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Rocky Mountains Autumn Trees #22

Golden leaved aspen trees above a waterfall on the Wild Basin Trail, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, U.S.A.

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The story behind this image

Head south for a few miles from Estes Park, turn right and you'll find yourself at the Wild Basin Trail, just inside Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park.

The Wild Basin Trail is a delightful hike, following the path of the North Saint Vrain Creek as it winds its way through groves of aspen and pine and passes by sparkling waterfalls.

This scene was particularly lovely, with golden leaved aspens catching the sun at the top of a gorge while below a small waterfall tumbled over the rocks in shadow at the bottom.

It was a tricky scene to photograph due to the high contrast, so I ended up exposing for the highlights and then brightening the shadows in Adobe Lightroom once we'd returned home.

Photographing scenes like this is one of the main reasons I always shoot in the RAW file format, as having as much un-processed data as possible makes contrast and colour adjustments much more feasible.

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Image data

Filename - rocky mountains autumn trees 22.jpg

Camera - Canon EOS 6D

Lens - 24-105mm zoom @ 32mm

Exposure - 1/13 sec @ f11, ISO100

Location - Wild Basin Trail, Rocky Mountain National Park

This image - 533x800px JPEG

Conversion - Adobe Lightroom

Comments - Polarising filter used to enhance colours.