Boulder Pass

This has to be my favorite image I’ve taken so far. A short hike with the family, stopping for coffee and hot cocoa in the Fall air. We stumbled upon this scene (all credit to Shelbi for finding it) and it was absolutely magical. I finally understood that feeling of excitement and awe Gavin described when composition and lighting coming together. Fallen leaves, spilling down into the crevice between two boulders…the light spilling in between and softly illuminating a narrow, colorful passage.

Natural Window

Sometimes I bite off more than I can chew…such as this natural “window” I found, made by root growth over a large boulder. The waterfall flow wasn’t entirely impressive (barely more than a trickle), so I decided to step things up with a better composition. Eighteen focus-stacked layers later, I have an image that looks like…well…like I focus stacked too many layers. There are some blurry spots, still some editing to do. Right now, it’s a “work in progress” and my goal is to make it NOT look obnoxiously fake. Next time, maybe it would be more appropriate to take a few steps back and zoom in, as opposed to getting up close and personal with the moss.