08/09/12 Featured Arkansas Photography–Richland Creek Reflections
Cloudy Day on Richland Creek, Newton County Arkansas
Taken with a Canon 1ds MKII, Single Exposure with a Canon 24-70 Lens @ 35mm, F11, iso 200. This is better than Richland Creek will look in the the for 2012 unless Arkansas starts to get a lot more rain. Currently the creek is dry for almost it’s entire length. There might still be a bit of water in the deeper pools along the lower creek below the campground bridge. However I doubt that most of the pools above the bridge have any water left in them. The USGS guage has not reported any level for Richland for about a month now, so I feel that the large pool at the campground bridge is dry also.
On a cloudy day you have a much harder situation to work with since your sky will attempt to go white or light gray. Personally for my work I don’t prefer to see the white sky effect and since I don’t tend to combine images, i.e. take the sky from one and the scene from another, when shooting a scene like this most times I will move in closer and take the sky out of the frame. On this day the light was very neutral, no visible highlights and the shadows were all pretty even. I still liked the visible color on the creek so I walked up looking for a scene that might work. This group of rocks is called Cindy’s Hole Rapid and is quite a fun drop when there is a bit more water in the creek. I like the way the rocks work all the way across the creek and have such distinctive shapes. Richland creek is a great day hike for any photographer looking for the beauty of Arkansas’s outdoors.
08/05/12 Featured Arkansas Photography–Early morning view of Red Rock and the Middle Buffalo River Valley
A view of Red Rock and a foggy morning in the Middle Buffalo River Valley
Taken with a Fuji S2, iso 200, Nikkor 85mm 1.8 @ F 5.6, 1/60th of a sec exposure.
While on a road trip across the Ozark mountains near Mt Judea Arkansas, I came around a corner in the road and saw this view. The entire valley of the Buffalo River was swathed in fog and only the top of Red Rock was sticking out. Red Rock was at one time one of the most popular rock climbing spots in Arkansas. Recently due to private land issues and the fact that newer more challenging areas have opened up the climbing craze has passed Red Rock by. You can still get very close to the base of the formation or view easily from a distance. It stands out over the valley of Vendor and Hwy 374 courses right along the base. I know longer know if there is a road open to the summit, but if you can find one the view would be most impressive!
A view of Red Rock and a foggy morning in the Middle Buffalo River Valley
A matted view of the same image.
08/03/12 Featured Arkansas Photography–Sunset from Flatside Pinnacle
Sunset from Flatside Pinnacle looking to the west and Forked Mountain
Taken with a Canon 1ds MKII, iso 100, HDR series 5 frames, Canon 24-70 lens @ F11. Flatside Pinnacle is one of those places that once you make a trip there, you will find yourself going back many times. You can catch a great sunset looking out over the Ouachita mountains, or if you are there early in the morning, the fog will be down in the hills. Flatside is an easy 40 minute drive from Little Rock, west on Hwy 10 towards Lake Sylvia. I took this shot with a Canon 1ds, MKII, in a 5 frame HDR series. The sun had already set and the exposure times were from around 5″ to 20″. The effect I was after was the light playing off the haze in the distance. The colors of the sky that day were amazing. The hike to Flatside will take you near the 150 mile Quachita trail which runs east/west across most of the Arkansas Ouachita mountains and into Oklahoma.
07/30/12 Featured Arkansas Photography–How much is that Kitty in the Window?
- At July 30, 2012
- By paul
- In Featured Arkansas Photography
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Cat in the window along Dixon Street in Fayetteville Arkansas
Taken with a Canon G10, iso 100, 44.4mm, 1/400 of second. During one my trips to visit my older daughter while she was enrolled at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville I was able to catch this shot. We were walking along the Dixon street which has a lot of great character and I glanced up and found this cat starring back at me. I was only carrying my Canon G10, but it had enough zoom range to get the shot I wanted. The G10 is a good all round camera and I feel that it’s still one of the best of the Canon G series. I cropped into the shot to get the effect I wanted, the G10 had enough pixels that I didn’t lose too mnay details.
