It was a spectacular morning at 10,000 feet! We were up Baldy Town at Philmont Scout Ranch to greet the sun. The fall color was off the chart, blazing away in the first rays of the say. I set the camera to -1/3 comp, rotated the Nikon Polarizer to remove the reflection of the solid blue sky. In the EVF, I had that warm feeling from the frame. Once I got the image back in the computer, there was so much color from the under exposure and the polarizer doing its job, I dialed back the yellow some to finish the image. I don’t remember needing to do that before. I think it’s a good problem to have.

Here in Montana and up at altitude in New Mexico, fall has started to pop. It’s time to get out the tools and techniques to bring back the memories. A couple of important tools at the polarizer. It removed the blue color cast from the sky from the leaves so their brilliance and color scream! I’m excited this year to be out with the new Z24-70f2.8 II, which produces a magnificent starburst. Simply close a lens down to it smallest aperture, make sure you front element is clean and then shoot. You can pinch the sun like you see here through a canopy to make a targeted starburst. Lastly, get boots on those feet and walk into a grove and look up! It’s a grand time to be out, so grab them tools, falls a comin!

Nine hours later, we left our Kodiak Brown Bear friends and headed back towards camp. It was a full day of brilliant photography, conversation, fishing and laughs. One can’t ask more from life, especially from photography. With darkness upon us, we get in the skiffs and make the turn towards home to this gorgeous display. It couldn’t have mimicked the sentiments inside any better of our tremendous day! Seeing the skies ablaze, my mind wandered back to the day, a day that I wished never ended. What a day and I wished it lasted longer, hoping to soak up a little more time in the long ride home.

The bright sun and its deep shadows can make using it to tell a story a challenge in summer. One solution I like to go to when I can is, Silhouette. The easiest way I know of making a silhouette is by placing the sun in the frame. And to make that star be the star? Close down the lens to its smallest opening and then restrict it more by “squeezing” it through a natural hole like you see here. If what you are silhouetting is a recognizable “something,” all the better. It’s just another way of working with the August sun.