not that much more DOF on a tele. So considering all the compromises - here's my best shot, so to speak. Bruce, haven't found the Stone Fort yet.

Registered on October 31, 2009, 114 Posts, 1008 Comments

Comment posted by Morris McClung on October 8, 2011 at 9:08 PM

Yep, maybe just crop some of the oof foreground, because the trees, mountain, and sky are all great. Well done!
You can shoot this same scene with snow on it now.

Registered on May 7, 2007, 670 Posts, 19650 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Sieren on October 8, 2011 at 9:15 PM

Looks like you're on the westside of the peak, it's been years since the last visit. Sure looks like the weather is about to get interesting there! Love the drooping clouds!

Still debatable if it's Pikes or the Tetons in the America the Beautiful song.

Registered on January 2, 2008, 360 Posts, 5321 Comments

Comment posted by Jaymes Dempsey on October 8, 2011 at 9:21 PM

I love the colors here! Great sky, also!
Jaymes

Registered on June 28, 2010, 47 Posts, 590 Comments

Comment posted by Nancy Lea Sandy on October 8, 2011 at 11:54 PM

You sure picked a good time to discovery your 'new home state'. Looks like the aspen have really been rolling out the welcome mat for you. I love the light on the mountain and the trees are nice. As mentioned, the oof grass is distracting but that doesn't kill the image for me. Beautiful scene.

Registered on January 24, 2011, 576 Posts, 6942 Comments

Comment posted by Eva McDermott on October 9, 2011 at 7:38 AM

Beautiful color Russ and nice sky action as well.

Registered on January 4, 2009, 1015 Posts, 13229 Comments

Comment posted by Jonathan Heywood on October 9, 2011 at 2:48 PM

Glad to see you are enjoying Colorado, Russ; it looks like your new home is proving to be photographically productive. An excellent take on a beautiful scene.

Registered on February 22, 2010, 18 Posts, 87 Comments