2 Before The Storm

[Mike Lewis]

So here in CO we got hit with our first blast of winter yesterday. My wife Claudia and i had managed to get up to the high country this past weekend though, for a last chance at some of the changing leaves up here in the northern part of the state. We stayed the night in Breckenridge and tooled around from there. The first day we came down around to the Como area and headed up Boreas Pass Road. Lots of leaves blown off (which likely happened in the preceding week it sounds like according to the locals) but still some nice color. These 2 images are from that drive.

Here is one that managed to catch the moon above a stand of colorful Aspen.

LRCC_MoonTrees_FW_TAP34791_PSCC

• Mike Lewis
• Oct 10, 2019

Colorado, Aspen, fall color, yellow, Moon

The second one is from a pullout along Boreas Pass Road.

LRCC_FallTurnout_FW_sRGB_TAP34872_3_4_FuN_PSCC

• Mike Lewis
• Oct 10, 2019

Boreas Pass Road, Colorado, Aspen, fall color, yellow

In both cases, I had to turn down the saturation on the sky and also in some cases on the leaves to make these not look 'cartoonish' as the bluebird skies were trying to saturate the blue channel at every opoortunity. I also have a large pano of the stand with the moon above, but the non-uniformity of the skies (made worse by a polarizer left on the tele I was shooting with in that moment) makes it a bit problematic, so I likely will not post it anywhere.

Comments and critiques welcome.

ML

 

[Ben Egbert]

Very nice Mike, love that first one.

 

[JimFox]

Hey Mike,

Very cool and I sure like the first one. You got just enough leaves on the trees still, and being able to catch the moon was awesome!

I normally don't like parking area's in photos, so I would have avoided it in #2. But I can see from the lines in the photo why you included it though. Perhaps since the parking area gravel has a pretty strong blue cast to it, so it mirrors the sky that then helps it to work more?

Boreas Pass is a favorite of mine, so I am glad you got up there.

 

[Mike Lewis]

Hey Mike,

Very cool and I sure like the first one. You got just enough leaves on the trees still, and being able to catch the moon was awesome!

I normally don't like parking area's in photos, so I would have avoided it in #2. But I can see from the lines in the photo why you included it though. Perhaps since the parking area gravel has a pretty strong blue cast to it, so it mirrors the sky that then helps it to work more?

Boreas Pass is a favorite of mine, so I am glad you got up there.

Jim,

I hear you about the parking lot. I was trying for the curve that it represents, but perhaps could have framed things without so much of it in the frame. I may even have another composition that removes more of it from the picture. I did also like those close up Aspen trunks on the extreme right though, which I think was another reason for this framing.

Always very beneficial to hear this kind of different perspective feedback from other very accomplished photographers though - one of the great things about belonging to FW, as you well know!

ML

 

[AlanLichty]

The first one with the moon above the trees is delightful. Looks like you definitely caught the last of the colors with the storms rolling in now and how little is left on the trees.

Not sure that parking lot gives you as much of a curve as you might have wished for in the second image. If you can see both side of the road the curves almost always work (at least for my eyes) but since there is no edge of the roadway on the left side it ends up just looking like - well - a parking area