Gold And Blue Photo

Photographer’s Note

Fall in Utah got off to a slow start, with leaves turning early, but not reaching bright colors. The aspen were slow turning, and many of the red areas had already peaked. I was happy and fortunate to find a grove intensly yellow aspen.

I was having a difficult time getting in a creative mood. So I turned on Chopin's 1st Piano Concerto to see if that could awaken some emotion. I find the MP3 player very useful.

As I came accross this scene, the colors were so vibrant that they almost eclipsed the sound of the music.

The sun was high enough in the sky, about 9:00AM, that the shadows were feirce. Shooting raw, in working the image, I chose a very low contrast setting, and used a little D-Lighting to soften up the shadows without desaturating the color. I chose to expose slightly above what the meter came up with, and calibrated the color with a gray card at the time of exposure.

PJE, euryan, rmatthews, juraj-jakubik has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

bibs69 (3243) 2006-10-04 3:20

Hello Dana,

Great colors, and excellent light on the trees. The contrast with the blue sky is beautiful. Autumn seem to be a marvelous season in Utah :)

Best regards, Laurent.

Timmok (800) 2006-10-04 4:01

Hi Dana

Lovely picture with great colours. You captured a great range of yellows and greens, and the blue of the sky is really nice. The polarizer made a good job! And you too of course ;o)

Malko40000 (1328) 2006-10-04 8:06

Beautiful combination of complementary colors and comp.
Morris

Tasmaniac (285) 2006-10-04 21:41

Lovely fall colours and I also like how the tree trunks are highlighted.

PJE (19405) 2006-10-04 22:58

Well Dana I can see excellent results from calibrating carefully here. I love these trees and have seen other Aspen photos in your wonderful gallery. A wonderful fall photo and a feast for the eyes! Thanks for sharing!

euryan (8345) 2006-10-05 1:52

Bravo! This is really good Dana. Nobody can do aspens the way you do aspens. The colors are so vibrant, and you handled the lighting very well. Inspirational. I've got to get up to the Alpine Loop tomorrow!

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rmatthews (941) 2006-10-05 17:29

Dana, my Dana...

Once again you show that a tool in the hands of a master...

Very well done.

Vincelavisse (443) 2006-10-17 21:49

Hello Dana,

Wow! Those colors are almost unreal. I like the colors. You kept a beautiful part of sky in this picture, so the composition is great.

Thanks for sharing

Vince

juraj-jakubik (228) 2008-02-08 4:37

Hello Dana
the way you record colors in your images is fantastic. Can't help but I'm jealous about 'em. Sky, the foliage, bark of the trees, everything looks so natural. Again well done.
Juraj