The San Juan County line, in southwestern Colorado, at about 8,800 feet of elevation, just off the appropriately named "San Juan Skyway", north of Durango, at the height of the fall color, and with gorgeous blue skies and puffy white clouds. I couldn't believe my luck.

That's Engineer Mountain (12,968 feet, 3953 meters) at the right of the frame, and Grizzly Peak (13,738 feet, 4187 meters) at the back center. Engineer Mountain has over 1500 feet of vertical prominence, and Grizzly Peak is one of five different Colorado "Thirteeners" (mountains over 13,000 feet) with the same name.

For more from this amazing drive, please check out the others in my "Autumn" set, to the right.

Thanks for stopping by, everyone! I hope all is well with you and yours.

Tags:   OM-D landscape Colorado autumn foliage fall beauty trees mountains blue sky m43 mft clouds fence Olympus sky San Juan 12-50mm f/3.5-6.3 M.Zuiko

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"For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake."
-- Frederick Douglass, 4 July 1852

We do indeed need the storm, in so many ways. As for the Sierra, it's been a very dry year, and I was glad to see these otherwise ominous skies, and that rain shower off in the distance above Tuolumne Meadows. But the weather in Yosemite is so often fickle, and alas, the rain did not last.

Yes, this is HDR, sort-of. More like faux-HDR. Here, I thought I'd test the dynamic range on my OM-D E-M5's sensor. So, I took just one shot, with a balanced mid-tone exposure. Then I copied it twice and adjusted one of the copies to properly expose the overly bright highlights in the sky & clouds, and adjusted the other one to properly expose the areas that were lost in shadow. Then I merged the three into an HDR file in Photomatix and finished it off there. So an HDR file, but one created from just one original capture at a medium exposure, as opposed to 3, 5, or 7 different exposures.

Normally I'd do this with the RAW file, but I used a JPEG for this one (set on Large – Fine), just to see if it could handle it. 12-50mm M.Zuiko 3.5-5.6 lens. ISO 200, focal length 12mm (24mm FF equivalent), f/5.6, 1/800 sec, hand-held. I'm really amazed at the performance in this sensor. In a high-contrast scene like this, the highlights that appeared blown out in the original image were in fact fully recoverable. And the darkest shadows did great when I brought them up. Again, this was the JPEG. The RAW files do much, much better. So now I'm really looking forward to installing Lightroom 4 when I get my new Mac (my current one is almost six years old, so I'm due). From what I've seen, highlight and shadow recovery for the OM-D in LR4 is absolutely out of this world.

Thanks for stopping by, everyone, and have a great weekend!

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Tags:   BRAVO Yosemite Half Dome Olympus OM-D m43 Micro Four Thirds landscape Yosemite National Park clouds nubes forest mountains Sierra Nevada rain storm Washburn Point HDR my_gear_and_me my_gear_and_me_premium my_gear_and_me_bronze my_gear_and_me_silver my_gear_and_me_gold my_gear_and_me_platinum my_gear_and_me_diamond 12-50mm f/3.5-6.3 M.Zuiko

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A male Steller's Jay perched on a railing at our cabin in Yosemite National Park. We were surrounded by a neverending display of jays, juncos, chickadees, ravens, and pileated woodpeckers. But these guys were clearly the ones in charge.

Hand-held Olympus OM-D E-M5, manual focus, with F.Zuiko OM 50mm f/1.8 lens, at ISO 250, 1/125-sec, f/1.8. I just love the bokeh this lens produces. A very shallow depth of field, with the background usually rendered anywhere from impressionistic to soft nothingness. And yet it is still really sharp in the center when shooting wide open.

"The Steller's Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri) is a jay native to western North America, closely related to the Blue Jay found in the rest of the continent, but with a black head and upper body. It is also known as the Long-crested Jay, Mountain Jay, and Pine Jay. It is the only crested jay west of the Rocky Mountains. The Steller's Jay shows a great deal of regional variation throughout its range. Blackish-brown-headed birds from the north gradually become bluer-headed farther south. The Steller's Jay has a more slender bill and longer legs than the Blue Jay and has a much more pronounced crest. The head is blackish-brown with light blue streaks on the forehead. This dark coloring gives way from the shoulders and lower breast to silvery blue. The primaries and tail are a rich blue with darker barring. It occurs in coniferous forest over much of the western half of North America from Alaska in the north to northern Nicaragua completely replacing the Blue Jay in most of those areas. Some hybridization with the Blue Jay in Colorado has been reported. The Steller's Jay lives in coniferous and mixed woodland, but not in completely dense forest, and requires open space. It typically lives in flocks of greater than 10 individuals. In autumn, flocks often visit oak woods when acorns are ripe." (Wikipedia)

This was taken in Wawona, at the south end of the park, at about 4,000 feet of elevation, in a mixed coniferous forest dominated by Ponderosa and Sugar Pine, White Fir, and Incense-Cedar, with some oaks spread throughout.

