13 September 2014

Smiley Canyon, Fort Robinson, September 13, 2014

Sunset on a fallen tree at Smiley Canyon in Fort Robinson State Park, September 2014. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)
Sunset on a fallen tree at Smiley Canyon in Fort Robinson State Park, September 2014. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

There are a number of rocky outcroppings at the high end of Smiley Canyon in Fort Robinson State Park. With the variety of yucca, small flowers, grass, fallen trees, and live trees to work with against the rocks, I find plenty of opportunities to play with near-middle-far compositions.

On this September evening in 2014, I continued to see what I could do with the rough patterns of rock and weathered wood, plus the dots of color from the flowers. The sunset gave everything a warm glow to match the flowers, and I ended up with a top-down view of the tree with the flower next to it. There is a bit of depth at the top, showing the ground somewhere below the small cliff created by this particular outcropping. I pushed the saturation and contrast up to showcase the range of tones in the scene.