Maroon Bells
One of the most enchanting places I have ever been to. Maroon bells, Colorado. The beauty of the place is just undescribable. Mountains all around, with lakes c...
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One of the most enchanting places I have ever been to. Maroon bells, Colorado. The beauty of the place is just undescribable. Mountains all around, with lakes capturing them just like any other camera. Come fall or winter, the beauty of this place just gets enhanced multifold. The best part, this place lacks any connectivity to the digital world! Just go there and get lost :-)
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SONY ILCE-6000
Aperture f/6.3 ISO 100 Shutter 1/320 Focal Length 160/10 
Aspen, Colorado, US
Aug, 2019Views
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Sudarshan_14
October 09, 2019
Yes, it is one of the most enchanting places I have been to, till date!! I just fell in love with it :-)
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this photo when I visited the famed Maroon Bells, about 19km southwest of Aspen. The place is one of the most wonderful scenic locations I have ever visited and the best part is that there is absolutely no network access there. So, you become one with nature and can enjoy its beauty to the fullest with minimal distractions.Time
This is one of my favourite shots. The day was warm and sunny, and also, with quite less people around. So, I could focus on taking my time to compose the shot. I had to wait for the ducks in the water to stop swimming to be sure that the water was a bit quiet as well, to get a good reflection of the two beautiful peaks in the background. This was taken on 9th August, 2019.Lighting
Although the day was sunny and warm, since I was there quite early, around 10-10.30AM, it was still not too strong light. Also, there were some sparse clouds in the sky and so, I waited for the opportune moment when the sun just hid behind a cloud, so that the lighting would be warm and subtle on the mountain peaks as well, so as to not burn the image.Equipment
This was shot on a Sony ILCE Alpha 6000 fitted with the 55mm-210mm lens. The camera was set at Aperture mode, with the settings: Aperture f/6.3?ISO 100?Shutter 1/320?Focal Length 160/10. Since I was not doing a long exposure shot, I did not need a tripod for this. All I needed was a stable ground and some steady water and that did the trick for the shot.Inspiration
Ever since I saw the information about the places to visit around Aspen, where I saw that the Maroon Bells was one of the must-visit sites, I always wanted to visit the place and enjoy its beauty. And I also wanted to try and capture the sunrise at this place as it happens right behind the two mountain peaks. However, this was not possible as I was not driving to the place, nor would I have the permission to enter it before it opens. So, I thought the next best would be to take a shot of the peaks with their reflection as I am always inclined to take shots of natural beauties near water bodies, to get their reflections as well. And I am still learning to get good shots of such reflections. Hence, I thought this would be a good spot to try to get a good reflection shot.Editing
The only post-processing I did for the shot was to adjust the brightness, contrast and colour saturation, which I did using Adobe Lightroom Classic. I did not need to do anything much as the place and its surroundings already had given me everything I needed in the imageIn my camera bag
My equipment is very simple. My camera bag always has my Sony ILCE-A6000 with the 16-50mm and the 55-210mm lenses. Apart from it, I have the tripod for specific situations. And viola! I am all set to go clicking. Keep it simple, keep it light is my motto as then, I do not have to spend too much time unpacking and setting up the camera and spend more time in composing and picturing the final image in my headFeedback
The best advice I can give for such compositions, from whatever I have tried so far, is to ensure that the lighting in the surrounding is not too bright. Not everyone can have a camera that allows low focal length and so, many a time you can end up with too much light when you try to do such shots, especially if you want the water to be still and no ripples seen in it. This leads to a loss in the blend between the dark and light scenes in the frame. Also, being patient is the key to get any good image. Especially when you want to capture reflections in water. There can be human and animate interventions into the image, spoiling the composition. Sometimes you will need about 20-50 shots before you get the one you want. And try to compose it in your head first, before you take the shot as only then you will end up close to what you imagined, with the final picture.