07/27/12 Featured Arkansas Photography–Sunrise throught the trees
- At July 27, 2012
- By paul
- In Featured Arkansas Photography
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Sunrise through the trees in Pulaski County, Arkansas
Click on the photograph for a larger image.
Taken with a Sony Nex-7, Sony 18-200 Zoom lens @ 30mm, F5.6 1/125th of a sec, iso 400. I like to drive along the rural roads in Arkansas to look for scenes like this one which was taken in western Pulaski county, Arkansas. This image was taken in late April before the effects of the drought began to really show in the state. This is a typical rural county road, which is only about 1 lane wide. The state of Arkansas has thousands of miles of roads like this and such roads are a great place to head out and look for a spot to photograph that is off the beaten path. I used a tripod to take this shot and it’s not a HDR composite which I would normally do in a scene like this. The Sony Nex-7 was able to handle the exposure range fine at iso 400 with a single exposure.
07/23/12 Featured Arkansas Photography–Lightening Strike over Pinnacle Mountian in Pulaski County Arkansas
- At July 22, 2012
- By paul
- In Featured Arkansas Photography
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Lightening strike over Pinnacle Mountain in Pulaski County Arkansas
Taken with a Canon 5D MKII, Canon 24-70 Lens at 24mm, F2.8, Bulb exposure, tripod mounted camera. This image will be added to my favorites, mainly because of just how hard it was to take. I had been photographing the sunset from the other side of Pinnacle mountain when this storm started to blow in. The early lightening drove me off and I headed around to the west side hoping to get a shot of lightening over the mountain. By the time I made it over, the rain was starting to fall and lightening was flying all through the air. At first I thought I could stand outside my car, with my tripod and take the shot, but soon I started to notice my arm hairs standing up so I choose to move back to my car. I put the tripod outside the car window and then setup my remote release so that I could hit the shutter when I first started to see lightening out of the corner of my eye. I just set the lens to infinity and F2.8 hoping to get the most light as possible. I captured this shot on the 3rd attempt. What amazed me was the different colors of blues that were in the sky as the lightening went off. The orange color off to the left of the image I didn’t notice until I looked at the shot.
Equipment in Use–Nikon MB-D12 Grip for D800
- At July 20, 2012
- By paul
- In Articles/Reviews, Nikon Gear
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- Nikon MD-B12 installed on the Bottom of a NIkon D800
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- Nikon MD-B12 grip with L bracket installed
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- A breakout of the battery holders for the Nikon MD-B12
Click on any of the thumbnails for a larger view of the image.
Since I purchased my Nikon D800, I have added the new Nikon MB-D12 battery grip. I am planning to write a full review of the grip in use with the D800, but this is a quick view of the grip. The pictures show the grip installed on a Nikon D800, the various battery holders that come with the grip and the grip and an L bracket. Overall the grip is nice addition to the D800 and with it installed you gain quite a bit of extra run time by using either another Nikon battery or a series of 8 AA batteries. It’s a nice feature to be able to use AA batteries as if you are in the field/remote parts of the United States, you can almost always find somewhere to purchase AA batteries. Also if you used the energizer AA lithium AA batteries, you may be able to last for 3 to 4 days without having to change out the cells.
There now appear to be several clones available for this product costing hundreds of dollars less. You can find both of them along with the NIkon MB-D12 on Amazon.com The early reviews are that both the clone grips seem to have similar build quality to the Nikon MB-D12.
From my daily usage I have found that the MB-D12 adds a good deal of heft to the entire D800 camera when carried. The grip is rather wide at the bottom, considerable wider than the build in grip in the higher end Nikon D4. When you add a L bracket like the one from Really Right Stuff, the camera, Grip, AA batteries, and L bracket with a Nikon 14-24 lens mounted are close to around 5 lb. total weight. I have not yet tried the standard Nikon Lithium battery in the grip yet, but it will have a bit less weight than 8 AA Ni-Mh cells. I was able to use a Nikon D4 for a few days and the weight/heft of the D4 is much more manageable however at a much higher price point with considerably less pixels. The run time with both the internal Nikon Lithium battery and the batteries in the grip allows for a tremendous amount of shots and review of those shots. It also makes the use of live view in the field a bit more manageable since with only one battery installed live view seems to drain the camera pretty quickly.
