Clallam County
- Francis of Assisi.
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Another shot from the spectacular sunset we experienced at the second beach in the Olympic Peninsula. The main challenge of taking shots here is the incredible change in lighting that happens in a very short while during sunset.
This shot was taken just before sunset when the sun was creating an extremely high dynamic range scene. About 5 minutes after I took this shot, the sun went down and we had beautiful pastel low dynamic range scene that I posted before. This one required about two graduated filters to balance out the high tones with the low tones. I also tried to get a Sunstar through the natural arch in the rock but got a sun portal instead. Hope you all like this image.
- Sydney J. Harris.
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One of the most magical places in the USA from all our travels so far is the emperate rain forests of the Olympic Peninula. And I believe one of the vest ties to visit is early summer or late spring when the water is abundant in the rivers and streams and the forest canopy wears the most verdant of greens. The best part about the forest was the mahical light rays the sun creates in the forest when it briefly escapes the cloud cover.
We encountered this beautiful little stream while on our way back from the stunning Sol Duc Falls. As we passed it I noticed the wonderful light that was falling to the right of the falls and the amazing lush greenery of the scene and decided to set up and take a shot of the whole scene. It was a challenging scene to frame as there just too many interesting elemts to distract in the frame. I had to wait for 15 minutes to get the light again on the moss to the top right of the frame but I think the wait was well worth it.
A clear sky and incomming tide. Not the best conditions to shoot this wonderful beach but still better than the next two days where it was just fog and flat grey skies.
Although I didn't find tide pools at the beach I found an interesting foreground near one of the larger sea stacks at the beach and with the sun lighting up the scene I found this to be a very nice composition. I waited for the right wave to complete the middleground and had my picture.
- Aesop.
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Sunrises are hard for me to shoot. As early as I can remember, I have always been a night owl and never a morning person. In fact, I still vividly remember my first sunrise experience, I was maybe 4 or 5 years old when we visited the pointy bottom end of India. This spot (Kanyakumari) has a lot of religious and cultural importance in India as a place where three oceans meet. So my parents were very excited about waking up early for sunrise, me not so much. There I was, groggy and irritated, on a rooftop being battered by cold morning breeze and the sun broke the horizon. To put it mildly, I was wide immediately wide awake, I have not before seen something that beautiful when warm golden light lit the rocky shore of the coast in perfect light. I’d say I got addicted to sunrise that day and since then never had any issues waking up super early for sunrise.
This shot was taken on our trip to Washington last summer, I miscalculated my distances and it took forever to get back to our hotel after sunset at the second beach. We were late to wake up for sunrise at hurricane ridge. As we were driving up the predawn light start to color the skies. I made a call to jump out and get a shot, even though there was no good view. Thankfully we came across a spot on the road where there was a gap in tree cover. I was specific to expose this shot just for the colors in the sky and wanted to silhouette the trees on either side of the composition.
- H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
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One of the reasons for me to include the Olympic Peninsula into this road trip was my desire to visit the stunning Sol Duc valley and the falls that carries the same name. This roughly one-mile long trip traverses through some old growth rainforests and on a cloudy overcast day provides some stunning scenery. The trail is very well maintained, and the trailhead is easy to find.
The falls was actually much bigger than expected, creating a thunderous fall as it drops over a cliff straight into a chasm. The amount of water spray is unbelievable especially at the classic viewpoint. Hope you all like this image.
- Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel.
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When we were planning our trip to Washington, I knew that I had to keep Olympic peninsula as a must have location. And along with Hoh Rainforest and the Sol Duc falls, sunrise at the wildflower meadows of Hurricane Ridge was going to be the star attraction of the vast peninsula. As we started more realistic planning we knew that we had to drop some spots if we wanted to stick to the one-week plan and decided to drop the north cascades section of Washington and they were mostly snow covered in early June.
So, I was really excited to wake up at 4 am in the morning and drag my very sleepy wife on to a drive to the beautiful wildflower meadows of Hurricane Ridge. Unfortunately, it turned out to be an masterclass in one of the follies of landscape travel photography. We were there on time for sunrise but not the wildflowers. My best guess calculations were off by about a week according to one of the park rangers we met. These were the only patch of wildflowers that we on the entire meadow.
- Khalil Gibran.
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One of my favorite shots from our trip to the beautiful state of Washington was taken at the second beach just as the sun was setting and lighting up the few sea stacks that were close to the shore. I waited patiently with a wet hiking shoe to get the waves just right. The best part about the second beach is that to get here there needs to be some commitment from the photographer. There is a hike and a bit of scramble over accumulated logs that the ocean deposited by the beach. So, it's not as crowded as Rialto beach which is located just off the parking lot.
