Archive for category Colorado
July 29, 2010 – Mediocre Image Thursday
Posted by Dave in Colorado, Fall Color, Picture of the Day on July 29, 2010
Fall color along Gold Camp Road
Thursday, July 29, 2010
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=681
Hey everyone! I’m going to start a new weekly feature here at Dave’s Picture of the Day. Every Thursday, I’m going to post a picture that’s totally, absolutely, horrendously mediocre. This is of course different from every other day because on Thursdays I’ll actually be calling them out as such. Exciting! I’ve got a ton of images that are mostly okay, as in they’re mostly in focus and such, but they just… don’t quite do it for me. They just aren’t quite interesting enough, or whatever.
So, today we’re going to kick it all off with this one! This was taken along Gold Camp Road, which is a dirt road that takes you from Colorado Springs out to Cripple Creek. Or, the other way around, if that’s your thing. There’s of course also a highway route that’s longer but much faster, but that one is not included in today’s picture. Only one route at a time, that’s what I always say. Why does it get the dubious honor of being the first image selected for mediocre-image-Thursday? Meh, I dunno. It’s got some nice elements, the nice bright yellow tree, all the detail in it. But the tree is sort of awkwardly placed. And the background isn’t really that interesting. It’s not a total train-wreck though, it definitely reminds me of when I was there, which can be a useful thing, if you’re trying to help yourself remember when you were somewhere. But it doesn’t really do a good job of reminding *you* when I was there, because you weren’t there.
Stay tuned, next week’s Thursday special will be even more not awesome!
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel XT, Canon 18-55mm kit lens. 1/125s, f/5.6, ISO 100. Focal length: 21mm.
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July 8, 2010 – Aspen Leaves
Posted by Dave in Colorado, Fall Color, Picture of the Day on July 8, 2010
Aspen Leaves
Thursday, July 8, 2010
http://davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=674
Another late/short post today. Sorry about that! These are aspen leaves in the fall, in Colorado.
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel XT, Quantaray 70-300mm lens. 1/320s, f/9.0, ISO 100. Focal length: 183mm.
Popularity: 10%
June 23, 2010 – Hahn’s Peak
Posted by Dave in Colorado, Mountains, Picture of the Day on June 23, 2010
Hahn's Peak
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1582
Wow, I just realized it’s been quite awhile since I’ve posted a picture from Colorado. It’s sad that I don’t live there anymore, and thus don’t have a steady drip of new pics from the area coming in, but still.
You’re looking at Hahn’s Peak, which is a little ways outside of Steamboat Springs. I was in the area a couple years ago for my wife’s family reuinion, so I got pretty familiar with the view up at this guy, since it pretty much dominates the valley where we were staying. This particular shot was taken from right near the trailhead that takes you up to the top, to that little fire lookout that you can see there. In a nice dose of typical Colorado late-summer weather, it was almost perfectly clear when we started our hike, but a few thunderstorms rolled in soon after we got down off the top. I guess it’s good that we weren’t running any later than we were, you definitely don’t want to be exposed out of the trees during an electrical storm…
In other news, I keep mentioning how disappointed I was in my Tamron 28-300 VC, but yet I keep posting pics from that lens. You may be wondering why that is. I mean, I certainly am. The reality is, that was the only lens I used for basically an entire year, and the non-VC version of that lens was my primary lens for essentially another year before that. So, all of the pictures I took from that timeframe used it. So while it’s true that the quality of most of those pics isn’t quite what I’d like, that’s the only pics I’ve got from then. Also, I’m still in the midst of really going through all of the pictures from then and doing whatever processing I’m going to do. (It’s tough to power through it when so many of the pics that I thought would be fantastic just aren’t because of my equipment, so I end up putting it off, A LOT.) So, even though this is a two year old picture from a lens I didn’t like, I just recently got around to digging it out of the pile. And there are plenty more where this one came from. So I’m sure you’ll continue to see them from time to time. Get comfortable.
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel XT, Tamron 28-300mm VC lens. 1/125s, f/14.0, ISO 100. Focal length: 154mm.
Popularity: 12%
February 3, 2010 – Lake Dillon
Posted by Dave in Colorado, Picture of the Day on February 3, 2010
Lake Dillon
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1128
So I wrote this joke to start off today’s post with. I got halfway through typing it, but it was sooo bad that I just couldn’t do it. I had to clear it out and start from scratch. I’m actually embarrassed that I was almost willing to put it out there. Wow.
