Evening Sun Two-Fer

Crooked River Reflection, April 15, 2009
Smith Rock State Park, Oregon
Nikon D80, Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 @ f/8.0, 36mm, 1/200s, ISO 400
Developed in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.3, Adobe Standard profile


Inverted Sunset, April 16, 2009
Painted Hills Unit, John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, Oregon
Nikon D80, Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 @ f/8.0, 48mm, 1/15s, ISO 100
Developed in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.3, ACR 4.4 profile

You get a double-shot today because the Internet in my hotel room in Bend went on the fritz last night. After the long, late drive back to civilization this evening I relocated at 11 PM with a beer, Girl Scout cookies, and my computer setup (17" MacBook, hard drive, Wacom tablet, power brick, etc.) to the lobby of the hotel, where there's wi-fi. (Really? Just in the lobby? WTF, Bend Inn & Suites. This hotel is worth a post unto itself. And I opted to pay for the second night. Oy.)

I realize there's an disconcerting gap in saturation between these two photos. The Smith Rock one is kind of begging for it with those really satiny blues in the reflection in the Crooked River. (BTW, I don't think that particular rock is THE Smith Rock.) With the Painted Hills shot I'm trying to keep the colors realistic- the natural colors of the rock are amazing enough without enhancement.

Now that we know what makes these photos different, what do they have in common? They were both taken in late afternoon (or evening, depending on when you take your tea), a deliberate attempt to put myself in a photogenic location when the light was favorable. It worked to a degree; see exhibits A and B, above. These photos also were both taken with the handy but sharpness-challenged Nikkor 18-200 with a polarizer. The lens is OK at f/8 on the wide end (again, see exhibits A & B). The polarizer is bloody fantastic in these conditions, as long as you're pointing AWAY from the sun. Lessons learned.