Can you say hot?! I’m sitting here at home in Longmont, CO where it is currently 102 degrees at 6:30PM. At least I am lucky enough to be in the air conditioned comfort of my home. We are currently at 20 days at or above 90 degrees. Whoo hoo! We beat the record of 18 days which occured back in the late 1800’s. I feel bad for all those folks that may have been traveling by covered wagon that Summer. It hit 104 degrees at the airport. Supposedly this was only third time it has hit 104.
With that said, I’m grabbing the wife and kid and were heading to the mountains tomorrow. This past week, all I’ve been thinking about is Fall and how it can not come quick enough. We’ll probably do some hiking tomorrow in Rocky Mountain National Park. I’m also hoping to get some good landscape shots. This will be one of probably many trips to the park as Fall will indeed be here quickly. One of my favorite things to do in RMNP is to photograph the aspens. So, on that train of thought, here is a picture of an aspen grove near one of my favorite places to watch elk. My goal with this shot was to capture these fine trees with the sun backlighting them. In the era of digital cameras, it is much easier to pick the correct exposure although this is a relative concept. In this picture, I wanted to have bright sky backlighting the aspen leaves but not have the forground too dark. I believe in this instance I metered off of the backlight leaves trying not to meter too much of the bright sun. This gave me an exposure that was fairly close to the one I was going for. After the first shot, I zeroed in on my desired exposure by reviewing the histogram of my test shot and adjusting my shutter speed so that I had more of an exposure bias towards the shadows. It I biased the exposure for the sky the trees would be too dark in the foreground. Too far the other way and the sky would have been too bright. That is why exposure is so relative. It all depends on what you are shooting for and what your desired results are. As long as you use the tools available to you and understand how to control the basics, you can improve your photography drastically. Have fun this weekend and, just wait. Fall will be here soon!
Fall in Rocky Mountain National Park