This is Lake Dillon. It’s in Summit County, Colorado. It’s a man-made reservoir dealie, that sits between Silverthorne and Frisco and Breckenridge and Keystone. (The latter two being ski resorts.) If you follow the valley off the top left of the frame, you’ll be heading toward Breck. Meh, I’m running out of things to say today. There it is, enjoy!
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tokina 11-16mm lens. 1/250s, f/8.0, ISO 100. Focal length: 11mm.
Popularity: 18%
January 26, 2010 – Aspens
Posted by Dave in Colorado, Fall Color, Picture of the Day on January 26, 2010
Aspens in the Fall
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=654
I know, I know, I promised that I’d write something meaty today. Well.. have you considered vegetarianism? I ran out of time and content both today, so you’ll just have to keep waiting for another soliloquy. To make matters worse, I’m going to be on jury duty the next couple days, so unless I feel like tossing something up later on when I get home (umm, yeah, unlikely), this is all you’ll get until at least Friday. At least I’m setting you up properly for disappointment instead of springing it on you and leaving you sitting there wondering if something happened to me. Because I know you’d do that too, you’re always looking out for my back. That’s why we get along so well. I’m glad we’re friends. C’mere, gimme a big hug. Awwwwww.
These are some aspen trees, in Colorado. This has always been one of my personal favorites, I think because of all the little details in there. I love shots with a lot of little details, which also helps explain why it bothers me so much when pictures are just a little bit out of focus. And THAT helps explain why it’s not uncommon for me to over-sharpen a lot of my pictures. I tend to err way on the side of too much sharpening, which a lot of times makes a crappy result. But that’s okay, it’s something I’m working on. One of these days, when I actually sit down to learn how to use photoshop, I’ve promised myself that I’ll cut back on the sharpening a whole bunch, and instead spend all of my time playing around with levels and curves. I mean, that’s what all you photoshoppers do, right? Hmm, if I only knew…
One of these days I’m thinking about having a week dedicated to pics from you, my dear readers. I haven’t decided when, and I haven’t decided what a good theme would be, and I haven’t even decided yet if it’s a good idea. When I see super-cool-awesome pictures from other people, I sometimes feel bad, like “oh man, I could NEVER take a picture like that. I might as well just give up”, so I’m afraid doing so would send me into a tailspin that would take my whole weekend to recover from. So maybe I’ll make it a rule that you’re only allowed to submit crappy pictures. Yeah, actually, I kind of like that. It’ll be a “send me your best crappy picture” kind of thing. I can’t wait! Anybody have any thoughts on that? Possible themes? Let me know – either comment here, on my Facebook page, or just email me at dave (at) davefry (dot) net. We’ll see how this goes.
See you guys on (maybe) Friday!
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel XT, Quantaray 70-300 mm lens. 1/250s, f/7.1, ISO 100. Focal length: 50mm.
Popularity: 21%
December 16, 2009 – Mayflower Gulch
Posted by Dave in Colorado, Mountains, Picture of the Day on December 16, 2009
Mayflower Gulch, Summit County, Colorado
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1061
Well, it’s Wednesday. Awesome, right? Yeah, exactly. Today’s picture is from Mayflower Gulch, which is a little ways up a little trail/4×4 road just off Highway something-or-other in Summit County, Colorado, the one that goes from Copper Mountain to Leadville. It’s a really nice alpine basin, with the standard set (for Colorado, anyway) of broken down, abandoned houses from long-gone miners. I suppose there are a couple trails that leave from right around here and explore more remote places too. But I didn’t have time for that when I was there.
The weather was kind of a mixed bag when I was there. No rain (not yet anyway), but clouds that were constantly moving through. That meant that most of the time I had in the actual basin was spent under cloud cover. That actually affects your pictures quite a bit, because it makes a surprisingly large difference in your exposure whether your foreground is in the sunlight or in the shade. Generally, I prefer sunshine as you can imagine (although if you can get one of either your foreground or your background in the sun and the other in the shade, it can provide some really nice contrast), and I would have preferred that for the day I was here, but alas, you take what you can get. As a result, I had to expose the shot more than I would have liked, which resulted in losing almost all of the color out of the sky. (A polarizing filter would have helped, but I don’t yet have one that fits my wide-angle lens, which is what I was using here.) I really like that little spash of sunshine on the peak there in the distance, without it I think it would have just kind of been washed into the background, leaving a much less interesting shot. This way, it’s kind of peeking out, saying “HEY! I’m here too, damnit.” Wait, your pictures don’t talk to you? Oh.. Weird.
