As I write, the southwest US is in the midst of receiving some serious winter rains. We spend most of the year parched and dry, and some years the winter is dry too, but not this year. When the rains come, so does the snow – at higher elevations. It’s a great sight to see from miles away when the San Gabriel mountains turn white. Of course you can trek right up there into the whiteness if you so desire (put your tire chains on!), but armed with a zoom lens from the comfort of the valleys below you can still get some very nice photos.
It still takes some bit of effort for me to get these mountain photos for two reasons: I’m either at work or on the way to and from work when the snow is at its best, or I have to find an unobstructed view while out and about in a built up area. Here’s the tale of my photo quest from earlier this week and some of the results.
First, here I am stuck at work about 35 miles from the mountains while the snow is fresh…
I actually have a basement office so even getting the above view involved a trip up the elevator to the 6th floor, a walk down a hall and across a large office that I can access! Even then, the mountain view resembled that of an “ocean view” property (ie, a small, distant sliver). I always have a compact Nikon Coolpix L810 consumer “popper” with me in my work bag and its main advantage is its 26x zoom lens (which outweighs its just-slightly-better-than-iPhone resolution). Putting the zoom lens to work near its extreme end and taking a series of left-to-right images, I was able to cobble together this photomerged panorama:
Later that same day, as the sun set to my left, I headed back up to the same office area and got some more shots:
Using the same pano technique, here is the result. Sorry about the landfill in the foreground, this is LA, not Canada…
As the week progressed, the snow remained (it usually melts quickly). A morning appointment at the dentist (in a location much closer to the mountains) did not keep me from gathering another great shot, this time through the waiting room window (how handy!):
On the way back to the office, a stop at COSTCO did not slow me down. Here’s the wide view:
A bit of walking around in the parking lot with the zoom lens at the ready got me these nice results:
I’m starting to feel like such a cheat! But this is the power of selective vision (partnered with the pano/photomerge trick).
Again back in Orange County CA, there is a park with a great overlook view of the mountains (and even downtown LA in the distance, out of frame). I had to battle the wild crowds to get my next pano:
Later in the week, the weather went downhill and the mountains were in a mood. I stayed in the car for these shots, again relying on the extreme zoom to isolate only the money view:
I used Topaz Studio to add some effects to the otherwise dull, foggy result:
Just down the road I sought out a view of the mountains where over-development didn’t encroach to the point where the mountains were actually hidden:
The result with the zoom/pano/photomerge trick and Topaz Studio applied:
These views were a lot of fun to capture and process! More rain is coming, so there should be even more opportunities to get additional “selective scenics”.
Update: The snow is still there into the following week, and today the clouds are hanging around the mountains. Zoom lens in hand, off I went for some more shots!
First, the reality:
Now the fantasy!
Back at work at that 6th floor office:
And the new zoom pano with some HDR artsy:
