Animas River Bridge North of Durango, Colorado Landscape Photo

Animas River Bridge North of Durango, CO Photo

Click on image for a larger view.

Fall scene of the Animas River running up through the center of the image with stunning green, yellow and brown fall foliage trees along the banks of the river. A steel bridge spans the river in the distance. Blue sky, white clouds, and hills roll in the background. This photo was taken from the Durango and Silverton Steam Locomotive traveling north from Durango, Colorado.

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Goal of the Photo

This photo was taken on the Durango and Silverton Steam Locomotive during the fall 2008. The goal of this photo was to show off the various environmental elements of the train trip north to Silverton. From the golden aspens and dark evergreens, the flowing Animas River, the blue sky and majestic mountains.

Project Specs

Camera and Lens Used

Camera: Pentax K110d DSLR
Lens: Pentax-DA 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 AL
Aperture: f8
Film Speed: ISO 200
Focal Length: 43mm
Shutter Speed: 1/250th second

Software Used

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Location and Date

Location: Animas River
near Durango, Colorado

Date: October 01, 2008

Photo Analysis

I feel that this image captures the emotion and feel of this special moment. The blue Animas River flows the viewer's eye toward the singular man-made structure in the image, the steel bridge. The whole image has a balanced composition with sky, mountains, trees and river working in harmony. Just to the left of the steel bridge out of camera view is the Tacoma Power Plant, a historical landmark from 1906.

Photo Post Processing

The original image taken was greatly underexposed due to the shadows created by the hills and trees as well as the angle of the sun at that time of day. To bring out more detail and make the image more vibrant, I performed several post-processing edits in the Adobe Lightroom Classic CC software. The first edits included changing the black and white clipping in the histogram and increasing the vibrance, highlights, and the shadows settings to bring out color and detail in the leaves. A graduated filter was placed on the sky portion to slightly darken the sky as it was too washed out. Additional modifications included slightly cropping the image and aligning the horizon line of the steel bridge. After these improvements were made the photo was brought into Adobe Photoshop CC software and the final addition of the Corcoran Studio logo was placed in the lower corner and the image was exported out at the desired final image screen size.

Corcoran Studio: Photography Portfolio - Animas River Bridge North of Durango, CO Landscape Photo