Congratulations to Ross Martin for winning Feature Thread of the Week with 7 votes - View Previous Winners
After arriving in Utah in September, I’ve put 3,500 miles on the truck searching north to south within the state for the best autumn color I could find. And I have not been disappointed. I feel humbled and exceedingly grateful to spend my days looking for beauty and making compositions, especially in my favorite season. I hope you will find some inspiration in these scenes that caught my eye and my heart.
Technical info:
Shot on a pair of Sony A7RV’s, with Tamron 50-400mm primarily, complemented by Sony 24-105mm f/4 and 16-35mm f/4 PZ.
Tripod support is Gitzo GT4543LS with Feisol CB-70D ballhead.
Processing raw files via Lightroom with a variety of profiles individualy selected for what best suits each image.
[cross posted to Landscape and Sony forums]
Aspen lollipops
Bold colors mixed with pines
Looking up at a colorful grove
Pine among aspens
Deciduous forest in front, coniferous forest in back
All amazing shots of what is also my preferred season of the year. I am always amazed about the beauty of aspens. There are only very few of those in my neck of the woods.
Ross, you lucky dog! What a memory you’ll always have of your trip. All the images are outstanding as usual. You are not only lucky, but very talented with a great eye. Keep ‘em coming! 🙂
Such a wonderful eye Ross to compose these images. Visually stunning images, you really have a great way to express what you see, on your back is really mind bending!
I could go on about each, instead I will contribute my vote
jowul wrote:
All amazing shots of what is also my preferred season of the year. I am always amazed about the beauty of aspens. There are only very few of those in my neck of the woods.
I appreciate your comment, Joachim! I too am always amazed at the beauty of aspens. I get a special feeling being around them, probably my favorite of all the trees.
May look even better if the pines are dropped into the shadows, to near black, and the aspen trunks are brightened, perhaps to just below clipping.
Thank you, Boyan! After reading your comment I went back in and dropped blacks further and increased whites more and decreased luminance on pines, and I reposted the new image. It’s not yet to the point you suggested but it did help the aspens pop more (I may play with it more later). So now I’m at -77 on blacks and +57 on whites in addition to +20 on clarity, and these are (for my aesthetic style) huge processing moves that I almost never have to make. Check out the raw file screenshot to see how crappy the original is - I was shooting a large distance away through atmosphere with 400mm in totally dead flat light at end of day:
ruthenium wrote:
Thank you for sharing!
Image #4 you may want to post in the thread "Which lens has the most 3D pop" - the Tamron is a strong candidate!
mudlake wrote:
Ross, you lucky dog! What a memory you’ll always have of your trip. All the images are outstanding as usual. You are not only lucky, but very talented with a great eye. Keep ‘em coming! 🙂
Eric, I really appreciate your positive words! I feel incredibly blessed and loved to be given the many visual gifts on this trip ❤️