Tags:   Yosemite birds jay corvid Steller's Jay Corvidae Cyanocitta Cyanocitta stelleri Olympus OM-D E-M5 OM 50mm f/1.8 manual focus legacy glass m43 MFT micro four thirds bokeh forest mountains Sierra Nevada nature wildlife portrait tree railing fence California Wawona Yosemite National Park cedar

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February always seems to bring fantastic skies over Los Angeles. Just about every rising or setting of the sun has the potential for a remarkable display of color and light. I took this shot from the far north-east end of Pasadena, where the houses end at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains, which climb 10,000 feet (over 3,000 meters) almost straight up. In the lower left-center of the shot, you can see downtown Los Angeles. In the lower right-center, the sun setting over the Verdugo and Santa Monica Mountains. I absolutely love Southern California.

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Tags:   sunset clouds sky fire California Los Angeles Pasadena mountains downtown LA SoCal cloudporn skyporn nature landscape storm weather winter Valentine's Sony DSC-HX9V color red orange pink purple blue silhouette cityscape city trees my_gear_and_me

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Blue skies, birds in flight, and boats passing by as the Basilica di Santa Lucia in San Geremia looks down on the intersection between Venice's Grand Canal and its largest "tributary", the Canale di Cannaregio. As seen from across the way, at the Riva di Biasio in the sestiere di Santa Croce.

Some people find midday light and bright, blue skies to be a challenge, or even a photographic no-no. But not so in Venice. These conditions here can be a photographer's dream, as they set off all of the vibrant colors in the city's palazzi, canals, and watercraft.

The church of San Geremia is primarily known as the seat of the cult of Saint Lucy of Syracuse, whose remains are housed inside. The first church was erected here in the 11th century, and was later rebuilt on several occasions. In 1206 it is mentioned as housing the remains of St. Magnus of Oderzo (died 670), who had taken refuge in this area from the Lombards. A first rebuilding was held under doge Sebastiano Ziani, the new church being consecrated in 1292. The current edifice dates from 1753, designed by Carlo Corbellini; the façade is from 1861. The brickwork bell tower (probably dating from the 12th century) has two thin Romanesque mullioned windows at the base. (Wikipedia)

The Cannaregio Canal, which was the main route into the city until the construction of a railway link to the mainland, gave the district its name (Canal Regio is Italian for Royal Canal). Development began in the eleventh century as the area was drained and parallel canals were dredged. Although the sestiere di Cannaregio is primarily known for its working-class tradition and as the location of the Jewish ghetto, this important intersection is flanked by several significant palazzi, including the Palazzo Labia (just next to the church on the Cannaregio canal), and the Palazzo Querini (on the Grand Canal just off the right-hand side of the frame). If you're entering Venice on a vaporetto (water bus) headed for the Rialto or San Marco, you'll pass right by this spot.

Single-shot JPEG image, taken with my Olympus OM-D E-M5 and 12-50mm f/3.5-6.3 M.Zuiko lens. 12mm (24mm equiv), ISO 200, f/3.5, 1/800 sec., hand-held. Replaced with a very slightly tighter crop minutes after uploading.

If you'd like to see more shots of mine from Venice, see the appropriately titled photo set to the right. Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving, wherever you may be!

Tags:   Europe Italy OM-D Venice Olympus E-M5 Venezia canal landscape church palazzo palace blue sky clouds boat Santa Lucia San Geremia city waterscape Italia Grand Canal Cannaregio Micro Four Thirds my_gear_and_me my_gear_and_me_premium my_gear_and_me_bronze my_gear_and_me_silver my_gear_and_me_gold my_gear_and_me_platinum my_gear_and_me_diamond 12-50mm f/3.5-6.3 M.Zuiko

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