Anyway, in an unusual moment of foresight, I’ve come to realize that tomorrow I’ll be posting a picture of a flower and a bug, and Friday is going to be a really nice shot of Mt. Baker. So be sure to stick around for that before you abandon the picture of the day for ever and ever. Until then…
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tokina 11-16mm lens. 1/250s, f/6.3, ISO 100. Focal length: 16mm.
Popularity: 22%
December 2, 2009 – American Basin
Posted by Dave in Colorado, Flowers, Mountains, Picture of the Day on December 2, 2009
American Basin, southwestern Colorado
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=183
Hey again everyone. Today’s shot is from southwestern Colorado, the San Juan mountains specifically. This is a little spot called American Basin. It’s accessible via a rough and tumble 4×4 road, maybe 30 miles or so in. (Although that could be way off, this was taken 5 or 6 years ago, so the details are fuzzy.) The San Juans are awesome for a lot of reasons. Most notably is that, while most of the Rockies have been beaten down and smoothed out by the elements over the years, the San Juans are still all rocky and awesome. Also, they are probably the wildest mountains, meaning that whereas most of the rest of the Rockies are pretty accessible, there are still spots in the San Juans that are a real pain in the butt to get to. And, there are 4×4 roads EVERYWHERE, that go to REALLY pretty places. When I was there, I just had a regular Subaru sedan. It’s all wheel drive, and I got to a lot of places that, had I been rational, I wouldn’t have gone to. But really you need a true off-road rig to get to the places you really want to be. (In fact, a bunch of folks down there have jacked up Jeeps for rent for around 100 bucks a day – I want to go back and do that one of these days.)
Today’s picture is an example of using depth of field to focus the viewer’s eye on the true subject of the picture. On the surface, lacking depth of field seems like a bad thing. I mean, why wouldn’t you want *everything* in focus, right? But, in a lot of cases, like this one, the thing you really want to highlight would then just get lost in the details of everything else going on. So, in this picture, your eye still sees and takes in all of the mountainy stuff going on in the background (which sets the context), but our eyes are naturally repelled by the fuzziness, and are instead drawn to the area of sharpness in the corner. Another use of a shorter depth of field is as a method of adding contrast. If your foreground and your background are the same color and contain the same kind of pattern or similar detail, it can be hard for your eye to distinguish them. But if you change up a couple of the aspects (color, sharpness, pattern, brightness, etc), it can make them really stand out. Which then provides depth. Which is hot.
I’m afraid to go back and read all this stuff I just wrote. I wrote it in about 6 different sittings, with a couple bathroom breaks (yeah, a couple!) and various other distractions thrown in. It may not sound good. But that’s fine. I’ll have another shot tomorrow.
Notes: Canon PowerShot S230 (Point and shoot). 1/400s, f/7.1, ISO unknown.
Popularity: 17%
November 30, 2009 – Maroon Bells and Maroon Lake
Posted by Dave in Colorado, Fall Color, Mountains, Picture of the Day on November 30, 2009
Maroon Bells and Maroon Lake
Monday, November 30, 2009
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=641
Hey everyone, welcome back from Thanksgiving! I hope you were all able to give heartfelt thanks for all the good stuff in your life, and passive-aggressively attack those who are guilty for everything else. I was, and man, it was awesome.
So, first off, I do feel like it’s worth mentioning that no, I have not posted this picture before. I have, however, posted at least a couple that are really similar. That’s just the way it goes around here. When I go places, I take a lot of pictures, that are all just a little bit different. The differences are usually subtle enough that you won’t notice them unless you’re looking at two versions right next to each other. But what usually happens is that half of the subtle differences that I like better are in one version, and half in the other, so I can’t in good conscience pick one over the other. So I usually keep both hanging around. That’s exactly how it happens that all 10 if the top 10 most highly-rated pictures of Colorado in Rate Dave’s Photos are pictures of the Maroon Bells and Maroon Lake taken on the same day. This one’s not QUITE that similar, (it’s vertical, whereas the ones I’ve posted here before were horizontal), but the point still stands.
If you actually read the text here on potd.com closely (I’m not sure how many of you actually do), you probably noticed that I failed to post a picture last Tuesday as I had promised. It’s a long story as to why, but it involved running out of time and almost missing a flight. But, before things got quite so desperate, I had planned on posting this picture. Mostly because I figured it was a safe one to go ahead and post with a minimal write-up. So since I was already mentally committed to using it, I figured I’d go ahead and use it today.
