The Flickr Unescosequoiakingscanyonbiospherereserve Image Generatr

Captured in Sequoia National Park just off the Generals Highway.

What a drive and what views to take in! Amazing! For this image, I decided to zoom in and focus on this portion of the winding road as the Generals Highway headed downhill to the park entrance far off in the distance. With the low clouds all around in this mountain valley, I felt it forced me to have more of a focus just on the the hillside of trees and what portions of the road were visible. As for the low clouds off in the distance, I thought they did kind of add to the image. If the clouds hadn't been present, I might have been drawn to try to capture more of a look across the valley. The look downhill though had more of that swiping feel of just a winding road in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

With the blah overcast skies above, this was a perfect chance to focus an image captured on the meadow itself and some far-off trees. By angling my SLR camera slightly downward, I was able to capture a lot of the foreground looking across this grassy meadow, including some small ponds, some fallen trees, and some rocks and boulders here and there.

A conversion to black & white using Silver Efex Pro 2. I worked with different color filters to bring out the shades and tones in the final image. The General Sherman Tree is in the center of the image with the other sequoias, evergreens and redwoods all around and coming into the center.

This was another image setting that I learned from another location in Yosemite National Park to meter correctly. Far off in the distance were areas that would be in the highlights and might be clipped off, but nearby were other darker areas that might be harder to pull out in the shadows. What I decided to do was find a kind of point in the middle (zone 4-5) with a view straight ahead. I knew that I could later darken the highlighted areas and then brighten in the shadows, adding some more vibrant colors with color control points in Capture NX2.

A conversion to black & white using Silver Efex Pro 2. this image is similar to another one in color that I captured while walking around Sequoia National Park near the General Sherman sequoia tree. Here though I focused on bringing out a richer total contrast in addition to retaining that glow that the mist and low clouds created near the treetops.

Captured from an overlook along the Generals Highway in Kings Canyon National Park.

Only a portrait orientation could adequately capture the sheer size of these famous sequoia trees. While the focus was of the tree to my direct front, I found including nearby trees and limbs to be a good framing for the entire setting.

I'd never heard of this fallen sequoia and the stories about its history from providing shelter to being a hotel and saloon and then being a stable for US Cavalry horses. What I decided to do to capture the feel of this falling sequoia was to focus on its base and then have a look that continued through the opening to give that glimpse of how big it really is. As a backdrop, there would be the redwoods and sequoias with their browns and greens.

An overcast day in Sequoia National Park that had those blah skies that were not much for an image captured...but I took a few anyways, knowing I could work with them in Capture NX2 for a final image. Here I decided to see what I could do with a colorizer to make blue skies and then add a "midnight" feel with a CEP filter. That's what this image was about. A wish, if you will, of a setting to take in on a late evening in a national park while camping and taking in a wonderful view of the wildness of nature.

A look to the southeast across this grassy meadow that was a delight to take in. The weather was still overcast with some times of rain, but I was minimize that look with a faster shutter speed and more open aperture (yes, one can see the rain and snow looking at the trees up close!). The idea was just a peaceful setting amongst tall trees in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

From this small rise near the trailhead of the General Grant Tree Trail, I found this view looking across an opening for an early glimpse of tall trees in King Canyon National Park. Even with the low clouds and drizzling rain, the setting of immense trees all around was a sight to take in!

This was just a typical view I noticed of the hillside while walking around the Hospital Rock area in Sequoia National Park. What I liked about this view was the varied setting as one looked up the hillside. Nearby are different colors and shades of green in the trees. Above that near the ridgeline are large rocks and boulders and then some clearing blue skies with clouds above. Another thing that drew me into this image was the color contrast in the greens and blues, along with a thin strip browns/pinks of the rocks and boulders.

A roadside stop looking to the northeast while driving the winding roads of the Generals Highway in Sequoia National Park.

This is from an overlook to the General Sherman Tree (which is in the center of the image). For me, what I captured with this image was the vibrant colors of reds and greens in this grove of sequoias. While I won't deny that the low clouds and slight drizzle were not as wonderful in my mind as blue skies, I do know that the overcast skies did bring down some of the typical harsh afternoon sunlight and allowed for my colors to come out.

This is an image capture looking to the north in the parking lot area of the General Grant Grove of Kings Canyon National Park. While I didn't intend to capture that one person walking in the lower left-hand portion of the image, I found that having that person actually added to the image because it showed just how immensely huge the Sequoia trees and nearby evergreens and redwoods were! Even with the low clouds and drizzling type weather, it was definitely an amazing walk amongst the giants!

As one walks down the General Sherman Trail to see that famous sequoia tree, one comes upon an overlook with information signs that explains the view. One of the signs is appropriately entitled: There It is! And yes, there it is :-)

For the image itself, I went back and forth capturing different images with either a landscape or a portrait orientation. What I liked about this image with its landscape setting was how I didn't to try capture the bottom or the top of the trees; It was that in between part, and it left it up to the imagination of the person seeing this image to imagine starting at the base of these majestic trees and then looking up to see the treetops stretching far and high above them.

While walking around the Crescent Meadow area in Sequoia National Park, I came across many a tall tree with moss on the sides. What I wanted to do with this image was look across the tree and take in the textures of the tree bark as well as the filaments and colors the moss growing up the side of this one tree. I decided to pick a point about a third the way of image to both meter and use as focal point. One of the things I had to keep in mind while taking this image was the rain coming down. I was able to adjust some of that using Photoshop to blend in the raindrops that happened to fall on my camera lens.

Another image where I could say I easily got the idea from seeing what others captured on Flickr. This other person took his image in Colorado in Autumn...which is a perfect time to visit, having enjoyed those same colors a few years back (www.flickr.com/photos/iceman9294/5036223854/in/gallery-14...). For my image though, it was about the amazing sequoias...no, gigantic sequoias and taking in views of them while looking up to the skies above. For this image, I decided to find a patch of trees that brought about that distortion look with the trees coming into a center as if spiraled all around. I found that looking to the northeast with the General Sherman tree being in the center.