The light that was falling on these sea stacks were coming in perfects once the sun was behind a cliff which had a natural arch in it. The delicate light rays falling on the sea stack illuminated the rock perfectly with the red and golden light and shadows to provide depth to this amazing rock formation. Add to that gentle waves and the pink hue in the sky, all the elements came together for a perfect landscape shot. All I had to do was do justice to the scene with my technique and timing and I hope I nailed both.
I set out on a mission to find twenty images I hadn't previously shown from last year, and I had a blast doing it. This is one of them, from a trip...
I was staying in Forks (Olympic N.P, Washington State), 20 km from the coast and two evenings i stood on La Push beach to make some sunset pictures....
I was staying in Forks (Olympic N.P, Washington State), 20 km from the coast and two evenings i stood on La Push beach to make some sunset pictures....
Sol Duc Forest – Olympic National Park
Although photographed at least ten years ago, this image remains one of my personal favorite captures. While...
Quite simplified comp here. Not tide pools, no clouds ... So I put my wide angle lense aside and looked for some closer shots.
Hope you like it!
cheers
- Anton Chekhov.
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One of the star locations of our summer road trip to Washington state was the accidental discovery of the Second Beach near La Push. Our original plan was to spend the sunset at Rialto Beach and we reached the beach parking lot with hours to spare. But the problem was the high tide that ruined any decent photo opportunities. So, on a whim, we decided to drive to the second beach which looked like only moments away from the beach. It turned out to be a pretty long drive and quite an exhilarating hike to get to the beach.
Once we were at the beach we found an amazingly scenic beach with stunning haystacks, lush green forests, and even a natural arch. I took this shot just after sunset when the color in the sky became even. This is a panorama shot made of 5 shots with a two stop ND grad filter to balance the light. The challenge was to do the panorama quickly to get a continuation in the waves. Thankfully this came out perfectly while combining in Photoshop.
- Henry David Thoreau.
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Another shot of the beautiful Sol Duc Falls in the Olympic rainforest. This was one of my favorite shots at this location because the view from this nook included the falls and the bridge across the Sol Duc River.
A long time ago while I was a budding landscape photographer one of the senior photogs I met at a location advised me to not take out the camera immediately when you reach a new location. He suggested that you walk around the locations and try to get as much understanding regarding the place and how light is affecting the view you have. Check to see how the shadows are and projection of regarding the path of the given light source. Following that advise netted me this little spot and this viewpoint.
I had to drop down to the edge of the falls and affix the tripod at a very odd angle to stabilize it and then wait for the clouds to diffuse the light all while crouching inside the roots of a giant tree by the edge of the river. Let's just say I am very thankful that both my Nikon's now have tilted screens on their backs.
- Honore de Balzac.
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One more shot of the wonderful Sol Duc Falls at Olympic National Park. This one is a more straight on shot of the falls. As we were walking around I saw some amazing beam of light on the leaves above the falls and set up my tripod to compose for a shot. I had to wait a bit for the clouds to pass through and diffuse the light a bit and the water spray at this location was brutal on the camera but very refreshing after the hike. After about 5 minutes of waiting the clouds obliged and blocked the sun for enough time to take the shot. This is actually one of my favorite shot from this location.
- David Douglas.
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Today's photo is from Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. This shot was taken while hiking to the Sol Duc falls along the hiking trail. The forest there is just enchanting with the amazing old trees with moss hanging all over them. I was so focused on finally getting a shot of the Sol Duc falls that I concentrated on keeping my pace up to get to the falls and getting the shots I came for. On our way back from the falls, we took a more leisurely pace and I started to notice how wonderful the forest is and started to take some shots of the many interesting views.
- Aesop.
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After a rainy morning at Moulton falls we drove straight into the Olympic Peninsula and to the beautiful little town of Port Angeles. Here we kind of underestimated the sheer size of the peninsula and had a tiresome couple of days. The problem of summer road trips is that days are super long and landscape photography road trips can tire you out as you get very little time to sleep in between locations.
One of the first spots I wanted to visit for sunset was Rialto beach but unfortunately, it was high tide and we couldn’t get close to the sea stacks. So we decided to get to our backup spot which was the second beach, now this location is even more spectacular than Rialto beach but there is about a mile of hike plus some sketchy hops over fallen logs to get to the beach. I had a feeling that we will not enjoy scrambling over wet logs and a hike through a dense forest after sunset and that was the only reason for this spot being plan b. But after the quick hike, we reached the beach without many issues and the logs turned out to be way easier than the ones at the beginning of Oneonta Gorge. We reached just in time for sunset and to add to the plus side the waves were much gentler than the battering surf at Rialto beach. Hope Y'all like the images from the stunningly gorgeous second beach of the Olympic Peninsula.
