Fall Colors 2012 - Colorado Set

A collection of photos from a ten day trip through Colorado. The trip began in Moab Utah where I was offroading with friends over the weekend. So the photo side of the trip really began on Tuesday 10/2. Yeah, seems all my offroad friends like trailing treeless areas on prime weekends :) But I love them!


1 ) Ridgway Roundup

This first shot (View Larger Photo) is from Ridgway on 10/3. I was shooting along CR-5 when I noticed a couple cowboys coming down from the trees. I quickly reframed and took a series as the cattle was rounded up and moved into a corral back in the trees.

The comp is a bit tight, as I had a prime attached and it was all I could do to get the mountains and cattle in the same frame. However it is a great moment. Now if I can have the ranch text me some advance warning :)


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2) Last Dollar Quilt

A view from Last Dollar Road on the Telluride Side taken 10/2.

I have been wrestling with the comp, but I love the color quilt of reds, oranges, and yellows.. I have been horizontal, vertical, lots of rock, and so on. Maybe crop a bit off the left. Open to any ideas, including raspberries!

3) Ponderosa Vista

Also from Last Dollar Road, this is one that I love large and full screen. But I do not expect it to be loved by everyone. Maybe its something like music - louder is better :). Yeah, no.


(might have been brighter when I see it here on forum)

(or maybe not. now looking at them on my office monitor, which is horribly miscalibrated, but they seem almost too bright anyway)

4 )

From a sequence of images also on CR-5. It was a great day out there, with some snow remaining from a storm the previous week. Insert John Denver music here.

5 ) Beaver Lake

My first shots of the trip were on 10/2 as I departed Moab Utah. The east side was looking good (slightly past peak) so I wandered up the road and found Beaver Lake. I have not done many reflections, call this one of my first serious attempts. In hindsight I need to bring a pool rake to clear some of the leaves in the pond.

6 ) Hangin On.

Wood Lake near Telluride was fairly past peak when I got there. With no real time to find another location before sunset, I began playing with very tight shots. Here is a macro shot of some leaves still hanging on.

7 ) Pagosa Springs

By Friday 10/5 I had traveled to Pagosa Springs. There was some nice color here. Love the fence line. Clouds were a bit varied. I am a bit apprehensive about where to crop on the right; I settled on centering on the middle tree.

8 ) Hermosa Cliffs

Also on Friday 10/5. The Hermosa Cliffs north of Durango were glowing. I have a number of other shots, but this one feels the best. I came down off the road to take the shot from a rustic fence. The small pond was also a draw.


Thank-you all for the fine fall color reports. I finished the trip in Albuquerque at the Hot Air Balloon Fiesta. While that is another collection of photos, I have to say that is an awesome way to finish up a fall romp through the Aspen.

Once I get some time to post-process, I'll have another stack of Zion shots to drop.

C&C away!

Karl, #2 is, IMO, the best one of all, and I think you might consider cropping down from the top to eliminate most of the gray mountain side. The palette of colors in those trees are where your "money" is.

Thanks Howard. That is a nice direction. I just have to let go of that rocky area. Here is a repost of #2, substantially cropped.

2 ) Last Dollar Quilt (repost-crop)

I like the compositions on the first five and especially like the repost. There's some great patterns and colors there. The lighting does seem a little harsh on a lot of these, like they weren't shot in the golden hour shortly before sunset or shortly after sunrise.

Good observation Grant.

Yeah, circumstances didnt work out on light. I planned Tuesday night at Wood Lake and that was a dud, with no time to reposition (maybe I should have gone back to Last Dollar Telluride side?) Wednesday afternoon I was up at Owl Creek where I had to abandon due to being sick - then hid at Purgatory Ski Area until Friday morning.

I got a better lay of the land and a better sense of timing - so next year I might hit more of those golden hours. Nevertheless it was a blast. Thank-you for the C&C !!

Nice set Karl--as noted the light isn't your friend here, but the comps are all good.

I certainly do not believe that the light was your enemy here at all. The landscape is pretty evenly lit on almost all of them and the compositions themselves are quite good.
The only one of your series that I don't care for is #6. A pretty fine set here Karl, and certainly better than what I got this autumn!

Karl, 2&3 for me. I could also see making a pano out of 3 with a hefty bottom crop. How was the lighting at sunrise and sunset?

Doug - attached a belated but well suggested hefty bottom crop.

How were the sunsets and sunrises? - When I think back, between hanging out with good offroad friends the first weekend; sharing their stomach virus mid-week; then a storm system the later weekend - I had very little opportunity. But I recall they probably were pretty decent - I remain bummed missing a likely great Wednesday sunset near Owl Creek Pass so I could embed myself at the Ridgway Shell.

I had some similar offroad groups commits during Zion. Why they schedule events in the desert on key fall weekends?!! Well, its all good offroad friends. The good news is that I learned some new areas for the future.

So since then - I posted Quilt and Vista on the OP Nature Colors contest, searchable by my name (needs some love). And of course a couple ended up Zion experiments ended up in our forum's contest. Mostly I have been building a new desktop so I can actually use production tools again. The recent releases of new tools (LR4, DxO8, all that support 5D3 raws) completely crippled my old laptop. I can now use sliders again!

Paria Plateau / Page in January anyone? Bisti around Prez Day?