Revisiting Glacier National Park

Yesterday was a 'travel' day from Kalispell to Coeur d'Alene.  We took some road shots but Tom does not feel  they are 'share worthy'.  The day off allowed us to go back and revisit some earlier photos.  Tom really wanted to make something of the ones he shot coming down the mountain from Hidden Lake.  We both shot, but man oh man, the beauty around us was tough to capture.  Tom always brackets his shots so he can work with the dynamic range that is not easily captured. I seldom bracket so I missed some opportunities to do something with my shots.  Plus, most of his shots were taken at 15mm with his fish-eye lens and that offers a huge array of editing options in post.

Oh, and mom did get back on the blue glacial water!  I read through all of her references and will summarize it as follows: glacial ice is compressed and that changes how it reflects color.  Melted glacial water must maintain at least some of that compression.  There is, of course, much more to it than that and you can pursue that question to your heart's content.  One thing for sure, glacial water is different.  Thanks so much mom.

Enjoy these photos.  For those who do not like post processing beyond cropping and a couple of basic edits . . . just check back tomorrow.

The fisheye lens, like most wide angle lens, creates the illusion of the object being very far away.  The mountain in this image is not really as far back as it appears.

 

 

I went back to one image that I really wanted to capture just as it was.  Well, not quite, but you get the idea of the mountain ranges behind the lake.  The challenge is that the sky is blown out.  Of the ten images I took trying, this one is the best.

I also really wanted to show the green rock with water coming down the side.  Next to the mountain in the back it as just gorgeous.  Problem with the late evening shot is that to capture the detail in the rock I blew out the sky . . . again.  I had another shot where the sky was just perfect but the rock and water were nothing but silhouetts. Tom showed me how to blend the two images leaving the sky from one and adding the lower part of the other.  Now it looks like the way I saw it. This approach is quite different than HDR and in this case it salvaged a photo without taking it into HDR processing.

Tom loves to try different ways of looking at an image.  That most likely contributes to him being a much better photographer as he can easily see post editing options as he takes the photo.  Here is one image he played around with and I like it.

This morning we are in Coeur d'Alene and headed to Palouse, WA.  It is cloudy here and the weather in Palouse is forecast to be cloudy and rainy for the next several days. Nothing unusual for us!!

Wish you the best week ahead.  Miss friends and family but know that you are there cheering us on.  We are having fun and wish to share.