Eastern Sierra Fall Colors

Matthew Saville · October 28, 2014

I'm getting nostalgic about fall colors right now, partly because I won't be able to make any trips to the Eastern Sierras (or anywhere else) to photograph them, this year. Thankfully, I had a really fun time last year shooting in Bishop Creek Canyon with my wife, and even though it was early November by the time we got up there, the results were still quite beautiful!

C&C are welcome, and if you like photo #1, you might like the 2015 photo calendar that my wife just cooked up all by herself. (Click through to the store on my website)

=Matt=

1.) Bishop Creek Canyon at sunset

2.) Departing Bishop Creek Canyon, at sunrise, wide angle

3.) Departing Bishop Creek Canyon, at sunrise, close-up

4.) Departing Bishop Creek Canyon, at sunrise, even more close-up

5.) Bishop Creek 10-stop ND exposure

Thanks for viewing! Check out more of my recent stuff on my SmugMug: http://photos.matthewsaville.com/

BTW, all images were created using a Nikon D5200, instead of my "low-res" D700. The 1st, 2nd, and last images were done using a Nikon 10-24mm DX, a very sharp lens indeed! The other images were made on my Nikon 70-200 VR or my 50mm f/1.8 G... I'm a huge fan of Nikon's new lineup of f/1.8 G primes for landscape photography, and I can't wait to get my hands on the Nikon D750 and 20mm f/1.8 G for astro-landscape imagery!

David_S85 · October 28, 2014

Gulp! Those are fantastic!

And everybody, you'd be crazy not to look at the calendar images in the Store link at his site.

Stumblebum · October 28, 2014

Great shots Matt! Winners all!!

bow
Didn't know about this place, but now I do!:D

boco · October 28, 2014

mooie opnamen met prachtige Herfstkleuren.
bij de laatste vind ik de sluitertijd te traag.
grt,boco.

Matthew Saville · October 28, 2014

boco wrote: »

mooie opnamen met prachtige Herfstkleuren.
bij de laatste vind ik de sluitertijd te traag.
grt,boco.

Thanks for the comments, Boco!

I usually don't shoot at such long shutter speeds, but I was testing out different ND filters at the time, and to be honest the best shots were either with the water almost perfectly frozen in motion, or super blurred. Personally, I'm still not 100% sure I like that last image as an all-time keeper, though. Thanks again for the comments!

Matthew Saville · October 28, 2014

Stumblebum wrote: »

Great shots Matt! Winners all!! bow
Didn't know about this place, but now I do!:D

The South Fork of Bishop Creek was one of Galen Rowell's favorite stomping grounds, if I recall correctly. The very first shot was only possible by scrambling up a hill with zero trail, through very thick brush and probably getting into unsafe territory WRT bears at dusk, but the rest of the images were taken literally from the side of the road. That hillside is a must-see spot for late-fall colors, if you get there in time to watch the sun come over the hill it is like shooting fish in a barrel to get nice pics of the light.

Thanks again everyone for viewing!
=Matt=

kdog · October 28, 2014

Beautiful series, Matt. Those aspens in the light sure have a lot of pop to them. I'm curious about your choice of processing as the red channel is completely blown on them. Is that intentional? That river shot is great. Interesting to see snow there in mid October.

Matthew Saville · October 28, 2014

kdog wrote: »

Beautiful series, Matt. Those aspens in the light sure have a lot of pop to them. I'm curious about your choice of processing as the red channel is completely blown on them. Is that intentional? That river shot is great. Interesting to see snow there in mid October.

The images were from last year, in early November. But I think it did snow there in late October, last year...

Regarding the post-production: yes I paid very, very careful attention to the exact colors and brightness, and I feel that this is the best representation of what I actually saw. I use in-camera processing as a reference point, either by shooting RAW+JPG or by viewing my NEF files in Nikon View NX 2, and I put a lot of effort into picking the right Adobe camera profile and curves etc. adjustments. The red channel may be blown out for an SRGB web view, but rest assured the prints I've made look gorgeous! :-D

=Matt=

kdog · October 28, 2014

Matthew Saville wrote: »

The images were from last year, in early November. But I think it did snow there in late October, last year...

Regarding the post-production: yes I paid very, very careful attention to the exact colors and brightness, and I feel that this is the best representation of what I actually saw. I use in-camera processing as a reference point, either by shooting RAW+JPG or by viewing my NEF files in Nikon View NX 2, and I put a lot of effort into picking the right Adobe camera profile and curves etc. adjustments. The red channel may be blown out for an SRGB web view, but rest assured the prints I've made look gorgeous! :-D

=Matt=

Gotcha. I'm sure the prints look great. Your EXIF info says Oct 17, 2013 on these shots.

Matthew Saville · October 28, 2014

kdog wrote: »

Gotcha. I'm sure the prints look great. Your EXIF info says Oct 17, 2013 on these shots.

Hmm, maybe I got my trips mixed up from last year. You're right! *shrug*

JC · October 28, 2014

#4 is just awesome. I was up Bishop Creek last weekend, had business in Bishop in the morning though, so couldn't time the drive for anything but mid-day. Tree colors in the lower canyon survived the "wind event" the locals were talking about pretty well. Your light was gorgeous, did you camp in the canyon to the get the early and evening light?

Matthew Saville · October 29, 2014

JC wrote: »

#4 is just awesome. I was up Bishop Creek last weekend, had business in Bishop in the morning though, so couldn't time the drive for anything but mid-day. Tree colors in the lower canyon survived the "wind event" the locals were talking about pretty well. Your light was gorgeous, did you camp in the canyon to the get the early and evening light?

My wife and I stayed at Parchers Resort, it was a little too cold for us to camp with our little dog and a bunch of the campsites were already closed for the year I think too. I don't recall. But it was worth it to stay at Parchers! We were literally there on the very last couple nights of their open season...

=Matt=

Cavalier · November 2, 2014

Beautiful shots and, by the way, I think the last one of Bishop Creek IS a keeper!
And thanks to David_S85 for pointing out your calendar - the Mesa Arch shot itself is worth the purchase

.

Eia · November 2, 2014

Ummmm wow...striking colors ....

Matthew Saville · November 2, 2014

Cavalier wrote: »

Beautiful shots and, by the way, I think the last one of Bishop Creek IS a keeper!
And thanks to David_S85 for pointing out your calendar - the Mesa Arch shot itself is worth the purchase .

Thanks Jo! I'm impressed that it was such a commonly shot spot that produced one of my favorite images, too. I'll definitely be re-visiting many of these places (and hopefully many more!) when creating a 2016 calendar... :-)

=Matt=

Eastern Sierra Fall Colors

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