This is Castlewood Canyon Bridge. We have visited this state park many times and I have photographed this bridge many times. As these visits are family outings, which makes timing a little bit out of my control, I basically just photograph what is presented in front of me. The seasonal and weather conditions are as they are when I arrive. I know a lot of photographer’s put a lot of planning into getting an image but that is just not my reality nor do I really want it to be. I am a more “documentary landscape photographer” if you will. As in what is presented before me at the moment I’m there is what I photograph.
Now I’ve always known that at some point there would be an opportunity to get an image from this location. I just needed to be consistent in visiting and always bringing my camera. Here are a few of those over the last 6 years.
In October of 2023 the perfect scene was finally before me! We had gone out there later in the day than we usually do as we were looking for a little afternoon walk. The sun was low in the sky and skimming everything with a soft touch. That autumn was really beautiful with the yellows and deep burgundy colors. The bridge just glowed and the rocks made a nice foreground.
Now I’m a shallow depth of field shooter and I shot this with the intention of wanting the bridge to stand out. My settings were: ISO 200 1/3200sec f/2.8 I do regret not changing my aperture to something in the 5.6-8 range but for me having the foreground up to the pine trees with a soft focus gives the bridge more attention because it’s sharp. That may not be others preference but it is how I prefer to shoot, my subject sharp and letting the rest fall soft. Below is the straight out of camera image.
The post processing I did was to first fix the sky so you could see the beautiful clouds, remove the car on the far right of the bridge, I also removed one of the bare branches in the lower left corner, then edited the exposure to soften the whites and bring up the shadows, give a little more punch to the colors, and apply a little contrast and sharpness at the very end.
This is one of my favorite images and I’m so glad that with consistency and readiness that I was able to capture this beautiful fall scene. Of course it is in my Print Shop if you would like to check it out there.
Thanks for reading the story behind this image and let me know in the comments if you like this type of article.
B.
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