Iron Creek Photography®: Hoh Rainforest, Olympic National Park

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Hoh Rainforest, Olympic National Park

View leading into the Hoh along the Hoh River

Sony NEX 7 55mm

Just before the parking lot

Sony NEX 7 38mm

Raining anywhere from 140 to 170 inches (or 12 to 14 feet!) each year makes for a lush, green canopy. Add to that are the mosses and ferns that blanket the surface which adds to the enchantment of the rainforest. We're told that the Hoh is one of the finest remaining examples of the temperate rainforest in the United States and after visiting it we totally agree.

Along the Spruce Nature Trail

Sony NEX 7 IR 12mm

Spruce Nature Trail

Sony NEX 7 (IR) 12mm

The Hoh is located on the west side of Olympic National Park, about a two-hour drive from Port Angeles and under an hour from Forks WA. We stayed in Forks during our stay and found the 13-mile drive to the cutoff very easy. Once turning onto the road leading to the Hoh you'll find an additional 12-miles of winding road leading though lush trees and vegetation all the way to the end where you'll find the parking lot.

Typical Trail

Sony NEX 7 18mm

Along Spruce Trail

Sony NEX 7 24mm

Another Trail

Sony NEX 7 18mm

Sony NEX 7 27mm

Once at the parking lot you'll see a small ranger station and have a chance to explore the area by taking one of several paths leading into the forest. Spruce Nature Trail is 1.2 miles round trip, Hall of Mossess is .8 round trail while the Hoh River Trail is 18 miles to Blue Glacier. We took the Spruce and Hall Trails and found them both very easy to navigate and more than beautiful.

Fallen Tree

Phase One DF/IQ160 55mm

All the images included here are shot handheld with out the aid of tripod or monopod. We carried a combination of 2-Sony NEX-7 (one color, one infrared) and a Phase One DF/IQ160 medium format camera. The color Sony had a 18-200 lens attached while the infrared had a Zeiss 12mm. We used a combination of a 55mm and 120mm lens on the Phase One DF.

Sandy shooting on one of the trails

Don with both the IR and medium format around his neck

All files were processed using a combination of Capture One Pro and Adobe Photoshop Cloud. The Cloud has become invaluable for our handheld shots with the addition of Shake Reduction which is found by going to Filter then Sharpen. The Shake Reduction looks at the image file and for a lack of a better description performs magic in bringing into a sharper focus the slight imperfections one can have while shooting handheld. We suggest going to Adobe's website for a much better description of what it does.

Phase One DF/IQ160 55mm

And on another note. We're currently in Jackson Hole WY where we are attempting to capture Elk for the Elks Lodge and fall colors. The difference between this September and last are astounding. There's no fires this year and we've been blessed with beautiful cloudy skies. We've experienced cool to warm days and cooling nights however its begun to rain/snow now so we feel the fall color show will be very short lived this year.

Phase One DF/IQ160 120mm

Another side note. Don has been flying the Phantom quadcopter while we've been here getting in several test flights and will shortly have a blog up on that experience.