Lightroom Library module

Check out this Lightroom lesson on Adobe TV. Matt Kloskowski gives a really good explanation of importing and organizing your images. Pay special attention to the way he keeps his images organized in a single folder and adds metadata while importing, including copyright and location!

Wildflower Photo Workshop, July 25, 2009

Workshop Photos, Lin Mattheis. La Plata Canyon to Kennebec Pass

Wildflower Photography Workshop, July 23, 2009

We headed out of Durango at 7am and drove to the Silverton Rico trail, crossed the creek and spent time photographing the amazing display of Tall Chiming Bells, Larkspur, Wild Geraniums and Rosy Paintbrush. The morning lessons included the understanding of control of depth of field and how to use the depth of field preview button. We hit the trail at peak wildflowers today. I was at the same spot 5 days ago and it was not as prolific nor as stunning. The predominant flowers were the tall Larkspur and they rose up into the sky in some of our lessons. At 8:30 when we started photographing along the creek there was still plenty of dew so the flowers and leaves were sparkling.

The cumulus clouds came in and we hiked a short, steep bit of the Silverton Rico trail and practiced the near flower, far mountain arrangements. Students were challenged to pick a perfect bunch of flowers and put them in the foreground while choosing the appropriate aperture to achieve the depth of field they pre-visualized.

We gathered for lunch along the creek where we brought out the Wildflower books (no one book shows all our San Juan Mountains wilds!) and discussed the successes and challenges of the morning. I taught the use of the depth of field preview button to the group. Then we took off for our 2nd location chosen to explore the near/far relationship of depth of field. Some students took the opportunity to make images along the creek and to show the creek falls in their compositions.

Downside: Biting flies, hot and more sunny than cloudy at times. Next time: wear long sleeves and pants!

Tomorrow we continue with the workshop and head up to Kennebec pass!

Feedback from a student: He liked the day off between workshop days to recoup!

Wildflowers: Silverton-Rico Trail

It looked like a field of wildflowers was cut apart by the trail. I spent the morning doing macro images of wild geraniums and sky pilots. Many, many larkspur and blue bells. A bit windy for photographing the blue bells. I dare you to get deep depth of field on a composition of blue bells! Further up the trail there was a lovely display of bitter cress along a creek crossing; I looked for columbine to fill the foreground. I spied a few parrys primrose along the next creek crossing (crossed on a log) and used fill flash to light up the interior of the primrose.

I forgot my rain gear so when the rain and hail started I headed back down trail. The rain and storm brought amazing color saturation, however, it also brought some damage to the flowers.

All along the road (a bit burly in places) there were wonderful compositions of near far, compression of space, flowers, middle ground, mountains!

We're going out for some more lessons on Thursday, July 23, Join us!

Wildflower Report, July 18

Allison reports that the hike to Ice Lakes was "full" of wildflowers. She counted 33 varieties of wildflowers and 4-5 different colored paintbrush. Get out and stay out!

West Mancos Road Wildflowers

I went up to the top of West Mancos Road (FS 561) on the west side of the La Platas yesterday. The cattle has done quite a job eating all the flowers along the road. There are a few, spotty sections of Columbine in the Aspen forests up high, but nothing to write home about. And the mosquitos are horrendous as usual (I wonder why?). I spent some time photographing the beautiful mountain scenes with Hesperus and Centennial so close I could touch them. The bugs were biting though so it wasn't too much fun.

Zazi and I hiked a bit of the Aspen Loop Trail at Windy Gap. We started at about 7pm so the light was wonderful. There were many bunches of blue bells and geraniums as well as a few pink paintbrush, fun to shoot; handheld shallow depth of field.

San Juan Wildflower Report

Hi folks, Just back from scouting our upcoming Wildflower Photography Workshop. I checked out some of my favorite locations outside of Silverton, Colorado. Nada, nothing, zilch. We're probably 10 days - 2 weeks from prime wildflower photography in the San Juan Mountains. We've rescheduled this summer's workshop for July 25th and 26th. email kit@kitfrost.com to register. There is limited space left in the workshop.

I did see some brook cress along the creeks on the way from Durango to Silverton, at Lime Creek especially. And a friend reported that the lily ponds are blooming at the Spud Lake trailhead. If you've only got this weekend to go out and play then I'd choose the West side of the La Plata Mountains outside of Mancos.

By the way, the waterfalls are flowing beautifully. Check out Mineral and Ice Creeks just off Mineral Creek Road 2 miles north west of Silverton. Walk up creek and explore. Photographing creek falls requires a tripod and in my humble opinion a cloudy moment.