Blue Be Gone

With the oppressive sunny blue skies overhead while in CO, I went under the canopy to get some intimate shots or zoomed in on only the tree patches for their various colors.

#1 Taken off the South Mineral Creek Road near Silverton. One of the few places I found with various colors grouped together.

#2
On the shady west side of Owl Creek pass, an area of aspens with whiter bark was encountered.

#3
Closer to the ground.

#4 Aspen Trunks
It took a while to find several trunks to line up without gaps.

#5
I liked how the white trunks showed through the opening in the leaves.

#6
Lastly, off CR5 near Sneffels, this small cluster of firs was seen poking above the sea of yellow aspens.

Any C&C and suggestions welcome. Thanks.

All good stuff, Doug! I too have spent more time than usual at the telephoto end this year. The biggest winner here to me is the aspen trunks.

Hi Doug,

Compositionally, most look good, but those blue skies we had much of the time sure cause contrastiness! This year, most of my best shots came before sunrise and after sunset (check my blog for some examples). I'm with Jackson...the aspen trunks also have my vote!

I like the aspen trunks, too, and also agree with Ken about the harsh sunny light. But the second and third ones only need very minor tweaks to be mind-blowing. Both of them have a substantial blue cast, most evidenced in the tree trunks of #2. If you neutralize that, I think #2 would be my fave.

Todd, repost of #2 with increased temp. Hopefully "blue be gone"
I did not notice the blue in 3 until you said something. Thanks.

Now give me something between the two. Make those white trunks white!

agree with Todd on #2 and really love # 6. It's fun to look around for other compositions. I did the same this year and came away quite pleased. You should be too!

Todd, in ViewNX, set WB to shade, used +.7EV, low D-lighting, converted to jpg. Then in PSE7, still added two clicks increase on the temp slider after adjusting brightness, contrast, saturation.

Personally i liked the blue--dont mind Todd, he's on an anti-blues kick (too much rock n roll, not enuff soul )
#3 and #6 are awesome! Great set all around.

The last looks best to me (so far). The second attempt sure looks muddy yellow in retrospect.

Beautiful colors all the way around Doug. I like #6 and and the warmth of the repost just above. Nice job.

Doug, I like the redo of #2. It looks very natural now. I couldn't help but wonder whether you shot that image with a greater depth of field. The out-of-focus tree trunks did not look quite right. Maybe really blurred or sharp might be the ticket. Like Jody, though, what the heck do I know?

One of the advantages to a crisp blue sky was your ability to capture some nice closeups.
I like 'em all, but the aspen trunks are also my favorites. Your second redo of #2 really pops and looks spot on to me. I like the more limited DOF, but what the heck do I know?
I think that #4 would be an excellent candidate for a b&w conversion.

#6 is my fav of this bunch. I really like the evergreens surrounded by aspen.

As presented, I really like your repost, but the Aspen trunk image has the most potential, I think. I just love the comp on that one, but it seems a bit flat as shown here.

Some amazing color! #3 & 4 for me. Those trunks are sweet!

Paul, I reworked the trunks with some added D-lighting. Seems to have helped with the flatness.

John, Converted the trunks to B&W. Preferences and suggestions?

I prefer the b&w and might suggest you ramp up the whites a bit.
Attached screen shot shows the yellows boosted all the way up to achieve that.

#6 is my favorite followed by the B&W version of the aspen trunks a la John M. It is NOT easy to get 'em to line up right and you did it right! Blue skies make us better photographers for sure