Bagging "Peak" Foliage 2007

[Tim Seaver]

Carter Notch
The game is ON! Perhaps this thread can be a catch-all of sorts for current high-mountain foliage conditions. Please post your favorite (and current) MOUNTAIN foliage shots with any notes about where and when. Like this:

WHERE: From the bottom of the small slide on the Wildcat Ridge trail just west (S) of Carter Notch

WHEN: Sept 26, About 5:20 pm, just before the clouds cut loose with some moderate showers.

SPECS : EOS 1D Mark III, 17-40mm F4 L at 17mm, 1/2 sec. at F10, ISO 50

Let's see those colors!

 

[w7xman]

Wow..

Tim, Your shot is GORGEOUS!!!

Here's alpine foliage last sunday morning, as light from the first of autumns rays hit mount pierce...

I hope to hike zeacliff saturday, so I'll be back in the thread soon!

 

[Tim Seaver]

Really nice shot Jim, I like the juxtaposition of the clouds and ground cover.
Sometimes the early bird really DOES get the worm!

Long Trail - Bamforth Ridge

WHERE: From the second major viewpoint/hump on Bamforth Ridge, going south from River Road (North of Camels Hump)

WHEN: Oct. 1, 11:11 am, after waiting about 5 hours for the right light, including a one hour snooze.

SPECS : EOS 1D Mark III, 24-105mm F4 L at 58mm, Polarizer, 3 stop GND, 1/500 sec. at F5, ISO 800

Colors are good at higher elevations, with some leaf drop. Mid-elevations still look pretty dull in a lot of areas to my jaded eye, and many river valleys are still green in Central Vermont. Hopefully the best is yet to come, but the hot and hazy days are not doing the colors any good.

 

[kmorgan]

Nice shots you guys! Wish I was up north. I was in the Catskills this weekend on the Blackhead range and while the changes are starting they're nothing like what you have up there.

Here's a shot from an overlook on Black Dome looking out at the Devil's Path and beyond.



1/60 sec
f/11
22mm
iso 100

Kevin

 

[bignslow]

Shot from Bennies Brook Slide (on Lower Wolf Jaw) facing Big Slide (9/22/07)

Shot on the way down from Nippletop/Dial below the shoulder of Noonmark facing the great range. I wish the sky wasn't so washed out and the trail marker was better in focus. (9/29/07)

I think both were shot using auto landscape mode. Instead of my pictures getting better with my SLR I think they've gotten worse, It doesn't help that there are too many things for me to screw up with the rebel instead of the point & shoot.

Both albums can be seen on my picasa space:
http://picasaweb.google.com/mvirdone

 

[NewHampshire]

I think both were shot using auto landscape mode. Instead of my pictures getting better with my SLR I think they've gotten worse,

I don't think they are that bad. It looks like you might want to bump up your contrast a bit and try a little of sharpening. The sky in the first is a bit featureless because of the clouds, but thats mother natures fault and not yours.

Next time don't be afraid to use the manual modes. Play around, try different apertures, different speeds. A tripod and shutter release (or use the timer) will help sharpen things up. Your doing fine, and keep it up! The only "bad" shot is the one we don't learn from.

Brian

 

[bignslow]

Next time don't be afraid to use the manual modes. Play around, try different apertures, different speeds. A tripod and shutter release (or use the timer) will help sharpen things up. Your doing fine, and keep it up! The only "bad" shot is the one we don't learn from.

Brian

Thanks.

I play around with the manual modes sometimes but usually they end up worse before getting better (especially trying to judge my changes in the field). I've been meaning to carry a tripod but I never remember. A big change for me was holding the camera steady for shots, with my P&S I would do just that, never really holding still for a shot for a while. When I first started shooting with the Rebel I though a) it was terrible and b) autofocus was broken because large landscapes would come out more blurry than my P&S. Someone was nice enough to point out that my problems were due to camera shake and not the camera.

