John Stumbos  


Autumn at Emerald Lake by John Stumbos

November 2024 - Autumn at Emerald Lake

About the Image(s)

Lassen Volcanic National Park is one of Northern California’s treasured gems that doesn’t get the crowds of better known national parks elsewhere in the state.

Mt. Lassen is an active volcano that last erupted just over a century ago. Today, a two-lane highway twists and turns up the side of the 10,000 foot mountain. Just past the park entrance, signs of volcanic activity are evident in fumaroles belching steam into the air from the bowels of the volcano.

A little farther up the road lies Emerald Lake, a relatively small body of water yet big enough to reflect the conifers on the other side. I visited there In October with old friends and reflected on the many times we hiked, backpacked and skied at Mt. Lassen. There was just enough of a ripple on the lake to give the reflection an impressionistic feel. I worked with the image in Photoshop to bring up the color and cropped it to a 16X9 aspect ratio.

Equipment: Canon EOS 5D Mark IV with my 24??”105 lens at 105mm. Since I was shooting handheld, I bumped up the ISO to 400, enabling me to get a reasonably sharp image at f/4 and 1/160 sec. White balance as shot: 5,100 temp. In post processing with Adobe Camera Raw I set the profile to camera landscape, reduced the exposure slightly, added some contrast, reduced highlights significantly and brought the shadows up. Color enhancements were achieved by adding vibrance and saturation (+8), texture, clarity and dehaze (+17, +31 and +53, respectively) and by working with the curves sliders to bring up highlights (+43) and shadows (+23).

Autumn is great time to visit Lassen. The summer crowds have largely disappeared, Indian Summer weather brings cool, crisp nights and comfortable warm days. Splashes of color abound and wildlife are moving about preparing for winter. I think it’s my favorite time up there, a three-hour drive from Sacramento.


This round’s discussion is now closed!
4 comments posted




Leslie Larson   Leslie Larson
Humm. I'm not a big fan of abstracts. I find the colors to be over-saturated with some areas blown out. People who know a lot more than I do about such photos are better able to evaluate it. Sorry.   Posted: 11/07/2024 17:27:59



Judy Haran   Judy Haran
I am sorry I missed Lassen in 2015 and 2017 when we saw wine country, Yosemite, Crater Lake, and Mt. St. Helens. Its time to return.

I think a small size doesn't do justice to this photo. I can visualize a large print on a big white wall. Its quite lovely.   Posted: 11/10/2024 21:24:12



Sarita Yeola   Sarita Yeola
John,
I have yet to visit that part of California. I love the colors in the photograph. Maybe reducing the exposure and reducing the saturation or luminescence on yellow will bring out some of the reds you see?
I attended a photography retreat in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park recently. One of the field trips we took I got introduced to impressionistic photography, if done right can be very beautiful.   Posted: 11/15/2024 20:26:43



Sherry Icardi   Sherry Icardi
I very much like the beauty of this image, even if it is an abstract...and totally agree with Judy...would make an incredible large image hung on a dominant wall!   Posted: 11/22/2024 20:02:13