Dobson Trail

I discovered this trail in late fall and I was curious as I never went. It's the longest trail I've seen at 57km. It follows a river so I'm sure in spring, fall and winter, I can get some nice pictures. In the meantime, I went scouting and I managed to find some cool things to photograph.

These shots were all taken with my Fujifilm X-T3 using my Rokinon 50mm 1.2 and Fujinon XF55-200mm.

I saw this tree with these really cool roots. Looks like a demon walking with an eye in the center. Finding a composition was tricky because of the density of trees. A crop of 5x7 helped me by removing a tree on the righthand side. For the edit, I darken everything except the center and did some dodge and burning with the highlights on the tree.

50mm 1/15sec F/4 ISO 160

I found this lone mossy tree stump after trying to capture a stream. I used my telephoto lens to compress the background and also to remove the trees from the sides.

There's a lot going here. Actually, I now feel I went too far with the edit but that's ok. It's a normal process of photography. I'll try again next year in spring where there are even more greens. So similar here, darken everything around and brighten the subject. The sun was shining from the left so I tried to emphasize that. 

115mm 1/8sec F/5.6 ISO 160

This shot was taken on a rainy day and I was walking back to the car and I kept noticing those cool small moss on the trees. So I said, why not, let's give it a go.

So because this is a macro shot, I took 2 shots for focus stacking. I played with the HSL to get the green I wanted and also darken the image a bit. Since things are wet, I like to think I used a polarized filter but I don't remember. I find clarity really helps to bring out the detail on complex textures like this one. This is a 5x7 crop.

50mm + Macro tubes 1.5 sec F/8 ISO 160

This is my first image from this trail and my favorite so far. It was starting to rain so I tried to hurry up because my Rokinon isn't weather sealed. I tried with the 27mm but it was getting too much.

When shooting with a 50mm and using it like a wide-angle, you'll need to focus stack. That's what I did here. A polarizer was also used to remove glare from the water. A lot going on here. I warmed the image but this will affect the color of the water. So I changed the temperature of the water with a brush. I also darken the sides to bring emphasis to the stream.

50mm 1/3sec F/8 ISO 160

I can't wait to go again. This year, I went too late but it's still very nice to walk on the trail. It's also a good way to scout. I'll know what to expect next time I go.