This is of course a view of the Maroon Bells and Maroon Lake, just outside of Aspen, Colorado. I think I’ve actually posted three Maroon Bells pictures before, so if you’re interested in seeing those, search for “Maroon Bells” in the search box on the upper right. I would normally link to them here, but I’m feeling a bit lazy today.
But, since I actually do have time to do a write-up today, I’ll go ahead and say something about it. And here we go.
There are a lot of different kinds of photo opportunities. There are the subtle ones, where something catches your eye in the middle of an ordinary day. And there’s the ones where due to some unique circumstance, like a crazy storm rolling through or a nice sunset, something ordinary is turned into something extraordinary. There’s mood shots, where for whatever reason the scene in front of you does a perfect job of encapsulating the aura of a place and thus makes a good story. The list goes on and on. But somewhere in that list is the lookout point. A well-marked spot where the general consensus is that the view kicks ass. Doesn’t really matter the time of day, time of year, or weather. It’s just an awesome viewpoint that makes for a great picture. That’s what this place is. The natural elements are all there in such a way as to make it idiot-proof to get an awesome shot. I’m not really sure where I’m going with this, but I do want to make sure I somehow work it into this paragraph that you should take the time to try out a lot of different stuff in such a situation. Try taking it horizontally, try it vertically, try it with all sorts of different layouts of foreground. Try it with everything. Because you’re using digital (you’re using digital, right?), so who cares how many you take? And for god’s sake, don’t delete them on the camera before you’ve had a chance to see them on the big screen! The ONLY excuse for that is if your card is full and you need to take more pictures. But it’s WAY too easy to miss something on the little tiny camera screen that will turn an image that you think is only ho-hum into something fantastic. It very often happens that the real winners, my favorite shots of the day, are not the ones I expected to be so when I was taking them.
Okay, lunch time. I’ve rambled at you enough for one day. Thanks for coming back after almost a whole week of no posts! I promise I’ll do it again soon.
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel XT, 18-55 mm kit lens. 1/320s, f/7.1, ISO 100. Focal length: 25mm.
Popularity: 18%
November 13, 2009 – Garden of the Gods and Pikes Peak
Posted by Dave in Colorado, Picture of the Day on November 13, 2009
Garden of the Gods and Pikes Peak
Friday, November 13, 2009
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1081
Welcome back, I’ve missed you all! Well, most of you. Today’s picture is from Colorado Springs. The foreground is the Garden of the Gods (specifically, Kissing Camels), and in the back you’re looking at Pikes Peak. I’d love to be able to tell you how hard I had to work to get this picture, that I had to hike miles and miles into the wilderness, blah blah blah. But no, I was driving by, saw that it looked really nice, so I stopped in the parking lot of the Garden of the Gods visitor’s center. Oh well, they can’t all be exotic, right?
Remember: if you’re trying to take pictures where you want your foreground to be super dark and you want to be able to see the color and detail in the sky, you need to underexpose it, sometimes severely. If I had just pointed the camera and let the light meter do the work, you’d be able to see the foreground, but the sky would be an uninteresting white blob. In general, the best way to ruin the color in a picture is to overexpose it. And, if you ask me, every camera I’ve ever owned likes to overexpose your shots by default. I mean, there are exceptions where, for a particular shot, it gets it right, but I’ve found that I’m much happier with the results if I leave my exposure compensation on -1/3rd stop all the time. Sometimes I bump it back even more. Having vivid colors is more important to me than having all of the detail be “properly” illuminated. Who decided what illumination is “proper” anyway? Not sure. But everyone seems to agree on it, except for me. Anyway, there’s a couple quick tricks that you can use to bump down the exposure if you find that a picture you want is coming out too bright. The first is of course to set your camera’s exposure compensation. Bump it down to -1 or more, see if that helps. Of course, that only works in manual mode. If you want to stick with automatic (or you have a camera that won’t let you set the exposure compensation), just point the camera at the sky, and push (and hold) the shutter in halfway. That should lock in the focus and exposure settings on the sky (which is typically much brighter than everything else – thus making the camera think it needs to allow less light in to the sensor). Then, frame your shot as you like. Voila – nice, rich colors. Probably worth mentioning: this isn’t that effective if your foreground isn’t far away, since when you lock in your settings against the sky, your camera will almost certainly be focusing on infinity. I could go into more detail about what I’m talking about here, but I’ve used up my quota for keystrokes today.
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 lens. 1/320s, f/14.0, ISO 200. Focal length: 16mm.
