Road through Old-Growth Forest 1

The Carbon River Road in Mount Rainier National Park, one of my favorite

places and taken during a recent trip around western Washington. I wish

the road were a small trail, but it is closed to vehicles so hikers (and

photographers) can enjoy the beauty and solitude. Your comments and

suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks.

Best viewed large, naturally!

I like how the boughs come down and meet each other towards the middle of the road. I am really drawn towards that.

Stephen,  Superb.  This reminds me of the rain forests at Olympic National Park.  My only question is whether the green around the road is over saturated?  Your judgement is what matters on this.  I like punchy colors, so the saturation doesn't bother me.  

I will be in Ellenburg, WA (driving from Seatac airport) the second week in September and will only have parts of two days for photos.  Any suggestions for photo spots?  Does Mt. Rainier NP make sense given the time restraints and difficulty of access to the park?  Thanks, Stephen.   Larry

Makes me want to go. Well-captured.

I've only US rainforest photographed is Muir Woods and found it challenging. (It rained non-stop and was dark in the forest.)

Stephan, Just lovely. There is so much to derive form a scene like this that has just been rained on. Had the road been dry, that would have contributed a very different result. I don't see the foliage along the road being over saturated, I see it as being highlighted by the various levels of light moving around at that particular time. Looks like light was active then.

Nice lighting with beautiful shades of green.  Well done!

Thanks for the comments -- they are much appreciated.

Larry, I did very little when processing the raw photo other than increasing the contrast slightly (mainly by pulling down the shadow end) and decreasing the highlights with the shadow/highlights tool (which mainly affected the upper middle where the "sky" shows a bit more).  I very seldom increase saturation directly, but increasing contrast can have the secondary effect of enhancing colors.  I think what we're seeing in the relatively bright greens here are 1) relatively new spring growth, 2) contrast with relatively darker trees, and especially IMO 3) wet vegetation as seen through a polarizing filter.  A light mist was falling much of the time, and I had to use a plastic garbage bag over my camera during most of my walk.  The saving grace was the complete absence of any breeze, so longer exposures were possible (I tried to retain that sense of darkness where appropriate).

Larry, if I had only a part of a day from Ellensburg, I'd probably head north on Hwy 97 over Swauk Pass (Blewett Pass can also be accessed from 97, and it should be "safe" in early September).  I think Rainier is just too far from Ellensburg to do much in less than a day.  From my photo notes, some of the vine maples may be just starting to turn, some yellows may be appearing on the bigleaf maples and cottonwoods, and some of the grasses and shrubs may be showing signs of yellow, although it's still pretty early for good fall colors.  I think the mountain scenery would be the biggest attraction.

Don, there was a bit more light along the road, and I could especially see this when I composed something perpendicular to the road with foreground foliage and looking into the forest.  However, the light differences were more pronounced later in the morning, and I tried to capture that in another photo (try hitting the left arrow twice).  On a previous hike down this road, the light really was contrasty.  I usually put the camera away during these conditions, but I tried for some smaller compositions and was quite pleased with the results (some are in the "trees" folder, specifically the 6th and 9th photos, and the "ancient forests" folder, specifically the 1st and 3rd photos).

Stephen, Thanks for the information, Stephen.  I will likely try for Hwy 97.  I also like your image of this road going around the curve.  I appreciate the processing information; I doubted that you messed with saturation much from your other images.   Nice work.   Larry

I like this version of the road forest better. I looked at image from some distance and the central upper part of the lavish-looking branches appear visually very interesting. They add something special to the whole scenery. It's like they play an optical illusion on you. You may try it.

Kristina