p.1 #1 · Southern Utah — Autumn Color (and one other)
This set of photographs from Southern Utah (Zion, Dixie National Forest, Capitol Reef, and Arches) mostly features fall color.
As a photographer of (and author of a book about) California Sierra Nevada aspens, I'm always impressed by how different the aspens are elsewhere, including in much of Utah. While the Sierra does have some groves of tall, straight aspen trees, most of the trees we see here are stunted, twisted, and grow together densely. So these immense, wide-open groves of tall and straight trees really get my attention.
A couple of the photographs include more mixed autumn colors, for example in places where the aspen groves run into the surrounding brush. One (from Capitol Reef) includes a like of autumn cottonwood trees along a stream beneath a sky filled with unusual cloud shapes. Another focuses on a less-visited area of Zion National Park in its high country. Finally, I sneaked in one photograph that is just plain rocks, so it cold have been made in almost any season — a detail from a large tower at Arches National Park.
(For the Canon forum, these were made with a couple of different 5D-series bodies and various EF L lenses.)
p.1 #10 · Southern Utah — Autumn Color (and one other)
#6 is most interesting to me. The pine on the right and the butte on the left provide good framing, and somewhat mirror the rock formations in the distance.
p.1 #13 · Southern Utah — Autumn Color (and one other)
These compositions display a wonderful connection to nature, the camera and the photographer Dan! All are dependent on each other to make a "whole".
Aspens in the Fall is Mother Nature's wave good-bye for now!
p.1 #15 · Southern Utah — Autumn Color (and one other)
GroovyGeek wrote:
#6 is most interesting to me. The pine on the right and the butte on the left provide good framing, and somewhat mirror the rock formations in the distance.
Thanks.
That was actually kind of a challenging photograph for several reasons.
As I recall, it was really hard to get the camera into a position that allowed the composition I was looking for due to uneven ground. It was also hazy that evening, and I knew I’d have to work with that in post. (You can sort of see that up what might look like sky above the formations — it is actually a more distant set of mountains that is behind a lot of haze.)
I appreciate your thoughts on the composition. I usually compose rather intuitively — I don’t apply “rules” to this process — but I like balance. Here there’s the left-right mirroring that you talk about, and also some depth created by the fact that the mirrored elements are at different distances.
p.1 #16 · Southern Utah — Autumn Color (and one other)
Al Trujillo wrote:
Forest compositions are always so hard but I think the white bark on Aspen make the chaos more acceptable. Beautiful images Dan!!
I love the challenge of forest (and other complex vegetation) photographs. It can be tricky to take something with s much detail and find a way to give it some compositional quality. You are right that white trunks help a lot! They often interrupt the complex leaves and branches and provide a focal point.
p.1 #17 · Southern Utah — Autumn Color (and one other)
dakel wrote:
Very nice set Dan. #1 has a beautiful dimensionality to it. Cheers!
I like #1, too. I think that a key to it is the vertical layering of three complex layers of detail: the horizontal of the autumn-colored leaves at the top, the darker green baby conifers along the bottom, and the verticals of the white trunks connecting them.
p.1 #18 · Southern Utah — Autumn Color (and one other)
Danpbphoto wrote:
These compositions display a wonderful connection to nature, the camera and the photographer Dan! All are dependent on each other to make a "whole".
Aspens in the Fall is Mother Nature's wave good-bye for now!
The last one is a stunner!
Excellent!
Dan2
I was just thinking today about the ephemeral nature of those autumn colors. As soon as they hit their peak they are already coming down — they don’t last long, and we’re left with something much, much less colorful. (I try to extend the fall color season by starting at high Sierra Nevada locations as early as September, hitting the peak there in October, following the color to the Western Sierra (and Yosemite Valley — photos soon) around the beginning of November, continuing with California coastal and other low elevation areas through November, and even catching some late color in the Central Valley though December!
The last one is an example of something i like to do a lot — namely, focus on a small section of a much larger subject to tell the story of the larger. thing. That bit of rugged sandstone cliff face is part of a much larger formation at Arches NP. (I may eventually share a photo I made of the entire formation.)
p.1 #20 · Southern Utah — Autumn Color (and one other)
gdanmitchell wrote:
I was just thinking today about the ephemeral nature of those autumn colors. As soon as they hit their peak they are already coming down — they don’t last long, and we’re left with something much, much less colorful. (I try to extend the fall color season by starting at high Sierra Nevada locations as early as September, hitting the peak there in October, following the color to the Western Sierra (and Yosemite Valley — photos soon) around the beginning of November, continuing with California coastal and other low elevation areas through November, and even catching some late color in the Central Valley though December!
The last one is an example of something i like to do a lot — namely, focus on a small section of a much larger subject to tell the story of the larger. thing. That bit of rugged sandstone cliff face is part of a much larger formation at Arches NP. (I may eventually share a photo I made of the entire formation.)...Show more →
Nature's beauty NEVER lasts long enough for me Dan! Especially the Fall. I am sort of in a similiar situation with the mountains that go "downhill" to "the Swamp(Washgtn,DC). I too start out at the high altitudes and work down.
