#Azimuth 357

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Seeing Mount Shasta And Being Enraptured with the View! by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While at a roadside pullout along California State Route 36 with a view looking to the north across a grassy field with volcanic rock debris scattered about. Mount Shasta is far off in the distance as a backdrop. In composing this image, I was initially drawn to the field itself as I was fascinated by the look with the straw colored grasses mixed with the darker colors of the rocks and soil. It was then that I noticed Mount Shasta. It was somewhat obscured by the haze of afternoon sunlight. I therefore made adjustments to the exposure with my Nikon Z8 Mirrorless Camera. I felt underexposing the image a little bit might help with details present later in post-production. For that, I used the DxO ClearView Plus tool, along with control points in DxO PhotoLab 8 to bring out the contrast, saturation and brightness I wanted for the final image.

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A March Snow in Joshua Tree National Park by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: In Joshua Tree National Park while walking the Hidden Valley Nature Trail and taking in the view of a snow covered landscape. The setting is a look to the north. My thought on composing this image was to minimize the negative space of the overcast and snowing skies and create more of a sweeping view across this national park landscape. I angled my Nikon SLR camera to create that view. I liked how that brought more of the foreground into the image, and how the snow mixed with the plant-life to create details and textures.

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Reflections of Yosemite (Yosemite National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While wandering along the shores of the Merced River and a view looking to the north across its still waters and reflections. This is located around the Swinging Bridge Picnic area in Yosemite Valley of the national park. Yosemite Point with a dried up waterfalls is a distant backdrop for the image captured.

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Scenic Pinnacles National Park by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A setting looking to the north while taking in views across the pinnacle formations present along this portion of the High Peaks Trail in Pinnacles National Park. My thought on composing this image was for two reasons. One, to capture a look back on an area that I had just hiked and would be hiking the next day. Two, I wanted to zoom in with the focal length and bring out more of a feel of the enormous size, perhaps creating a sense of wonder with the view looking up this hillside filled with rock formations.

[thorsenmark]

Breathing Easy by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: At a parking area pullout at Bruhel Point along the Pacific Coast Highway with a view looking to the north. My thinking in composing this image was to capture that view looking along the coastline with the waves coming rushing into the shore. The angle was such that it allowed me to include some of the nearby grassy meadow as a foreground while having the hillsides stretching off to a distant horizon and using that as a leading line into the image. I later worked with control points in DxO PhotoLab 5 and then made some adjustments to bring out the contrast, saturation and brightness I wanted for the final image.

[thorsenmark]

Breathing Easy by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: At a parking area pullout at Bruhel Point along the Pacific Coast Highway with a view looking to the north. My thinking in composing this image was to capture that view looking along the coastline with the waves coming rushing into the shore. The angle was such that it allowed me to include some of the nearby grassy meadow as a foreground while having the hillsides stretching off to a distant horizon and using that as a leading line into the image. I later worked with control points in DxO PhotoLab 5 and then made some adjustments to bring out the contrast, saturation and brightness I wanted for the final image.

[thorsenmark]

Particles of Sand, Granular and Loose (Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A view looking to the north across the dried up Medano Creek. Given the extra time I found I had that late afternoon, I decided to spend some time capturing different images of the sand. Here I angled my Nikon SLR camera downward, so that I could capture a more sweeping view across the sands present. I decided to include a little bit of the sand dunes and mountains present off in the distance in order to give a little bit of a perspective as to the distance one hand to cross with this creek. The idea was the sweeping view would give a long distance to cross feeling.

[thorsenmark]

Evergreens and Autumn Tundra Across the Denali Landscape (Denali National Park & Preserve) by Mark Stevens

[thorsenmark]

Particles of Sand, Granular and Loose (Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A view looking to the north across the dried up Medano Creek. Given the extra time I found I had that late afternoon, I decided to spend some time capturing different images of the sand. Here I angled my Nikon SLR camera downward, so that I could capture a more sweeping view across the sands present. I decided to include a little bit of the sand dunes and mountains present off in the distance in order to give a little bit of a perspective as to the distance one hand to cross with this creek. The idea was the sweeping view would give a long distance to cross feeling.

[thorsenmark]

Nature Has That Style That Speaks to Anyone Who'll Listen (Denali State & National Parks) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A view looking to the northwest walking along the lake shoreline of Byers Lake in Denali State Park. Off in the distance are some of the mountain peaks and ridgelines of that portion of the Alaska Range within the national park.

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Waters Flowing Over Brandywine Falls (Cuyahoga Valley National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A sideward view looking across the creek and then falls. Because of the rains the day prior, I didn't need to close have a longer shutter speed even with a variable ND filter I was using. Composing the image was a matter of lining of the creek and waterfalls while using some of the nearby trees and plantlife to complete this setting in Cuyahoga Valley National Park. I worked with control points and color control points in Capture NX2 to bring out the contrast, saturation and brightness I wanted. I then added a Foliage and Darken/Lighten Center CEP filter to give that little bit extra for the final image.

[thorsenmark]

We Need More Nature (Petrified Forest National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A view looking to the north across a badlands hillside covered with that elephant skin-like surface while hiking the Blue Mesa Trail in this part of Petrified Forest National Park. In composing this image, I moved about until I could find a position that captured these badlands and all of its different formations and heights across this portion of the trail. In someways, I was using the layers in order to guide any viewer into the image. I kept a little bit of the blue skies above as a color complement to the more earth-tones present in the lower portion of the image. One can see the distinct blue light color present from the Bentonite clay.

[thorsenmark]

Particles of Sand, Granular and Loose (Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A view looking to the north across the dried up Medano Creek. Given the extra time I found I had that late afternoon, I decided to spend some time capturing different images of the sand. Here I angled my Nikon SLR camera downward, so that I could capture a more sweeping view across the sands present. I decided to include a little bit of the sand dunes and mountains present off in the distance in order to give a little bit of a perspective as to the distance one hand to cross with this creek. The idea was the sweeping view would give a long distance to cross feeling.

[thorsenmark]

We Need More Nature (Petrified Forest National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A view looking to the north across a badlands hillside covered with that elephant skin-like surface while hiking the Blue Mesa Trail in this part of Petrified Forest National Park. In composing this image, I moved about until I could find a position that captured these badlands and all of its different formations and heights across this portion of the trail. In someways, I was using the layers in order to guide any viewer into the image. I kept a little bit of the blue skies above as a color complement to the more earth-tones present in the lower portion of the image. One can see the distinct blue light color present from the Bentonite clay.

[thorsenmark]

Evergreens and Autumn Tundra Across the Denali Landscape (Denali National Park & Preserve) by Mark Stevens

[thorsenmark]

Nature Has That Style That Speaks to Anyone Who'll Listen (Denali State & National Parks) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A view looking to the northwest walking along the lake shoreline of Byers Lake in Denali State Park. Off in the distance are some of the mountain peaks and ridgelines of that portion of the Alaska Range within the national park.