11/15/15 Featured Arkansas Landscape Photography–Autumn afternoon at Pinnacle Mountain State Park
Taken with a Nikon D800e, Nikkor 24-120 lens @ F8, ISO 100. Image taken in 3 parts and stitched together in PtGui and Photoshop.
This was just one of those days. I had been out a few times previously, but the conditions did not equal this afternoon. You have to wait until around 2:00 pm to get this shot as you want the sun over the back of your shoulder. The light was perfect and Little Rock had a much better fall than other locations in Arkansas. But the clouds, oh the clouds. They started out as just some small swirls but as I continued to shoot they grew into this massive line that was turned upwards. To get this type of a panorama, even with a 36Mp camera, I knew I would need to stitch. However since my subject (main subject) was all off in the distance, I did not worry about a tripod, or setting my nodal point. I didn’t need to, just aimed and shot. I was using the Nikon 24-120, and was in the 90mm focal range. The colors that afternoon were perfect also, but I did add a circular polarizer to help pop them some more and cut the glare. You can clearly see the exposed part of the trail heading to the summit. Pinnacle to me is best photographed from below as the view from the top is impressive, but surround by homes, roads and the like.
To make this image happen, I first converted the raw files in Adobe Lightroom, then opened them up in PtGui, (a panoramic stitching software). The image came together perfectly and at first I thought I was done. But on closer inspection, I found that during the stitching I had allow for blur on the center image. It was only on the right edge and looked like a VR user error. VR is Nikon’s vibration reduction that is built into some of their lenses. If you are panning you have to be care with VR as you can confuse the system and it will not be totally finished. When you take a picture like that the blur looks more like a rolling issue as some of the file will be fine but usually towards one edge you will pick up some vibration induced blur.
So I had to manually go back to another image and pull that one part back to this stitch. It was not as hard as I thought it would be and the overall came out fine.
09/25/13 Featured Arkansas Photography–A quick preview of things to come, Fall scene on the Buffalo River sunrise over Bee Bluff
Taken with a Canon 5D MKII, Canon 24-70 lens @ F8 24mm, iso 200, bracketed exposures for final image. The Buffalo River has to hold some of the best photographic opportunities in Arkansas, especially in the fall. This shot was taken in 2011 but it’s a great example of what you can expect on the Buffalo. Here you will find almost every tree species that the state has and each one will have a unique fall color, along with the short leaf pines. In this shot you can see a row of sweet gums and maples along the lower part of the bluff and in the background on Bee bluff the oak and hickory trees are making their presence noted also. Fall in Arkansas can be glorious and on the Buffalo tends to peak sometime around mid October. I feel that this year since we have had such a long dry spell that the colors may not be as bold as normal and fall may come a bit earlier than normal. So far no major storms are forecast for Arkansas this fall and the northwest portion of the state is very dry. I was up in this area last week and there were already a few trees starting to turn a bit early. I am hoping that this year will not be repeat of last and the year before where each tree species seemed to turn by itself and there was never a great display of fall color. I was lucky in this shot to catch the last of the morning fog lifting off the ground and still showing up in the maples and gums. I took this shot as a bracketed exposure since I wanted to be able to catch all the light in the sky and not have too much noise in the trees along the bluff.
06/14/13 Featured Arkansas Photography–Fall scene at Gunner Pool Dam
- At June 14, 2013
- By paul
- In Featured Arkansas Photography
- 0
Taken with a Canon 1ds MKII, iso 100, Canon 24-70 lens @24mm F8, for approximately 3 seconds. Gunner Pool campground is one of the scenic gems tucked away in the middle of the Arkansas Ozark mountains. This photograph was taken in 2008 in the middle of a wonderfull fall photographic season. The night before it had rained and the small creek that creates gunner pool was starting to run over the top of the dam. Many people feel that gunner pool is in Sylamore Creek, which is right next to this spot, however pool that the campground is named for is the one created by the dam. Sylamore creek is a wonderful spot to camp, and has one of the best campgrounds in Arkansas. It’s always pretty crowded so if you are planning a trip up there in the summer, plan on getting there early and on a weekday if at all possible. The lower 5 campsites at gunner pool are along Sylamore creek and they the best ones. There is also a great swimming spot in Sylamore creek which is bordered by a nice bluff.