- Henry David Thoreau.
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One of the main reasons why we included the Olympic Peninsula into this road trip was the beautiful location of Hurricane Ridge. There is quite an unparalleled view of the stunning Olympic mountains from the visitor center itself. Another added attraction is that the meadows which make the ridge famous are usually carpeted with wildflowers in summer. From my past experiences I have learned that sunrise and early morning is usually the best time if stillness is an important factor in your photos.
So after visiting the Hoh rainforest and abandoning a sunset venture at Ruby beach, we headed back to Port Angeles to get a little shut-eye before waking at 4 am for the 30 min drive to Hurricane Ridge. We were the only people there and I was truly excited thinking about finding my prime wildflower shot before anyone else joined us. But unfortunately, I realized soon that the reason why it was not crowded was because the wildflowers have not yet started blooming. So, all I had was a beautiful meadow in the for ground and a part of orange flowers close to the horizon if squint and zoom.
I still came back happy because the light was just gorgeous, and we have quite many elk and deer’s that were grazing by the meadow. Some even come close and checked us out. This is a must-see place if you are in the Olympic Peninsula or the beautiful towns of Port Angeles or Sequim.
2nd Beach, Olympic Peninsula, Washington
This is a sunset view of 2nd Beach, which is not the same as Beach 2. The next morning, we stopped by...
Long exposure of the morning clouds hugging and kissing the ridge at the Olympic National Park
Long Exposure photography of the the lake at the olympic park
The weather on the Washington coast is really unpredictable. It was clear sky when we were at the Olympic National Park, but every time when we were...
I finally manged to process another photo from the olympic national park. While visiting Sol Duc falls some beautiful light was filtering through the trees and it blended in nicely with the falls.
Hope you like it!
Olympic National Park, Washington
- John Muir.
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When we planned our trip through some of the wonderful landscapes of Washington, I was especially interested in including the Olympic Peninsula into our trip as it had one of the rare examples of a rainforest in the northern hemisphere. As I am originally from the western ghats of India, my home is less than 20 miles away from the Malabar coast rainforests. So, I was fascinated to see another type of rainforests, especially one that thrives in cooler temperatures. Also, when you live in SoCal any type of green spot is a happy relief.
I had marked the beautiful Sol Duc falls as one of the top spots that we need to hit. It requires a 2-mile hike through some magnificent forests. We really enjoyed this mild hike through the wet ecosystem and the small streams and many waterfalls that adorn the trail. Hope I managed to convey the beauty of the scene with this image.
A view from behind the waterfalls. The light made it possible to get a good photo from this side. Else the contrast at the edge of the falls would have been to harsh and the drop of to abrupt.
I used some manual blending here for dynamic range and then my usual postprocessing for colors and contrast. Came out quite well I think :-)
- Yogi Berra.
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On our first day at the amazing Olympic peninsula, we decided to hit the beaches. First, we went to Rialto beach but due to high tide we couldn’t find a good composition and decided to bail early and get to second beach. Now this required a decent hike through a rain forest and traversing a bunch of fallen logs all the while carrying a camera bag and tripod. But we prevailed and reached the beach, the views were stunning from here and the surf was much tamer. I was happy and soon set about find a good composition near the water only to have a rogue wave completely drench me in ice cold water.
To say I was not in a good mood would be the understatement of the trip. After the usual bitching and moaning, I settled back to the business at hand and started taking pictures. As we were nearing the tail end of the shoot, I looked away from the setting sun and we found the breathtaking scene. It looked something out of the Caribbean rather than the cold summer beaches of the Pacific northwest and it one of my absolute favorite shots from the trip.
- Lao Tzu.
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Another shot from our recent summer roadtrip through the beautiful state of Washington. This one was taken at Hurrican ridge of Olympic National park. I didn’t take this shot just a bit after we completed the short hike around the ridgeline. We were actually about head back when I noticed that there was still some color in the mountains and the clouds. To add to that we had some deer that were grazing by the horizon, so I quickly set up a panorama shot of the Olympic mountains and the beautiful meadows in the foreground.
Bioluminescent phytoplankton glowing in the surf on a moonless night, Second Beach, Olympic National Park, Washington, USA.
Single exposure. No...
There were dozens of people who had set up camp along this beach. I yearned to be among them. Nothing better than viewing a sunset like this in front...
Sol Duc, Olympic National Park
Yet another sunset covered by haze on the Olympic Coast. This was our last evening of our trip here and magic hour consistently remained overcast. So...
This photo was taken on an early walk on Rialto Beach in Olympic National Park in Washington State, USA. This photo was processed in an HDR program....
Thanks to all Phoide contributors to Clallam County!
Most notably Sandeep Thomas, Michael and Yi Jiang.