The Whites

lenticular Sky

Tis the season, and is always true of this time of year, I am overwhelmed.  In addition to the last-minute holiday orders, I am also trying to find time to get ready for my winter Lightroom CCClassic course.   Lightroom is such an amazingly capable course that it is always a challenge to cover all the essential features of the program, and this year, as always, I must catch up with the new tools that have been recently added. 

I have a lot of work to do and complicating my efforts is the requirement to come up every week with a fresh blog article.  This week I will try to simplify by devoting my blog to a gallery of images from our recent week in New Hampshire’s White Mountains.

Bob's 70th

Last weekend a group of our friends gathered in a house in Glen New Hampshire to celebrate Bob’s 70^th birthday.  Bob is not the oldest member of our group, but he is DEFINITELY older than me, at least for a little longer.  It seemed like a great excuse for a trip.  

John studying the Manual

The house was great, with plenty of room for 5 couples, including my daughter Abigail and her husband Grayson.  We had wonderful views of the mountains, including a glimpse of Mount Washington.  Given the culinary talents of this group, we didn’t need to go out to get great food.  There was plenty to eat and, of course, because we were celebrating Bob, the desserts had to be amazing.

Mt Adams Birches

The weather was sunny and not terribly cold.  Glen is north of North Conway and Jackson on the eastern side of the White Mountains.  Everyone had a broad range of choices for winter activities, including cross country skiing, snow shoeing and hiking.  Of course, I also found some time for photography. On Saturday Susan and I drove up Route 16 enjoying incredible views of the mountains.  I hoped to hike in to capture images of winter waterfalls, but Glen Ellis Falls was snowed in. 

Tuckerman Ravine Trail

Abby and Grayson

We hiked up the Tuckerman Ravine Trail to see the Crystal Cascade, but the flow was largely frozen over.  The best part of the hike was the social interactions.  On the way up, we ran into Abigail and Grayson  as they were coming back from a much longer hike to the base of the Ravine.  

Frozen Crystal Cascade

On the way down we saw Larry Davis.  Larry is a Mount Monadnock legend, who is featured prominently in our up-coming documentary on the Mountain.  He holds the record for most consecutive days climbing Monadnock - 2,850 consecutive days between 1990 and 2000. Recently, Larry moved to Gorham New Hampshire and has now shifted his allegiances to the White Mountains, where he is a steward for several miles of wilderness trails.

Abby and Grayson

Larry Davis and Susan, Tuckerman Ravine Trail

Sunrise Light on Mt Washington

Sunrise Light

Parish Light

Sunday morning, I got out for a sunrise from the Mount Washington overlook just north of the center of North Conway.  Although Washington was shrouded in fog, the light had a wonderful rosy hue that reminded me of the magic quality of light in many Maxfield Parish paintings.  Later, we returned to Jackson, famous for its cross-country skiing facilities.  We explored some old favorite locations such as Black Mountain, the Christmas Farm Inn and Jackson’s “Honeymoon” Covered Bridge.

Honeymoon Bridge

Ellis River Cascade : Jackson

Sunday afternoon, we traveled across the Spectacular Kancamagus Highway.  The weather varied from sunny to overcast and, at the higher altitudes, the mountains were covered with clouds.

Jackson Barn

Kancanagus Highway

It was a great weekend, delicious food, wonderful scenery and good company.  I must thank Bob for his advanced age that provided the excuse for this lovely gathering.

Jeff Newcomer
www.partridgebrookreflections.com

Photographing the Grand Teton National Park

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

Jackson Lake Smoke Grand Teton National Park

After our all to short visit to Yellowstone Susan and I headed south to Jackson Hole and the Tetons. It was years ago that we had driven by these mountains on our way across country, and we were excited to finally have a few days to explore. We stayed in a great bed and breakfast in Jackson, but, sadly, we discovered that the dramatic mountains were largely obscured by the smoke from several forest fires in Idaho. We still had a wonderful time hiking the mountains and exploring the trendy town of Jackson, but photographically, the experience centered on trying to find ways of getting past the murk to capture memorable images of this iconic location.

