Mini-Series - Recent Rain Forest Scenes - Sun May 22 (14)

[Laurence]

Hi All: I am starting a little "mini-series" here of some recent images
from the Olympic National Park Quinault Rain Forest valley that I
visited last week. I took so many pictures with the X100 that I
thought I should put these into a mini-series form.

This mini-series is to complement the Wilderness Beach mini-series
that I started up just a few minutes ago.

So, here's the first pic from the Olympic National Park temperate rain
forest.

Standoff!
Fuji X100

[Schnauzer]

Very nice as usual. Is that some kind of fern? Looks like our ferns here before they open up.

[Laurence]

[Laurence]

Here's an image of one of the many creeks that empty into the valley.
This was a difficult shot for me, as the sun had come out and things were
starting to develop too much contrast. There is one bit of hotspot in the
image, but I just let it go in favor of having the rest of the image in the
proper exposure. The whole area was in very deep shade for the
most part.

Tributary, Quinault Valley

[kds315*]

amazing shot Larry!

[Laurence]

[Laurence]

Another small waterfall. It was becoming a "race" with the sunshine, even
on this north-facing mountainside. You can see the extremely bright sun
area starting to sneak down into the scene from above.

I had left my tripod attached to the Pentax 645 about a half-mile away, in
order to try to capture some elk on film. So, this was hand-held, and it
certainly shows that it is hand-held!

I came back later with the Pentax on the tripod, and I'm waiting to get
the transparencies developed. Even with the movement, I liked the
nature of the falls, so decided to post it anyway.


Strings
Fuji X100






Yet another waterfall, only this time it is blurred out as a background.
Pipsissewa Flowers in Pink
Fuji X100

[Laurence]

This was later in the day, but I still managed to find decent enough light
to make a picture. I liked the way the water braided itself around the
moss-covered rocks. Cropped more or less to a square format to simplify
the image.

You can tell by the nature of the tones in the water, that it is mostly
melted snow. The melted crystals and various particles in the water
from the melting snow stops any blue color from reflecting, therefore
you don't see much cyan and blue in the image.

Braided
Fuji X100





The arching stem of this Woodland Dicentra caught the sun and turned
golden, adding some nice charm to the overall image.

Golden Stem
Fuji X100





The Oxalis always seems to find the niches available, even in the bark
of a Western Hemlock.

Oregon Oxalis and Western Hemlock
Fuji X100





The Spring Beauty flower, rising out of the blurred depth of field, gave it
an unusual singularity.

Above the Blur
Fuji X100





I finally picked up the main trail with nice bridges and various ways to
cross the creeks. This bridge railing allowed me to use it as a backdrop
to the Salmonberry leaf. Some people aren't exactly thrilled with images
of Salmonberry plants, but it's been "with me" all my life. The Fuji picked
up the patterns in the leaf in a magnificent way (to me anyway).

Salmonberry Leaf and Railing
Fuji X100





The main trail seemed like a freeway in comparison to walking through
the valley without the benefit of a trail. The trail is lined with many
plants for miles at a time. It is a good showing of the diversity and
intensity of the ground cover, against the sterile trail.

Main Trail, Lined with Green
Fuji X100





A pair of young Devils Club. I wish I would have stopped down a little
more to get the leaves into a better focusing plane. But I am learning
from my mistakes (I think). The blue streaks and edges are NOT
color fringes; they are natural to the plant. This happens when the
chlorophyll combines with nitrogen compounds.

Young Devils Club
Fuji X100





Another railing shot, showing the textures and patterns of the Ruby
Beadlily, Angel Fern, Oxalis, and Salmonberry leaves.
Fuji X100





The Vine Maples will be spreading those leaves soon - they just need a
couple of days of sun, so they are getting close to popping out. I do
like the look of them in this young stage, though.

Vine Maple Proto-Leaves
Fuji X100





A 120 degree panorama of the main river bed. See the gravel bank
directly across the river? Well, if you go back into the forest about 200
meters, there is a whole lot of elk antlers and skulls, probably about
a dozen of them. I don't know how or why they all perished at
approximately the same time. I asked the Park Naturalist, and she didn't
come up with any answers. There is one more place where this has
happened, downriver about 4 miles, or approximately 6km.

River Panorama
Fuji X100

[Kathmandu]

Looks like the Fuji X100 holds up very well in the woods-I have seen you churning out excellent images with it. Great series thanks for sharing-I am leaning towards getting one . I like the compact nature of it ,and it seems to handle the outdoors well.

[cooltouch]

Larry, it sure looks to me like you're getting mighty used to shooting with a single focal length. Just amazing stuff.

[Laurence]

[Laurence]