Last weekend, Molly was using a Canon 10mm-22mm on her 40D. It was a rental from Lensrentals.com ( we highly recommend this company) that we decided to experiment with it on the fall colors. Had the lens but the fall colors just were starting. Nevertheless, we forged on. It was a fun lens to use. Since we had to take Brandi back to Farmington, we planned to stop at Sandy Creek Covered Bridge on the way back to St. Louis. While on the road, Carolyn Schlueter called us via cell phone and we told her where we were headed. We told her to pack her kit and join us. She arrived shortly after Molly and I had unloaded the camera gear and we all had a great time trying to find some interesting angles of probably one of the most photographed places in Missouri.

Sunday, predawn, found us in Illinois on the “mountain” above the Pere Marquette State Park Lodge. This is one of Molly’s favorite trips of the year and we hoped for more color than what we found at Sandy Creek. The trees were just beginning to turn there as well. Not the explosion of color that we hoped for but you do what you can with what you have. After a chilly morning on the top, we headed down the “mountain” and had a hearty breakfast/brunch at the lodge. The food was good and the coffee was great.

Here are two shots from the trip–( we have a ton but it has been a busy week)
The bridge shot’s foliage was digitally ‘enhanced’ with NIK Color Effects Pro 4 (it was actually green). This is a different angle than the 20×30 print that I had framed for Molly but we hope to get back there when it snows…….anyway we gave it the “fall color treatment”.

The other image is from a frame Molly took just about the time the sun came over the ridge. Again NIK filters were used but with a very, very light touch. Looks kind of HDRish but I do like it and Molly thinks it ain’t bad either. I might have to have this one framed as well but this time I’ll do it— having it done by professional framers gets expensive real quick but it was 20 x 30 and deserved it.

I think the color will be better this weekend and we will see what we can get with our old 30-80 lens from the same spot– if it turns out well, we will post it as a side by side 🙂