Out collecting rocks with my youngest

[SashaT]

Got the chance to get out and go collecting with my youngest son today. It was quite an interesting trip with a variety of different types of scenery and weather. The day started out a little later than I would have liked, by the time we arrived at the turn out, temps in the valley were already in the mid-80s. The scenery down at this elevation was the typical Idaho desert looking terrain.

As we drove further, the desert landscape gave way to a nice looking forest and the air teps began to drop off rapidly as we gained elevation.

Our destination this trip took us well above 7000 feet, at this elevation the air temps were nice and in the mid-50s, there was even a little snow on the ground still.

We got out and began looking around, almost immediately, we were finding quartz crystals.

We explored the area for quite some time, collecting things as we found them. There was actually quite a bit that we were able to collect.

After a while, we decided that we had found enough. The pack was starting to get heavy so my son asked if I could carry it back to the truck. We both had a great day and were able to collect a lot. As we drove out, I took some more photos of the area.

Once home I decided to get some more shots of some of the crystals. These photos only represent a small sample of what we collected. I didn’t want to take photos of each item as that would be a lot of photos to process, upload and post on the report. We enjoyed this trip and know we only scratched the surface at this area.

 

[SashaT]

 

[Derrel]

Neat post! I had no idea the elevation change would cause such a steep temp drop at this time of the year. Looks like the two of you had a rockin' good time!

 

[Jasii]

Loved your narrative and it almost felt we were alongside.
Just a Q please:
What edits were done to the pics? The sky looks a wee bit unnatural or is it my eyes?

 

[SashaT]

Loved your narrative and it almost felt we were alongside.
Just a Q please:
What edits were done to the pics? The sky looks a wee bit unnatural or is it my eyes?

Thanks!


Now to answer your question: I did not do a lot in lightroom to them in terms of adding color etc. I will use the first shot as an example as there are quite a few shots and they all have slightly different settings. I am also going to include another unaltered shot (other than converting from RAW), it was taken with the exact same camera settings as the first and all exif is intact. The only difference is that I widened the shot to 17mm where the first is at 34mm. I hadn't thought of the blue sky until you mentioned it. Now that I look at all the pics again, the sky does seem a little extra blue in all of them even the unaltered ones.


Ok here are the lightroom alterations for the first: EXP: +.25, Con:+20, Highlights:0, Shadows:0, Whites:+20, Blacks: -25, Clarity:+15, Vibrance:+15, Point Curve: Medium Contrast, Sharpening: Amount: 40, Radius: 0.8, Detail: 40, Masking: 60, Profile: Sigma 17-50 F2.8 EX DC OS HMS, Remove Chromatic Aberration box checked and Color Profile is Adobe Standard. Other than that no other alterations were done. The other shots are all similar with differences in the exposure levels, highlights, shadows, whites, blacks, contrast and sharpening. Anyway here is the other unaltered shot, like I mentioned it is the same as the first except it is at 17mm.

 

[Jasii]

Thank you for the detailed. For a moment I feared I'd have hurt you with my comment.
Yes! The sky looks much better in the unedited version.
Rgds,

 

[BrickHouse]

Great series! Way to rep the 208! I'm from Eagle but temporarily displaced with the Navy. Can't wait to go back!

 

[Woodsman]

Nice narrative to go with the pictures. A very enjoyable view. Sounds like a great time.

 

[SashaT]

Thanks everyone!


I am really glad that he is really getting into the outdoor thing. Personally, I love being out in the backcountry weather fishing or just hiking. After this last trip, he also asked me if he could have my old camera so he could also take pictures. I told him that we could look into getting him something that he could use more easily than my old camera.