Fall Color

Although dull color was forecast because of the dry summer the Adirondacks enjoyed some of the best autumn color I've seen in years, at least in the areas I frequent which are the NW corner of the park and the High Peaks area. I did two day trips in the last week. I'd like to have gotten out daily and covered ore of the park but gas prices are ridiculous so I stuck to areas I was familiar with.

The photo above is a waterfall adjacent the Wilmington Notch NYS Campground. It has no name that I'm aware of and the state does not promote it as It is a relatively dangerous place. The rock you see in the foreground is a point of land sticking out over the river that drops off at least 30 feet on three sides to the rocks and river below. You don't want to fall but it provides the best view of the falls if you can take the adrenaline that comes with standing there. The edge of the rock was only about 3-4 feet in front of me as I shot the two vertical frames that I stitched together to make this image. I've stood closer in the past but I bruised my left shin climbing Indian Pass on my last lean-to cleanup trip and it was still sore so I wasn't feeling steady enough to get too close and I thought the rock made a good foreground anyway (a juicy rationalization?). Whatever, that was as close as I dared get yesterday.

There is an album of 64 Adirondack Autumn photos on my Zenfolio galleries*. They were all made, as this one was, with a Canon 7D. Before anyone asks, yes the colors were that intense. Most have not had any added saturation. I did increase the local contrast with the "Clarity" control in Lightroom on many of them and that does heighten the impression of intensity but for the most part the saturation is what came out of the default conversion from RAW. It almost looks like it was shot with Kodachrome.