So what can you do when smoke or haze obscures your beautiful landscape?

Patience
First you can wait and hope for a storm to pass through blowing away the grime. Unfortunately this didn't happen for us. I shrugged and promised to come back again, sometime, and then I had to make do. 


Get Close

Inspiration Point Trail

The impact of smoke and haze is magnified by distance. Some of the Tetons’ classic viewpoints, such as the Mormon Row of deserted farms, are several miles east of the mountains. On clear days, the classic barns and fences make wonderful foreground material against the rugged mountains, but through the smoke, the peaks were just a faint pastel backdrop. I quickly learned to seek out viewpoints closer to the peaks. The smoke still had its impact, but especially when hiking among the mountains, the effect was much reduced. And, of course, close encounters with the wildlife were always clear.

Mule Deer Fawn

Bull Moose

 









Celebrate the Foreground

Mormon Row Foreground

When the distant vistas are murky, it is a good time to focus on the foreground. I always look for good foregrounds to compliment my expansive landscapes, but in this situation, the sharp, clear foreground elements helped to offset the lack of distant majesty. Fortunately the Tetons are full of great detail; rocks, flowers, animals and old structures can all become nice foci of interest.  
 







Embrace the Smoke

Mormon Row Sunset

On our first night in the Tetons I decided to check out Mormon Row. This is traditionally a morning site with the warm sunrise illuminating both the barns and the distant mountains. Although I knew that the peaks would be obscured, I hoped to use the smoke to augment the sunset light. I was excited to see that by shooting through the murk the

Smoke Filtered Sunrise

waning sun was given added dimension. As it dropped behind the mountains, the rays of light became vividly palpable and with the mountains in silhouette the images became much more about the light and the foreground with the smoke just a necessary piece of the puzzle. The next morning from the same spot, the smoke still shrouded the mountains, but when I turned to face the sun, it was so heavily filtered that I was able to shoot the rising disc without blowing out the surroundings.

 



Back in the Digital Darkroom

Jackson Lake
Sharp Mask Enhanced Contrast

Of course post-processing can always help. With a careful selection, the mountains can be isolated for enhanced contrast and vibrancy. The Unsharp Mask tool can also be used to enhance contrast. In the Unsharp Mask menu (Filter/Sharpen/Unsharp Mask), I raise the radius setting to around fifty and then adjust the strength to achieve the desired level of contrast enhancement. This technique can work wonders on flat images regardless of the cause, including smoke and haze. It is a powerful tool that can be easily overdone, but in this case, I used a mask to limit the effect to the distant mountains and then fine tuned the impact by adjusting the layer's opacity slider.

HDR

HDR to the Rescue
HDR techniques can also be helpful. The image of the mountains behind the north end of Jenny Lake combines most of the techniques I have discussed. It was taken closer to the peaks and had strong foreground elements, but additionally I found that with HDR I could do a better job cutting through the smoke. I captured 7 bracketed images, and then used Photoshop’s HDR Pro just focusing on enhancing the contrast in the mountains.




 



Black & White Conversion
Smoke and haze unavoidably mutes the vibrancy of color in images and, in these situations, conversion to black and white can restore the photograph's impact.  Black and white images can be more aggressively edited without affecting color quality.  Finally contrast enhancement or HDR can be combined with black and white conversion and local adjustments to further restore the snap in those murky distant peaks.


 

Black & White Conversion, Schwabacher Road

Hidden Falls

The Grand Teton National Park is an amazing place and although I was terribly disappointed by the smoke, I enjoyed the challenge and, in the end I came away with images that have a different quality than those that are the typical postcard shots. Every now and then it is good to be forced adjust to challenging conditions, and vacation is the perfect time for fresh experiences.

Enough lame rationalizations. The next episode will feature Hood River and the Columbia River Gorge, highlighting spectacular waterfalls, majestic Mount Hood and of course a wedding. And all with much less smoke!