12/29/15 Featured Arkansas Landscape Photography–Foggy Morning View from Roark Bluff
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Taken with a Canon 5D MKII, Canon 24-70mm Lens, ISO 400 to 800 bracketed, and exposure bracketed in 5 separate exposures.
The early morning hours on the Buffalo tend to be some of the best to photograph the river. I love to hike up to the summit of one of the river bluffs and then wait for the morning fog to lift over the river. However sometimes the best shots are taken in the fog as this one was.
On this morning, I was setup to catch the fog rising and wanted to keep my lens out of the sun, so I was aiming westward. During the long morning wait I went back to my pack to get a drink and just happened to see this shot, as the sun was starting to break through the fog. I was barely able to run back to the camera, grab my camera/tripod and catch this shot.
I took this image in 5 exposure and ISO brackets since I knew that the Canon camera would not allow me the dynamic range to capture it in one shot. The Canon 1ds MKII, as good as it was for the time @ 16MP was pretty terrible with shadow recovery. Most the shots I took during this time were all in exposure brackets. Still the sun coming through the fog has always been a hard part of the shot to get just right. I did not want to the bright orb of the sun to just break through the shot, but instead I wanted it to just barely show. Many of the HDR software tools at the time would not allow for this, and I ended up having to do a manual bracketing exposure. Since then I have re-worked this shot many times over the years and but still have come back to my early versions as my preference.
This photograph has been printed up to sizes of 40 x 60 and has been selected by several Hospitals and offices in Arkansas to be placed in their permanent collections.
11/18/15 Featured Arkansas Landscape Photography–Foggy view of Roark Bluff
Taken with a Nikon D810, Nikon 24-120mm Lens, hand held @ 320iso for 1/100 of second, F 5.6
When I think of the Buffalo River, I tend to think about Roark Bluff and the beauty around that part of the river. Here you have two of the largest bluffs on the river, Roark and Bee both of which are well over 300 to 400 yards long. Each bluff has a unique character to it and the colors of the limestone comes alive in the early morning. At this time you have the valley totally fogged in. The fog will last for a while after sunrise and the best time to photograph the mornings is when the sun has started pop through the fog and adds a very unique light to the scene. Now add fall colors you have a real prime setting for sure.
On this morning, I was amazed to have the entire beach to myself, and I will take that when I can get it. It was a Sunday morning and the colors on the top of Roark Bluff had already turned brown, however there was still excellent color along the river. The top of the bluff seems to be mainly hickoy and maple, but on the riverbank there is a lot more variety. Here you will find oak, sweetgum, maple and gums. The display this morning was perfect. I had a tall gum tree on the upper left of the frame still showing the brillant yellows and reds, and across the river was another gum tree, but in pure yellow. In the foreground the river birch is starting to turn from green to yellow so overall it was a nice setting. I framed the shot with just a bit of the fog on the top of the shot. I still wanted to be able to see through the fog to make out the colors along the top of the bluff.
Roark is a great place to drive and spend the entire day. You can watch the sun move across the valley and enjoyed varied shooting situations during the day. Roark is one of my favorite spots for night photography, either star trail work or the milky way.