10/18/13 Featured Arkansas Photography–Sunrise through the rocks on Petit Jean Mountain

Sunrise through the rocks on Petit Jean Mountain–click on image for a larger view

Taken with a Nikon D800, Nikon 14-24 lens @ 14mm, F 8, iso 100, exposure bracketed in 4 series.  Petit Jean State Park (which was able to stay open throughout all of the stupid government shutdown) has some wonderful places for sunrise/sunset photography.  The mountain has one long section that runs along the length of the Arkansas River and the eastern most end has a great view of the river as it turns due west towards the city of Morrellton.  During certain times of the year, you can catch the sun where it will briefly (for about 5 minutes) totally illuminate the rocks below the summit.  I have worked this spot hundreds of times over the year, but didn’t realize that this scene was possible until last December.  You can also see on the large rock to the left what appears to be the profile of a face.  On this day there was just a small amount of fog in the valley off in the distance and when the sun popped up over the horizon, the glow was amazing.  I took this photograph with a Nikon D800 with 4 exposure brackets but due to the amazing dynamic range of the D800 at iso 100, I only ended up need 2.