austinnightengale
austinnightengale
Above Timber Land

Above Timber Land



cameraCanon EOS REBEL T3

settings Aperture f/5.0 ISO 100 Shutter 1/250 Focal Length 27/1 

upload_dateFeb, 2015

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Tags

#timberland #mountains #hiking #mts. #mt. #new #mexico #pinos #Altos #rock #boulder #climb #walk #nature #trail #boots #jeans #cold #winter #snow #ice #lichens #moss #tree #trees #pines #pine #shoes #laces #socks #wool #winter #orange #brown #green #hike #rugged #nature #girl #woman #female #land #strength #determination #sky #west #western #wilderness #gila #national #forest #feet #foot #range #hills #valley
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Behind The Lens

Location
This photo was taken from one of many mountain tops in The Gila National Forest of New Mexico, near Silver City. It had long been one of my favorite wilderness playgrounds. The feet featured are those of a girlfriend at the time, from Kansas, whom I was having a great time introducing to the mountains. The Gila is mostly a 'high desert' environment, which means when you pass to a certain elevations in places, you basically leave behind the forest and step out onto a totally different desert plateau. Thus the name "Above" Timberland.
Time
We had just camped at the base of the mountain the night before. We had been fully intending to stargaze, but the overcast sky seen in the photo rolled in early the evening before. This would have been shot still pretty early in the morning, after a brisk hike up.
Lighting
Although we were disappointed with the overcast sky keeping us from stargazing the night before, it definitely made for a better time during the morning. While I love to see the valleys of the forest come to life in the sunlight, it definitely wouldn't have made the colors of the subject 'pop' like they do. With that, and not having to worry about harsh shadows, I was okay with missing the starts the night before.
Equipment
At the time, I was still shooting on my very first DSLR, a Canon Rebel T3. f/5.0?ISO 100?Shutter 1/250 I had no tripod, and the T3 did not have a flip screen, so I was flat on the ground for a while before I found this angle.
Inspiration
As anyone might guess, I took A LOT of photos of her during our running about the mountains. This one particularly caught my imagination for several reasons: She had always really liked the "outdoor style" but had never really gotten the opportunity to wear it all for the purpose it was all made. It's been a long while since this photo, but I vaguely remember us talking about how her Timberland boots finally have some real rugged wear and tear on them. I was also really vamping up my involvement on Viewbug at the time and I wanted a photo that anyone could see and identify with. In a sense, anyone could be in those boots.
Editing
I certainly don't remember whether or not I did. About the time I took this shot, post-processing was not something I really did. I was still in the stage of figuring out how to use only the camera settings. So, beyond the possibility of raising the contrast and vibrancy, the only "editing" would have been deleting the 100 other photos I took trying to get it right.
In my camera bag
At the time of this photo, probably either nothing, or way too much. Now, I keep a shoulder bag for easy and quick going, like hiking or going through a park (amusement or natural). In that bag, I keep the usual cleaning supplies, several back-up SD cards (85mb/s+), batteries, and just the common sense stuff. Beyond that, I have my Canon 80D, 50mm prime 1.2, 24mm prime, an Altura tabletop tripod w/ pistol grip, and an Altura 'rapid fire' camera neck strap.
Feedback
Something a teacher put into my mind really well is that editing should make your photo more real, not less. When I shot "Above Timberland", I was taking thousands of photos a month at least. Maybe 99.9999% of those were total garbage, but it definitely taught to not just rely on post-processing. Post-processing should only be like salt to food. Something to help bring out the flavor, but not the only flavor itself. This photo is really easy enough for anyone to get. But when you're up there shooting, try to take a photo you can at least be somewhat proud of without any processing.

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