Visiting old man winter for sunset..

[scole]

Snows are finally accumulating in the mountains and I've been itching to get my feet on some snow. I decided to try something a little different for me and so I made my way to Welcome Pass for a day hike and set up for some sunset photos. Welcome Pass offers a prominent viewpoint for the entire upper North Fork Nooksack Valley including both Mt Shuksan and Mt Baker here in Washington State. It's somewhat of a punishing hike with 2800' of gain on switchbacks with an average grade of 15-22%.

It's a hike I've done before but only in the summer. Adding snow into the mix added some anxiety about following the trail but that all worked out. The views were tremendous but some steady COLD winds made it impossible to be exposed for long. I hunkered down by a rock and waited for the sunset lighting to take shape....


1. Hoar Frost at Welcome Pass



2. Panorama looking north from Welcome Pass. Tomyhoi Peak in the distance



3. Mt Shuksan and the upper North Fork Nooksack River valley as sunset begins



4. Mt Shuksan at sunset



5. Mt Baker and sunset



I actually had a difficult photo session. The temperature made it miserable and I had a REAL hard time capturing the light I was seeing in person. I've tried to salvage it through post processing on my RAWs as much as possible. Thanks for looking.

[TPF Sponsor]

[LaFoto]

I'm enjoying these, though I go through shivers of cold in the heated house just by looking at them! Brrr! Thanks for being there in our stead, taking these, and let us take part in the experience without our own fingers to be out of the mittens to they can push the button .

I particularly enjoy the sky in the third photo, though I feel there's a bit too much dark (undefined, too) bottom part. I'd have liked to see some more of that sky. The composition you chose for Photo 4 is very pleasing!

[scole]

I particularly enjoy the sky in the third photo, though I feel there's a bit too much dark (undefined, too) bottom part. I'd have liked to see some more of that sky. The composition you chose for Photo 4 is very pleasing!

Thanks, LaFoto. I actually agree with you that the valley in the foreground is too dark. I don't have HDR and generally apply all my post-processing to the entire image. When working with this image (it's actually two seperate photos stitched together), I would either lose too much color/detail in the sky or the mountain would look too washed out like too much negative contrast. In addition to some curve shaping on the source RAWs, the JPEG got just a 1% bump of Shadows lightened in Photoshop.

Just as a comparison, here's the same image now with a 20% bump:



I dunno- I just don't like how the rest of the photo washes out in order to salvage more detail from the valley below. Maybe I've stared at it too much!..

[jv17]

all of your pictures are great except for no.1 but nevertheless i also enjoyed looking at this pics

[Mersad]

I like them. Good work!

[keybq]

I see these and i am glad to be going south for my thanksgivingbreak.

[Big Mike]

Ah...Rocky Mountain Photos

Well done, they look great. I'm really liking the Hoar Frost image, a lot of people wouldn't think to shoot it like that.

[g4pfk]

Very enjoyable particularly to a townie in central UK where the white stuff only appears ocasionally & briefly, thanks for sharing.

graham

[scole]

Thanks for the comments everyone!

[dylj]

Great photos.

Re: photo #3, have you tried a graduated filter in post? That's what it's called in Lightroom 2, I forget what is in in CS3/4. I think it might work well for that particular photo!

[scole]

Thanks Dylj. Unfortunately, I don't have a CSx version of Photoshop. My postprocessing is mostly accomplished through my RAW software (Pentax's bundled software) although I also use Photoshop Elements for minor things like dust removal, etc. It's on the long term list of purchases but I'm sure you know how that goes!

[Hyra]

Very nice indeed

Especially number 3 and 4 which make me which i could visit such a place "easily", though i would have cropped some off the bottom of #4.

XX

[jv08]

Nice work! I like them all.

[fabio_yamauti]

#2 is very nice! I liked the contrast between the snow and the trees.