Idaho Landscapes
A gorgeous sunny April morning in the Boise National Forest. The air was clean, crisp and chilly. The scene was tranquil and stunning. This was technically a very difficult photograph to create. A long exposure would give me the water motion desired, but the bright sun could easily over-expose the image. To reduce the exposure, I stopped down to f/22, which provided a nice sun spire, and used two ND filters by Fotodiox Pro on my Tamron 15-30 to capture the wide angle scene. Of course you will need a solid tripod to steady your camera for a long exposure. I used the Manfrotto Befree which is a great light travel tripod. In post, I brought up the shadows and reduced highlights. I hope you enjoy viewing the images as much as I enjoyed photographing it. You can see this view along the 21 highway between Boise and Stanley, Idaho.
Soshone Falls are known as the Niagra of the West. it's not hard to see why. The light band on the right center is a rainbow. Evil Keneveil jumped the gorge down the way from these falls in the 1970's. Do you remember that?
The sun played peek a boo on the snow during our drive through the forest. Several years ago there was a fire here, and you can see the trees are still recovering. I was captivated by the contrast of the soft white puffy clouds and the stark burned trees, and lines in the snow.
Sawtooth Mountains, Sawtooth Recreation Area, Idaho
The Sawtooth Mountains are stunning. To be honest, I did not know much about them before this trip. They are jagged as the name implies and can be seen from several roads as you drive through the area. If you want a clean photograph in the winter, you'll have to hike in by foot, as the roads are closed. Trust me, it was worth the hike on a beautiful sunny spring day after a snowfall!
Macro photography allows you to see a wonderful shallow depth of field. The powder from the stamen is sharp and the pedals are soft and out of focus even though they are less than an inch away.
Sawtooth Mountains, Sawtooth Recreation Area, Idaho
To capture this shot I had to hike in several miles and stand on a frozen lake which you can see in the foreground. It was a bit dicey as I didn't know how frozen the lake was. There were foot prints further in on the lake where I did not go. I'm not a small man, and didn't fee like swimming without my dry suit. I think the end result was worth it to get a clean shot without foreground distractions. What do you think?
