The Wood River

Nature Trail along the Wood River, Oregon
(c) Darlene Lyon Kruse - All Rights Reserved

One of my favorite places to photograph is along the Wood River in Klamath County, Oregon.  The river is shallow and narrow, laps softly against low-lying banks, loops and snakes through the valley in ways that beg to be photographed.  Willows and other trees dot the banks, interspersed among wooden fences, grazing cattle, rustic barns and ranch houses.  And from some locations, the mountains that ring the east side of Crater Lake form a dramatic backdrop.  This image was made at a nature trail that winds along the Wood River on the east side of the small cattle-ranching town of Ft. Klamath.  The trees and pasture on the far side of the river are part of a ranch.

Getting there:  From Medford OR, take highway 140 east to the Rocky Point/Ft. Klamath turnoff which is well-marked.  Follow this road to Ft. Klamath.  At Ft.  Klamath turn right at Highway 62 which goes to Klamath Falls -- also well-marked.  Turn left onto Sun Mountain Rd. just before you reach the old military fort.  The nature trail is poorly marked -- it's a left turn at a small brown road sign that says something like day use park.  But the sign is small and postitioned right at the turn off into the park.  The  access road is a loop road -- park, and then follow the trail. The trail is nicely developed, providing good access for everyone. 

Klamath County has been suffering through a severe drought, and the effects of the drought were apparent on this trip earlier this fall -- the aspen had not turned color yet, and the leaves looked like they would shrivel and fall off before the color came up.  Willow trees still had green leaves on them.  I chose to work in infrared, a format that doesn't need color to create dramatic images.

Metadata.  Nikon D90 camera, converted to infrared.  14-24mm f/2.8 Nikkor lens at 24mm.  1/125" at f/11.

Developing work:  I have created a user preset in Lightroom 3 for use with my infrared images.  The preset worked perfectly on this image (though it doesn't work on all images; I tried it on the photo of an oak tree made last week, & it didn't work at all).  The steps the preset automatically executes include black & white conversion, adjustments to the B&W mix in the HSL/Color/B&W panel,  increasing contrast, adding grain, & split toning.