07/20/12 Featured Arkansas Photography–on the Edge in Hemmed in Hollow near the Buffalo River
- At July 19, 2012
- By paul
- In Featured Arkansas Photography
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Jim and Marshall on the edge in Hemmed in Hollow
Taken with a Canon 5d MKII, 24-70 Lens, iso 100, @ 50mm F 8. This was day was a bust as far as catching the waterfall at Hemmed in Hollow but we still had a good time. This photo and the one that is below shows just how steep is is around the rim of Hemmed in Hollow. There is a bit of a trail that runs around the upper rim but in places it gets a bit on the close side!. We had hiked in from the Compton Trail head hoping to catch some good water in the 200 foot Hemmed in Hollow waterfall but on this day it was basically a dripping falls. Not much to photograph. The hike down from Compton Trail head is about 2 miles all downhill, and the trail gets a bit tricky in places. You have to know where to look to find the spot where you can catch the rim trail. It’s not an official trail but has been hiked enough now that it’s easy enough to find. This trail will take you all the way around the rim of Hemmed in Hollow. Note, the trail past the main waterfall is a bit tricky and has a lot of exposure. I hiked it alone in 2008 and found myself wondering if I should continue to my overlook spot. I used to hike it all the time but back then I was in my late 20’s and things always look a bit different now and then. Still it’s a great hike and offers a view that most people don’t get to see as they all tend to look up from the bottom. Also the corkscrews above the falls are well worth the trip.
Jim and Marshall on the edge of Hemmed in Hollow
07/16/12 Featured Arkansas Photography–Jigsaw Blocks in Lost Valley on Clark Creek, Buffalo National River
- At July 16, 2012
- By paul
- In Featured Arkansas Photography
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Jigsaw Blocks in Lost Valley, Newton County and Buffalo River
Taken with a Phase One P45+, Mamiya 35mm lens @ F14, iso 50, Exposure 2 seconds. The Lost Vally part of the Buffalo National River has to be one of the most scenic areas in the entire state. I have been hiking, camping, and photographing Lost Valley since around 1970. I can remember Lost Valley when it was still only a small state park and the logging had just been stopped with a injunction. This photograph was taken during the huge rain even in 2010 during late April and May. For over 3 weeks Clark Creek ran close to full capacity and some features that almost never have any water in them were available for photographic capture.
Now Lost Valley probably gets close to 250 visitors a day during the week and 3x of that at times on the weekends. Now there is no campground as the National Park service is totally unwilling to replace the wonderful campground that used to be on the far side of the creek. There was a heavy rain in 2011 that caused a flood and the rest is history. At least they reopened the area to hiking.
Read More»07/14/12 Featured Arkansas Photography–Butterfly and Thistle in the Boxley Valley
- At July 14, 2012
- By paul
- In Featured Arkansas Photography
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Butterfly and thistle in the Boxley Valley, Buffalo National River
Taken with a Canon 5D MKII, iso 1250, Canon 100-400 zoom lens @ 400mm, F6.3. Sometimes you find subjects that you don’t expect to find. On this day, I was working around the Boxley Valley, near Ponca Arkansas along the Buffalo National River. The day was overcast and I was waiting for the local elk to make their evening appearance. While leaning up against a fence post, I noticed a lone butterfly that was working some thistles out in the field. He was about 15 yards away but I was still able to get a good series of shots at 400mm hand held with the aid of Canon’s Image stabilization. This photograph is crop from the original and is about 1/3 of the full sized file. The Bokeh of the Canon lens at this focal length was very nice.
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