I finally broke down and bought the Pentax 12-24mm and that meant I *HAD* to break it in! I didn't feel like driving a ton so I decided to head up the Mountain Loop Highway outside the town of Granite Falls and revisit Marten Creek. I hiked this last winter but reasons I can't explain, I never took any photos. In hindsight, I remembered that there were some nice stretches along the creek so back I went.

While not a long hike, it does have a steep beginning and along the way, you pass through an ongoing research plot that the Forest Service monitors:



The study evaluates the correlation of Douglas Fir growth based on seed sources taken from across the Pacific Northwest. There is a second sign nearby which summarizes what they learned back in 1960. The steepness continues for a bit further and then relents as you enter the upper valley. At that point, exploration of the creek is possible...

1. DA 12-24mm


2. DA 55-300mm



3. DA-55-300mm



4. DA 12-24mm



5. DA 12-24mm



6. DA 55-300mm



7. DA 12-24mm



8. DA 12-24mm



All in all, a nice afternoon of photo taking despite the steady rain/sleet.

[monochrome]

Very evocative shots with the color peeking out. You exposed the snow well, something I haven't learned yet. The 12-24 is a nice lens and the 55-300 is a sleeper.

[FHPhotographer]

I'm seeing a slight yellow cast to the snow in #5 & #8; is that my screen or is it in the shots?
Brian

[monochrome]

I'm seeing a slight yellow cast to the snow in #5 & #8; is that my screen or is it in the shots?
Brian

Brian: I don't see that on my CRT (not formally calibrated either) and the small foreground tree in #5 has its winter yellow (not deep green) color.

[prinze18]

Very nice pictures.

I hope to be able to learn to get images like this.

Were all the shots handheld and was there any post processing? I am yet to be interested with post processing. I am a purist at heart with anything.

Just very curios on what to do to get these shots.

Kev.

[scole]

Thanks for the comments.

There is a yellow cast to the tree in #5. It seems to be stressed so the needles are yellowed. I thought it would add some color to a largely black & white scene. Not sure about yellow & #8..

All photos were shot using a tripod and the 2 second mirror lockup mode. Due to the low light (and desire for softer water flow), the tripod was a necessity. Also, all photos are using a circular polarizer. In snow situations, I usually use either SHADE or CLOUDY for my white balance. These photos were shot using CLOUDY because SHADE added some warmness to the scene that I didn't like.

When it comes to exposing for snow, I intentionally try to underexpose. I'd rather try and extract from the RAW instead of having a scene that's blown out and unrecoverable. When I'm out taking photos, I pay attention to the EV Bar. My usual goal is to take a picture with two ticks left of center on the EV Bar. This usually results in a fairly quick post-processing on the RAW file.

I don't believe my post processing is that elaborate, either. The majority of what I do is handled by the Pentax Photo Lab program. 99% of the time, all I do is change the white balance setting and adjust the curve to brighten the image but still keep some of the detail. I don't go overboard here because Photoshop Elements has easier & quicker tools to help brighten just the dark areas.

As I just eluded to, after doing adjustments on the RAW file, I might open the resulting JPEG in Photoshop Elements (6.0) to tweak brighten the darker areas (Adjust Lighting->Shadow/Highlights). It depends on the photo but I never brighten the shadow areas by more than 25% (typically it might be 10-15%).

I'll take a screen capture of one of the photos in Photo Lab showing the settings and post it in the thread tomorrow.

[Corros]

Great pictures! I love the contrast and the colors. Also the combination of snow and water is great!

[dazman]

Lovely series from 2 excellent lenses. Great detail & colour of beautiful scenery.

[Madhatter]

Very nice indeed, that last one would look good across my 2x22 monitors

[timbo13]

very nice, Steve. You got some good images in condtions that many wouldn't go out it.

[daacon]

A good break in indeed. I like the soft water flow in these shots. Both lenses produced some very nice images - I wonder what the constant was . Well done.

[gawan]

Love this series, very nice patterns with snow and the bare spots and the flowing water!

[scole]

Thanks for the additional kudos. Appreciate it..

Following up on a comment in my first reply, here's an example of my RAW processing using Pentax Photo Lab. First, here's one of the photos I posted loaded into Photo Lab as it was shot in the field:



Now here's the image after my minor tweaks in Photo Lab:



Things to note-

* WB changed from SHADE to CLOUDY.

* Contrast & Saturation both set at 1. I did this so often I finally got around to setting it as a default on the camera.

* The two point curve adjustment shown here is very typical of my adjustment. The 1st point added is the one in the lower left corner. This brings up the brightness most of the way without losing too much detail. The second point added is the one in the upper right. When pulled down into that basic curve position, it reduces the contrast (i.e. "dulls" the overall image) a bit and also helps retain some of the detail in the bright snow areas. If this point is dragged to the right, it will increase the dulling effect whereas movement to the left slightly increases the contrast.

I seem to be doing this less at the moment (probably because these are snow images) but sometimes I move the extreme righthand slider (triangle at extreme right end of X axis) back towards the left in order to brighten the images BEFORE adding curve points. If the image is REALLY dark, I'll move it two divisions left (value=192) but mostly it will probably be just one division (value=224). Conversely (and in this specific example), I've notched the lower slide up a few values to knock the brightness down just a tad.

This is basically all I do in Photo Lab. The very last step would be any applicable touch up in Photoshop Elements (dust removal, shadow/highlights). Two weeks ago, I was out taking more photos in the snow and came across a situation where I did my normal processing on a couple photos but the end result was still a bit too grey & dull. Someone suggested to me that I use the exposure option in the Adobe Camera RAW (ACR) plugin for Photoshop. I played around with it and, sure enough, it helped out. Specifically, I bumped the exposure up to 1.5 and the contrast up to 50% and I like the results. If you follow the link above, the two photos I re-worked with ACR will be #3 & 4 in the series.

Anyways, hope this helps!

Cheers-

Steve

[roentarre]

The first two shots are the most incredible in deed!

[prinze18]

Steve,

Thanks for posting the screen shots, this definitely help me try to understand how to achieve the image that you are had taken.

Right now, I am getting there.