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Owl Creek Pass
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Owl Creek Pass

by Ryan Shain

Gallery: LandscapePosted February 13, 2017181 views9 comments
Larger Version Included

On our way down to Telluride, we encountered so much gorgeous country. It was th most memorable drive of my life as fall colors were exploding at every turn, Driving along mountain passes at 12,000 feet, and the just the overall exhilaration of the anticipation in arriving to Telluride in the Fall. We had to stop at Owl Creek PASS, as a friend of mime texted me to say the colors were amazing this year during one of his workshops. I was rewarded with some awesome colors and conditions. It was windy and raining out as I made this image so shooting it was fun. It is hard to keep GND's dry, lol.

Canon 70d, 24-105, a 3 stop and 2 stop soft GND, tripod, remote shutter clicker, Iso 200, f16, 1/15th of a second, and Adobe CC Photoshop and Lightroom to process

thank you for any thoughts you may have and making some time for my image

Comments

9 comments
Comment posted by gary phillips on February 13, 2017 at 9:11 PM
Had to just be an awesome drive, Ryan.  I gotta do it one of these days.  Killer Colorado fall shot. I might suggest a small crop off the top and left side to eliminate the curl of the one colorful cloud top left and to place the left edge just inside the cut-off aspen bottom left.  Pretty minor stuff.  Lovely image.
Registered on October 24, 2013, 185 Posts, 4136 Comments
Comment posted by Lon Overacker on February 13, 2017 at 11:44 PM
Brian,

Even though I lived in CO in my formative elementary school days, I've never driven the high mountain passes in Autumn.  I can only imagine the "imagery overload" and can certainly appreciate  your exhilaration.  I can just imagine.  It would be extremely difficult for me because I would want to get down in to the "weeds" so to speak.  

Anyway, this is a fine a landscape capture as can be had in the CO Rockies.  I think you've handled the color/sat/processing quite well, especially the rendering of the aspens at the bottom.  

Off the top of my head, I can't think of any constructive suggestions that might improve this.  Great work!

Lon
Registered on November 24, 2006, 521 Posts, 19147 Comments
Comment posted by Harley Goldman on February 14, 2017 at 8:50 AM
You got some great light and put it to really good use. Sweet fall color image from the high country. Love the light on the peaks, too. 
Registered on November 19, 2003, 586 Posts, 11271 Comments
Comment posted by Craig Moreau on February 14, 2017 at 9:54 AM
Amazing fall colors in CO! I like the alternating layers of warm and cool colors, and great light on the peaks. No critique here. Great work!
Registered on April 21, 2015, 64 Posts, 584 Comments
Comment posted by Harry Lichtman on February 14, 2017 at 10:31 PM
Great alpine scenery!  The yellow trees and mnt yellow highlights play off each other well.  Spectacular lighting.  The shadows seem a little too cyan, but easily adjusted if you are inclined.  Fun town to experience autumn.
Registered on September 17, 2010, 304 Posts, 3507 Comments
Comment posted by Preston Birdwell on February 15, 2017 at 3:53 PM
Lovely composition, and great Autumn color. You might consider pulling down the blue/cyan in the shadows on the mountains. Other than that, I think you handled this really well. The light is awesome!
--P
Registered on November 1, 2003, 471 Posts, 5188 Comments
Comment posted by Brian Schrayer on February 15, 2017 at 9:01 PM
This is a beautiful area and you have captured it nicely.  The highlights on the peaks seem to be blown so I would recommend selectively dialing back on the saturation a bit on the peaks.  
Registered on May 28, 2004, 114 Posts, 2890 Comments
Comment posted by Steve Gettle on February 16, 2017 at 2:44 PM
Nice light, Love the way the warm light on the hills echos the fall color down low.
Registered on November 29, 2016, 36 Posts, 111 Comments
Comment posted by Doug Koepsel on February 18, 2017 at 10:47 AM
The colors were indeed good this past fall.  I spent a few evenings at this spot hoping for a nice sunset to compliment the view.  You got some nice golden light on the ridge to match the aspens.  If you are inclined, you could clone out the magenta patch of sky in the ULC as it is a slight eye catch to me.
Registered on April 1, 2010, 196 Posts, 1592 Comments