Molas Lake

The wife and I took a little half day trip up to Silverton yesterday. She needed to get out of the house and I wanted to see how the fall colors were progressing in the Silverton area. As I mentioned in the fall colors thread, Silverton is looking pretty good right now. Here's a shot of Molas Lake on the way there. While it's hardly a hot spot for fall color shooting, the aspens on the hillside behind the lake were peaking. Unfortunately, I had to choose my composition carefully in an effort to hide all the human elements on the shoreline (the dead tree trunk on the left was hiding a couple sitting at a picnic table, for example). As most of you know, this is a tough lake to shoot because of that. Still, I thought this was a pretty scene.

I spent the last half hour of daylight up at the Molas Pass rest area watching a wicked storm envelope Silverton and the adjacent range. I thought I'd finally get some cool lightning shots as I thought I caught a few good displays on my long exposures (which varied from 5 to 20 seconds). When I got home, I was very disappointed to see that hardly any of the lightning showed up in my shots! What gives with that? The image above was the only thing I could really show for my efforts.

Nice comp Guy! I know what you mean about hiding the human elements. Wish I lived closer to western slopes!

Very nice shots, and the first one is the epitome of a perfect day in the high country. Maybe Stan or TC will kick in with some advice on the lightning shots.

I really like the first one, Guy. Interesting and unique composition. Killer sky, too.

Love them both Guy especially #2, maybe the ambient light was too bright to show the lightning? Although it doesn't look like it from the above shot.

Here's another of Silverton for those who want to see current conditions (there's nothing new or exciting compositionally here). Given recent discussions on the topic, I should also disclose that this was a two image blend (using layers and masks in photoshop).

The 2nd shot is pretty awesome!

Several really nice shots. I vote for the first one. Great idea to move the stomp over in front of the folks at the table.

I like the drama in the second one. Might want to consider adding it to the monthly theme post.

#2 is definitely a keeper. Nice job catching the lightning.