Misery Ridge Trail

Click above to see larger on my SmugMug site please. 

This is the beginning of the Misery Ridge Trail at Smith Rock State Park in Oregon. It was taken from the first viewpoint that most visitors probably encounter and my hunch is I'm not the first one to use a telephoto to focus on the switchbacks. 

But the photo works anyway because it tells a story of sorts. There's the engineering of the switchbacks and the tiny hikers next to the giant boulders provide scale, suggesting this really is a big and miserable hill that must be climbed (and it is). 

Camera & Settings: Nikon D5100, Nikon 70-300mm telephoto lens at 140mm, 1/125th shutter, f/16, ISO 100. I shot the photo in RAW and processed in Lightroom 4, using the onOne cooling and vignette filters. I also bumped up the saturation and clarity a bit. 

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--S.H.

This photo is ©Steve Hymon and may not be used elsewhere without advanced written permission. All rights reserved.