Frank Church Wilderness

Photos from a backpacking trip in the Frank Church Wilderness, central Idaho, 2015.  Destination, Ship Island Lake.  Because of the backpack, I did not carry a tripod and I forgot my grey-card.  Both were missed.

All photos with a Nikon D5100 18-85 Nikon Kit Zoom APC.


Airplane Lake.  Standard photo, with polarizer.    1/800, f3.5.  EV+0, ISO 200.  18mm(27mm).  Handheld.

Airplane Lake, 2 miles short of Ship Island.  Click for larger view.

Cathedral Lake, rising full Moon.  1/80", F8.  EV+0. ISO 800,  26mm(40mm).  No polarizer.  Exposure guessed.  At ISO 800, the picture is grainy.  Used a boulder and a shirt for a tripod.

Cathedral Lake, rising full Moon.  Click for larger view.

Portrait of my daughter.  1/125 f 3.5.  EV+0.  ISO 100, 18mm(27mm).  3/4 power auto-flash for fill, plus a polarizer.  Auto-exposure, with some white-balance and brightness corrections post-processing.  Note vignetting from a stacked polarizer and UV filter.  Probably should have stepped-back a bit and zoomed to 50mm, that would have helped to shallow the depth-of-field -- but I always forget I have a zoom lens -- I am still used to prime lenses.

Daughter.  Click for larger view

 

The kit zoom lens that came with the camera is the only lens I have.  I wished I had a 16mm(20mm) and a 50mm(85mm) prime.  I have always favored the wide angles and, as you can see above, I have the zoom set as wide as possible -- and it is not wide enough.  I miss the old days when my film-camera has a wonderful f4 20mm -- what a joy that was.

Ship Island Lake, HDR.  Because the photo was hand-held, the HDR fell apart and the photo was too soft to be printable, but I still tolerate the picture; it has an old-timer quality.  I would have preferred better results.

Ship Island Lake, HDR - Soft.  Click for larger view

Lessons Learned

I took two HDR landscapes, but without a tripod, the results were poor.  Without a tripod, other photos suffered too.  Next time, I am bringing a light-weight tripod, as much as I hate the weight.  

Forgetting the 18% grey-card was a colossal irritation.

Although not evident here, dozens of other pictures were taken, with most of them being of people.  For a father-daughter trip, such as this, the landscapes are nice, but it is the pictures of us that will be cherished.  We even took selfies.  I am glad I devoted as much film to ourselves.

The moon was full during the five-day trip and there was no glory in the night sky.  My next backpacking trip will be at new moon. 


Related Articles:
Using an 18% Grey Card
HDR Techniques: Stanley Forest Burn


Related Imageliner links:
Jump Creek, Idaho
The Pillars of Rome, Oregon
Frank Church Wilderness, Idaho
Grandview, Idaho
Stanley, Idaho Forest Burn

Pillars of Rome (Oregon)

Pillars of Rome, Oregon

These are sandstone and gravel formations near Rome, Oregon USA, south of Jordan Valley, on US Highway 95.  The formations were a well known landmark to the Oregon Trail wagon trains as they moved West in the mid 1800's.  It reminded the travelers of Roman architecture, thus its name.

The Wikipedia link at the top of this article contains a great picture of the range, facing West.  There was no sense competing and I only took photos from the top, deciding not to waste film*.  

Click for larger image

 
Some have asked if this image was HDR.  Yes, but it was lightly touched and originally I was not even going to comment.  Here is the same shot, split, showing the final HDR, overlayed with a straight EV0 standard exposure.  This blended image was also saved as a JPG, at the request of a friend, and the JPG compresses and shifts colors differently than a PNG ( I am no longer fond of JPG images):

Click for larger image

As always, I shoot RAW, with five different exposures at +/- EV 2.0 stops and I blend the photos using Corel's Paintshop Pro; details in the links below.

And just for fun, here is an image where I played with layers and colors.  My thanks to Randal Davis for his instructions on the technique.  I'll probably re-work this picture again, to bring in more natural colors:

Click for larger image

Driving and Hiking Instructions:

If out of Boise, Idaho, drive about two hours through Nampa, then to Marsing, then past Jordan Valley. 

When in Rome, turn NW, off the highway, on a well-marked, well-maintained gravel road.  Drive a few miles to the rock formations.  Once on foot, jump the fence and walk about a quarter mile on flat terrain to the base.  The trip can be made in a standard car, and can be made in the rain.

As you approach the monoliths, there is a faint trail on the north side that will take you along the back, and then up to the top.  The trail is easy, with an easy ten-minute climb (follow the cliffs along the north side of the small spire in the top photo).  These photos were taken from the top plateaus, facing East.

If the driving instructions seem vague.  Don't worry.  Rome is unincorporated and I would guess less than a dozen people live there.  The "town" has a small cafe, a gas station, and a rancher's airstrip, where I saw a Kitfox and an old, tired Cessna 140.  Behind the cafe are a few trailer homes, and that is it.  Literally turn West at the cafe; you can't get lost. 

*I am joking about the film. Gosh, I miss Kodachrome.

Related articles:
Grandview, Idaho
Using an 18% Grey Card

Related Imageliner links:
Jump Creek, Idaho
Frank Church Wilderness, Idaho
Grandview, Idaho
Stanley, Idaho Forest Burn