Bridal Vail Fall Colors

Gallery: LandscapePosted November 21, 2015127 views4 comments

Oct. 3, 2015, at the end of Black Bear Pass Trail just above Telluride, CO, at the Pandora Mill next to the tailing ponds the view of Bridal Vail Falls in the Fall rewards the viewer with spectacular colors. By mid afternoon in early Oct. the shadows creep into the valley. The aqua colored water in the tailings ponds yields an interesting complement to the reds, oranges and yellows of the Fall Folliage. Thanks to the wet year wild flowers were still blooming in the foreground.

This original uncropped version of this HDR panorama consists of 46 (138 total) individual HDR 22.5 megapixel images shot with Canon 5Diii at F-14, 1/80th & 1/400th of a second and ISO 100 using a 70-200mm lens @ 70mm. HDR processing was done using Oloneo PhotoEngine and stitiching with Autopano Giga. The cropped image is:

648 Megapixels
18000 x 12000 pixels
40" x 60" 300 ppi

Web image totally fails to reveal the resolution. Suggest viewing with high resolution viewer on my web site available by clicking Purchase Print button and then clicking on image in the linked web page. Zoom, and zoom some more.

Comments

4 comments

Comment posted by Harry Lichtman on November 23, 2015 at 9:24 AM

I am a little confused since I don't see any falls. Am I missing something? I can appreciate all of the trouble and effort you went through to create this huge image file, but the composition just doesn't seem to be cohesive. I feel like there should be more of the lake water, since the color looks so attractive and unique, but less sky. The water in the corner looks more like an afterthought. Looking at the HDR blend, there is a section of evergreens near the rock wall near the top and lacks similar contrast to the surrounding areas. Maybe an adjustment is needed here, especially if the intention is to print large. Colors look pretty great up there, just wish the comp equaled it.

Registered on September 17, 2010, 304 Posts, 3507 Comments

Comment posted by John Freeman on November 23, 2015 at 11:22 AM

Thanks Harry for your critique. I hear you on the comp. I have been experimenting with various crops etc. and haven't came up with one I like.

The Bridal Vail Fall is just a trickle in the fall months. In the spring/summer months it is a major fall. I cut out an area of the photo showing the falls. Getting more of the lake was not possible because they are on private property owned by a mine with no Trespassing signs all over. The area of evergreens near the top of the rock wall are being illuminated by a beam of sunlight peeking through the clouds. This becomes more apparent in the high res view if you zoom in.

Registered on September 27, 2013, 16 Posts, 33 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Metternich on November 23, 2015 at 8:34 PM

Nice classic type shot. Very nice. Makes me miss the area.

Registered on June 19, 2009, 276 Posts, 6240 Comments

Comment posted by Luke Ormand on November 24, 2015 at 8:38 PM

You sure have packed a LOT into this image (648 pixels???!!!). Gorgeous no matter how you slice it - what an incredible feat.

Registered on February 4, 2009, 1093 Posts, 7035 Comments