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As I walked around the railing for this overlook to Diablo Lake along the North Cascades Scenic Highway, I tried out different angles and views to best visualize this mountain setting, especially with the outcropping to the near front. While I couldn't eliminate the view with the evergreens rising up, I could take advantage of them to complement what amounted to an arrowhead or point. A version of a leading line to draw a person's eye to then look across Diablo Lake and take in the ridges and mountains. For post-processing, I used some CEP filters (Low Key, Polarization and Graduated Neutral Density) which seemed to best bring out the look for this mountain setting.
I just got back from a trip to North Cascades National Park. Had a great time hiking and exploring around there. This is Diablo Lake taken from the Thunder Knob Trail. I couldn't believe how green the water was. Looked like something out of the Canadian Rockies.
After some initial work in Capture NX2, I used a CEP 4.0 recipe I came across that brought out that "pow" especially to the skies and clouds above. I then worked with some adjustments to lighting with the nearby forest.
The image itself is a view looking to the northwest across Diablo Lake at an overlook along the Thunder Knob Trail. Off in the distance are ridges of the Picket Range and Eldorado Massif with Davis Peak in the middle.
An image captured at the end of the Thunder Knob Trail with an overlook to Diablo Lake and nearby ridges and far off peaks. For the image itself, I decided to play around with some CEP filters in Capture NX2, using a Sunshine one on the mountains to give some contrast of hues and tones and then a Low Key CEP filter for the overcast skies and nearby forest of trees.
The day prior had been a very rainy day with low clouds and blah kind of colors across this overlook in Ross Lake National Recreation Area, but this day...what a view with the partly cloudy skies and sun out! Metering and composing this image was more a matter of finding the right exposure while in Manual mode and angling my SLR camera slightly downward. I found that angled view brought out much better a sweeping view looking to the nearby outcropping of land. The eyes would then be leading to the clouds covering portions of Diablo Lake before finishing this mountain setting with the ridges and peaks off in the distance. The only thing missing is the whip of wind blowing around with a cool breeze and the slight scent of pine from the evergreens in the air.
There's definitely something to be said for impressive views after enjoying a hike in the woods of this part of Ross Lake National Recreation Area and the North Cascades National Park Service Complex! This is a view looking to the northwest across Diablo Lake with Davis Peak off in the distance and partially hidden in the clouds. What I was trying to capture with this image was a mountain setting that I'd seen in many postcards in the visitor center and other places on this trip in Washington. The idea was to have mountains all around and a lake nestled in the valley below with blue skies with clouds above. I later used some CEP filters (Low Key, Polarization and Graduated Neutral Density) which seemed to best bring out this look even with the bright sunlight from the early afternoon.
While I had a unobstructed view at the main ending point for the hike along Thunder Knob Trail, here I decided to find a point where I could use some nearby trees. I decided then to open up my aperture and back up, zooming in to capture this image.
For the image itself, I wanted this to be just a simple image that captures the setting I saw quite often with turquoise/green lakes nestled in the mountains of the North Cascades of Washington. In some ways, it was like views I've seen while hiking in many national parks and forests with a lake off in the distance but slightly obscured by the nearby vegetation and forests.
Quite often before I head out on any vacation trip, I look at images on Flickr and the 500px, wanting to gain an appreciation of some points for images that I might want to capture...and on this particular trip to North Cascades National Park. One of those images was this view of Diablo Lake looking to the southwest from an overview point along the North Cascades Scenic Highway. I even decided to digitally paint this setting on my iPad using Adobe Photoshop Draw. That's the backstory of this image...and seeing this for the first time with my own eyes was awe inspiring, to say the least! For this image, I decided to try out this "Ansel Adams Look" I'd read about in Jason Odell's book on Capture NX2. The idea is to work with the LCH editor, making some adjustments, and then use a Black point and White point before converting to black & white.
An image captured at the end of the Thunder Knob Trail with an overlook to Diablo Lake and nearby ridges and far off peaks. I later used this "Ansel Adams Look" I'd read about in Jason Odell's book on Capture NX2. The idea is to work with the LCH editor, making some adjustments, and then use a Black point and White point before converting to black & white. After that, I did a graduated neutral density CEP filter to the upper and bottom portions of the image to bring more of a focus to the lake waters nestled in this mountain setting.
A conversion to black & white using Capture NX2 where I used some color filters to bring out a much richer tonal contrast for the final image.
I decided to try out this "Ansel Adams Look" I'd read about in Jason Odell's book on Capture NX2. The idea is to work with the LCH editor, making some adjustments, and then use a Black point and White point before converting to black & white. I then added a graduated neutral density filter to the upper and lower portions of the image to bring more a focus to the lake nestled below with the mountains and ridges all around.
While I stood at the Diablo Lake Overlook, I had time to both take in this amazing view as well as capture numerous images. I found angling my SLR camera brought out a much better view with the sweeping look across this portion in the North Cascades National Park Complex. Here I decided to try out this "Ansel Adams Look" I'd read about in Jason Odell's book on Capture NX2. The idea is to work with the LCH editor, making some adjustments, and then use a Black point and White point before converting to black & white. I added a reverse graduated neutral density filter to complete the image.
Here’s another trail shot from the Thunder Knob Trail in North Cascades National Park, Washington.
The original set of TIFF images I captured I brought into Aurora HDR Pro and used a template I'd created for a natural, realistic type look. I then brought the HDR image into Capture NX2 where I used a technique I'd read from Jason Odell in his book on Capture NX2. He described it as an Ansel Adams look using and LCH editor and then adding Black points and White points before converting to black & white.
I captured this at the Diablo Lake Overlook in Ross Lake National Recreation Area and North Cascades National Park Service Complex.
In early June, my wife and daughters packed up our van and we headed west. We had almost two weeks on the road before meeting family near Portland for our flights for a ten day trip to Alaska.
Along the way we camped at Ross Lake Recreation Area at Newhalem. We lucked out on timing as Oregon and Washington schools were still in session, so we enjoyed the first week of high elevation snow melts with few other people. It was a glorious area.
Beauty abounds.
When I said I was taking a break from posting pictures from the North Cascades National Park, I forgot that I had taken some with my Holgo 120N for my Photography Squared Project. No worries, its a beautiful park might as well share it right?
The North Cascades with the largest collection of glaciers in the lower 48, has often been called the American Alps. It's no secret why either, with its glacier-clad peaks rising almost vertically from forested valleys. Snow abounds in the region as well, with much of the parks visitor access being restricted to a short summer season between late July through early October. Highway 20, or the North Cascades Highway, the main road through the park itself closes for much of the winter season. Perhaps that is why its one of the least visited U.S. National Parks, even with its close proximity to Seattle and Vancouver B.C.
Unfortunately Roxy, Verity, and Ethan are missing from the picture. Next year we need to make sure to get a shot of all the kids. And one with the adults too.