 

[kmorgan]

Shot on the way down from Nippletop/Dial below the shoulder of Noonmark facing the great range. I wish the sky wasn't so washed out and the trail marker was better in focus. (9/29/07)

I think both were shot using auto landscape mode. Instead of my pictures getting better with my SLR I think they've gotten worse, It doesn't help that there are too many things for me to screw up with the rebel instead of the point & shoot.

I hope you don't mind, I did a quick adjustment in Photoshop (works better with the original files).





Kevin

 

[nartreb]

This isn't the most colorful shot I took this weekend, but most of them aren't online yet:

Click twice for full size:



North Traveler, [CORRECTION: Saturday 29] Sept 2007. Camera settings in the EXIF data in the image.

 

[bignslow]

I hope you don't mind, I did a quick adjustment in Photoshop (works better with the original files).

Kevin

I don't mind at all, I think the changes you made to the first one look awesome. What did you do to change them?

 

[marchowes]

Here is another shot from the Traveler region from the same day as nartreb (I must have been a few hours behind!)

gazillion other shots here: http://hoosactunnel.net/adventure/gallery/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=1214&g2_page=1

 

[kmorgan]

I don't mind at all, I think the changes you made to the first one look awesome. What did you do to change them?

Convert to LAB mode. Go to Curves (ctrl-m).

First increase the resolution of the grid by alt clicking anywhere on the grid.

Now select the 'A' channel, and move the end points of the curve "in" 2 squares, it should look like this:



Do the same to the 'B' channel. It's important to change them both the same amount. You can do 1, 2 or 3 squares of change to really bring out the color.

Click OK, then ctrl-m again to go back to curves for the 'Lightness' adjustment.

The first thing I adjusted on this curve was to move the light end (I have the options for my curves set to Pigment/Ink %, set this in the curve display options on the bottom) which is at the bottom left, to the right to meet the histogram edge (also selected in the display options menu of the curves dialog). This sets the white point. I try to get it so I'm not blowing out the clouds or other bright spots.



Next move the black point to the left, in this case I only moved it about 1 point because I didn't want to make it too dark, like so:



And the final lightness adjustment before clicking OK, move the center point until you like the image (either darker or lighter). I initially move it along the central horizontal axis and then when I find a good spot move it up and down a little while previewing the results. In this case I just moved it back to the center:



If you are going to do any sharpening, select the Lightness channel from the Channels menu and apply the sharpening to here. Then convert back to RGB mode and save.

Have fun,
Kevin

 

[forestgnome]

Wildcat Ridge Trail, October 9th

You may have to click "view", then "full screen" to fit this on the screen.

 

[w7xman]

Peak foliage 'bagged' from Middle Sugarloaf, Zealand, 10-6-07!

 

[NewHampshire]

You may have to click "view", then "full screen" to fit this on the screen.

This is a bit ironic! I was up doing trailwork up there Sunday and every time I came to one of the ledges and looked across I kept kicking myself in the arse for not having brought my camera . Glad somebody got the beautiful peak foliage in Pinkham notch.

Brian

 

[Kevin Judy and Emma]

Great stuff!

There's some great stuff going on in this thread. Here's a couple I shot last week. they might look familiar if you read my trip reports, but I don't want to feel left out of this thread. One thing about this whole website is I see other's work and know what I have to strive for. I am honored to show my stuff beside you guys. I shot this on the Dry River 10/4/07. The upper part of the picture got a little washed out.

I love the groundcover as much as the foliage. I guess it's foliage, too, isn't it?

KDT

 

[Raymond]

Here’s one I got on Sunday.

I like this one, too, although there’s not really much ‘‘foliage’’ in it.

There are a few more here.

 

[forestgnome]

This is a bit ironic! I was up doing trailwork up there Sunday and every time I came to one of the ledges and looked across I kept kicking myself in the arse for not having brought my camera . Glad somebody got the beautiful peak foliage in Pinkham notch.

Brian

Thanks very much for your efforts, and ALWAYS bring the camera!!!

 

[BillK]

From this past weekend on Welch-Dickey:

Welch-Dickey Slideshow

 

[Halite]

Fall colors move south to the Catskills:

View from Giant's Ledge on Sunday October 14.