Aspen Alley, Carbon County, Wyoming
Aspen Alley is of course named for the large grove of Aspen trees in the area. This photo is of a narrow dirt road that cuts through the Aspen groves....
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Aspen Alley is of course named for the large grove of Aspen trees in the area. This photo is of a narrow dirt road that cuts through the Aspen groves.
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Dec, 2020Views
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Pjerry
January 30, 2021
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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Behind The Lens
Location
Aspen Alley is a narrow section of road that passes through a forest of Aspen trees. The leaves turn colors in the fall each year. Aspen Alley is located in south central Wyoming, near Saratoga, in Carbon County.Time
The photo was taken on October 1st, at about 1pm. It was a somewhat unexpected trip made at the last moment. So there was no plan for lighting - the way we found is the way we photographed it. Of course, had it been a planned photography trip, it would have been taken with better lighting, during the golden hour. Then again, I hate mornings and love sleeping in, so I don’t think I’ve ever even seen the golden hour.Lighting
The sky was quite overcast as there was a storm moving through. We were fortunate at the time as the sun was breaking through, which provided shadows and a nice glow from backlit leaves. The grayish sky ended up making a pretty good background.Equipment
Well ... here’s the interesting part. As mentioned above, this was an unexpected trip. We were out and about, and decided to drive down to Aspen Alley. As such, I didn’t have my camera bag. Sigh .... This photo, and the others I took at Aspen Alley that day were photographed with my iPhone 6. It was all I had with me, so I did the best I could.Inspiration
I was walking through the trees trying to find decent places to photograph. I ended up wanting a photograph of the narrow dirt road, so I walked along the side of the road looking for a decent composition. I liked this shot from the side of the road, creating a diagonal line from the lower right corner to the center of the photo. A bend at the end of the road created a an ending point for the road. The trees on the right side were roughly perpendicular to the road, while the trees at the left were at a slight angle, creating somewhat of a frame. Since the trees were slightly offset, it helps direct the eyes down the road. I think it came out better than if both sides of the road looked exactly the same.Editing
I was somewhat limited because I didn’t have a RAW file to work with. I cropped the photo, and adjusted the exposure, contrast, and saturation. I darkened the shadows slightly and adjusted the texture and clarity to make them stand out more on the road. I didn’t have the software at the time, and I haven’t messed with this photo in a long time. If I took the photo now, I’d run it through some of the DxO Nik Collection software to bump up the sharpness and bring out more of the details.In my camera bag
All I had on me was my phone. Had I brought my bag with me, I’d have my basic Canon 2000d with a kit lens or two. I use a 35mm Yongnuo f2.0 lens. With the cropped sensor, this gives me the rough equivalent of a 50mm. For a zoom lens, I use a Canon EFS 55-250 IS lens. A polarizing and variable ND filter round out the lenses. This combo gives me just about everything a weekend amateur photographer needs. My next purchase will be to trade out my extension rings for a dedicated macro lens. Lighting is a Yongnuo YN600EX-RT II Speedlight, with a small soft box diffuser. A set of WB cards come in handy with the amount of snow we get in Wyoming. Finally, some spare camera batteries and rechargeable flash batteries, and a couple SD cards make up the rest of my bag.Feedback
I was disappointed I didn’t have my bag with me. I typically throw it in the car no matter where I go, just in case an opportunity presents itself. So I went with what I had - an iPhone. Don’t let a lack of equipment stop you from taking photos. I’ve built a decent selection of gear, but notice most of it is Yongnuo. It’s obviously not the highest quality gear, but it suits me well and it’s hard to beat the price. I do believe the advice that the gear doesn’t make the photo, it’s the person behind the lens, holds true. I’d love to buy a Mark 10,000, or whatever they’ll have out by the time I’d scrape up enough money to buy one. But I’m a weekend warrior who enjoys things like toy photography. There’s no reason to spend that kind of money on a camera, so I don’t look to constantly upgrade equipment. If I managed to save up that much money, instead of a top of the line camera, I’d rather spend it on a vacation, a bunch of chocolate, and a good bourbon ... not necessarily in that order.