Popularity: 25%
October 12, 2009 – Aspens in Autumn
Posted by Dave in Colorado, Fall Color, Picture of the Day on October 12, 2009
Aspens in autumn
Monday, October 12, 2009
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=680
Hey everyone, it’s fall now! I mean, it’s actually been fall for a little while already, but it really feels like it now. Probably because I took the wife and kid out for a hike yesterday though a bunch of color. Not this color, no. I haven’t gone through the pictures yet, I’ll try to post one tomorrow.
These are aspens, from Colorado. They usually turn around the end of September, and they go golden yellow, like these here. It’s a beautiful sight, well worth a trip out there if you can time it right. (But, they are only at their peak for a weekend or two, so that’s a lot harder than it sounds, especially when you consider that the weather may just suck, in which case you’re out of luck.) They can be really magical though, especially in the late afternoon golden sunshine, when a little breeze rolls through and sets all those little leaves quaking, which makes the trees look like they’re shimmering and sparkling. Good stuff.
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel XT, Quantaray 70-300mm lens. 1/320s, f/5.6, ISO 100. Focal length: 248mm.
Popularity: 14%
October 7, 2009 – Loveland Pass
Posted by Dave in Colorado, Mountains, Picture of the Day on October 7, 2009
Hiking near Loveland Pass, Colorado
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1125
Today’s picture is based on another request from last week, this time for something from Colorado. That one’s more of an ongoing, standing request more than anything else, but whatever. This is the view along one of the trails that leaves from Loveland Pass, which is along Highway 6 in Summit County. (As in, this is just up the road from Arapahoe Basin and Keystone.)
One of the things I love the most about Colorado is how accessible the high country is. I mean, sure, there are plenty of spots that are super remote and you have to work pretty hard to get to, but the number of spots where you can get near or even above treeline without even leaving your car is phenomenal. (That’s not even mentioning the places you can get assuming you’re willing to hike for a few miles – incredible!) I’m so jealous about that, you don’t even know. Washington has some mind-blowing high country, but the mountains are so steep and rugged out here that it’s almost always a real pain in the butt to get there. (I’m talking 4- or 5-thousand foot ascents.) So, being able to get to a spot like this when you’ve only got a couple hours to hike on the way to the airport makes me smile.
Now, on to other business. I’m sorry to keep bringing this up, but… About those calendars. A couple of you asked for calendars via Facebook messages, but when I wrote back, I never heard anything from you! So if that sounds like you, please check your Facebook inbox, you’ve probably got a message from me waiting. Basically, I just need an address to mail them to. Shoot me an email – dave (at) davefry.net.
That’s it!
Map: http://bit.ly/PM3lb
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tokina 11-16mm lens. 1/250s, f/10.0, ISO 100. Focal length: 11mm.
Popularity: 17%
September 14, 2009 Part 2 – Maroon Bells and Maroon Lake
Posted by Dave in Colorado, Fall Color, Mountains, Picture of the Day on September 14, 2009
Maroon Bells and Maroon Lake
Monday, September 14, 2009. 2 of 2.
http://davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=638
Hey everyone. This is the first time I’ve actually posted two pictures in one day. I’m not really sure what led me to do a 2nd post today, but as long as I was sitting there on my couch staring at the wall, I figured I’d toss up a picture aimed at those fans of the Picture of the Day who are on the other side of the world. Yes, I’m talking to you, Petah Tiqva, Israel.
This is another picture of the Maroon Bells and Maroon Lake near Aspen, Colorado. And no, I haven’t posted this one before. Yes, I’ve posted at least a couple that are very very similar to this one. But not this one. The biggest difference between this one and one in particular that I posted awhile ago is the people at the far right edge of the frame. I had found a framing of the view that I liked, and the light was perfect. But those people JUST WOULDN’T MOVE. It was maddening, really. There were people lined up along the whole shore giving them the stink eye, but they were totally oblivious. They were just chilling out, right there, right in the middle of everyone’s view. I tried to crop them out, but that didn’t feel right, because it ended up cutting a lot of those rocks in the foreground in half, so it broke up the picture’s story. Very frustrating.
Thankfully though, they did end up moving after about 10 or 20 minutes. So I was able to get the shot I wanted in the end, all was well, high fives all around. But still, annoying. Keep that in mind if you’re ever hanging out in a really pretty place where there are a lot of folks setting up pictures. Definitely don’t hold back from checking out the stuff you want to see, but try to at least keep moving. Don’t find a nice central spot in everybody’s way and then just hang out there. Garrrr.
Anyway, off to bed for me, see you guys tomorrow at the normal time.
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel XT, 18-55 mm kit lens. 1/250s, f/5.6, ISO 100. Focal length: 22mm.
Popularity: 10%