Ken Papaleo: X Marks the Shot: Maroon Bells Summer

"X Shot" information.

Camera - Canon EOS 5D Mark II

ISO - 400

Shutter - 1/125 sec.

F/stop - 18

Lens - 70/200 zoom.

LOCATION.

1. Aspen is about a 4 hour drive from Denver.

2. Maroon Bells Recreation Area was my destination.

3. If you want to drive your car up to the bells, you have to be in the park before 8 am or you can get in

after 5 pm. Otherwise you have to take a bus up.

4. The area is less crowded in early mornings or evenings.

THE CHALLENGE.

The tree bells are the main subject of most photographers when they come to photograph the park.

In the fall they line up along the shore of the lake to capture the bells and aspens reflected in the water,

like this shot of mine.

What kind of shot could I get of the bells, in the summer, with out using the lake's reflection, would be my challenge. I was still going to check the out the lake shot at different times of the day, but to get the lake perfectly calm and the mountains nicely lit, is a crap-shoot.

SOLUTION.

I found out that at sunrise, the bells turn red for a short time. Finding a spot away from the lake I was able to photograph the lit mountains while the foreground was black, still in shadows. The exposure was taking off the bells. Checked out the lake reflection shot many times but never got it perfect.

OTHER PHOTOS OF THE MAROON BELLS.

ALL PHOTOS ARE FOR SALE, CONTACT EMAIL ADDRESS BELOW.

kenpapaleo@highcountrycoloring.com

Ken Papaleo

Colorado Landscape Photographer

303-674-0615

"X Shot" information.

Camera - Canon 1Ds Mark III

ISO - 200

Shutter - 1/10 sec.

F/stop - 20

Lens - 16/35 mm zoom.

Note - during the 1/10 second exposure, I moved the camera up to get this blurred image.

LOCATION.

1. Aspen is about a 4 hour drive from Denver.

2. The two locations I shot at were Maroon Bells and the Ashcroft area.

3. Mornings and evening light are the best.

4. If it is over cast, don't worry, this light can be great and the colors can be nice and rich.

THE CHALLENGE.

With a past winter with little snow and not much spring ran, has made one of the worst wildflower seasons in Colorado. To get a great wildflower shot would be the challenge.

THE SOLUTION.

After making many phone calls and emails I found out that Crested Butte's flowers were dismal and so were Steamboat's. Ouray's weren't any better, no place looked really good. I decided to go to Aspen, mainly the Maroon Bells Recreation Area. To my surprise there were nice sections of wildflowers, no big fields but enough to work with. Now to get a great shot from this area, that would be different, was the challenge. Most of my images were nice but I had shot something like them before. It was time to use a little trickery. After finding a nice section of flowers, I decided to use a very slow shutter speed and a large depth of field and hand hold the camera. During the long exposure, the camera was moved up, causing the vertical blurring. This doesn't always work but in this case, a very eye catching image was created.

OTHER WILDFLOWER SHOTS FROM THE ASPEN AREA.