05/08/13 Featured Arkansas Photography–Cossatot Falls State Park near Mena Arkansas

Cossatot Falls on the Cossatot River in Southwestern Arkansas
Cossatot Falls viewed from BMF rapid on the Cossatot River in Southwestern Arkansas

Cossatot Falls viewed from BMF rapid on the Cossatot River in Southwestern Arkansas–click on image for a larger view

Taken with a Canon 1ds-MKII, Zork adapter, 35mm Pentax FA lens, F11, iso 100 for approximately 1 second. The Cossatot River is one of the great scenic spots in the southwestern corner of Arkansas.  The Cossatot runs due south and eventually creates Lake Greason.  From there is continues to run into Millwood lake, one of the largest impoundments in the southwestern part of the state.  This photograph was taken much further upstream in the area known as the six falls.  Cossatot Falls is unique to Arkansas rivers as here you will find 6 distinctly different rapids that have cut through the sandstone ridges in different places.  Each spot has a unique name, BMF, and the Washing Machine are two of the most famous.  This photography is looking back upstream from BMF and features 3 of the falls.  I took this shot with a Canon digital camera, with a Zork adapter that allows you to to 3 separate portrait frames as stitches.  I then will combine the 3 frames into 1 landscape image.  You gain a tremendous amount of resolution by shooting in this format.

04/21/13 Featured Arkansas Photography–Sunrise over Bee Bluff on the Buffalo River

Sunrise over Bee Bluff on the Buffalo River
Sunrise over Bee Bluff on the Buffalo River

Sunrise over Bee Bluff on the Buffalo River–click on image for a larger view

Taken with a Canon 5D MKII, Canon 24-70 lens @ 24mm, Image is a composite of several different exposures. There are times that I will remember more than others on the Buffalo River.  This photograph is one of those days as I had a great landscape opportunity on this morning.  While everyone else was out chasing the Elk, (which are a bit on the tame side) I found this scene near Roark and Bee bluffs.  The trees around this area vary from Maple, Sweet Gum and various Oaks.  Most often in the fall in Arkansas the various trees tend to change colors independently and don’t come together to give a great color display.  This spot near Steel Creek landing features two of the most prominent bluffs on the upper river and in the fall you can sometimes catch early sunrise shots like this one.  There was no wind and just a bit of light fog was rolling across the tops of the trees below the bluff.  I was able to shoot this scene only by using several different exposures to catch the bright sun and deep shadows in the foreground.   I am now finding that with a Nikon D800 many times scenes like this can be taken with just one exposure due to the extreme dynamic range of the sensor of the D800.

 

 

 

04/12/13 Featured Arkansas Photography–Midday autumn calm along the Buffalo River

Autumn midday view of sweet gums and maples on the Buffalo River
Autumn midday view of sweet gums and maples on the Buffalo River

Autumn midday view of sweet gums and maples on the Buffalo River

Taken with a Nikon D800e, Nion 24mm 1.4 lens @ F7.1  1/250 of a sec shutter speed, iso 200.  On this day, the conditions were constantly changing.  I had been up on top of Roark Bluff most of the morning, but a large mass of clouds rolled in and pretty much shut things down for the morning.  I had gone back to my truck and I was figuring out where to head next when the clouds started to part.  The blue sky came out and within 20 minutes all of the clouds were gone!  I prefer to have some clouds in the sky when working with large masses of blue since the clouds will help break up the sky and allow for the use of a polarizer on a wide angle lens.  If I had just been shooting a solid blue sky, even at 24mm,  due to the angle of the sun I would of had the classic dark to light polarized effect that wide angle lenses can create.  However on a day like this with muted sunlight, you really want to have a polarizer on since it will make the colors in the leaves really stand out.  The polarizer also defeated any refection I was going to get on this shot but I felt it was a fair trade off.

 

03/31/13 Featured Arkansas Photography–Sunrise over Bee Bluff on the Buffalo River in Arkansas

Sunrise over Bee Bluff in along the Buffalo River in Arkansas
Sunrise over Bee Bluff in along the Buffalo River in Arkansas

Sunrise over Bee Bluff in along the Buffalo River in Arkansas–Click on image for a larger view

Taken with a Canon 5D MKII, Canon 16-35mm Lens, 3 exposure raw bracket converted in LR to final image.  When you consider the Buffalo River, one the most beautiful times to photograph is fall.  The last couple of years, the fall along the Buffalo has been lacking in overall color.  There were spots that contained excellent color but for the most part especially along the ridge tops, most of the trees just turned brown.  This spot which is featuring two of the most famous river bluffs, Roark and Bee bluffs, has a great line of gum and maple trees at the base of the bluff.  On this day, I was there early hoping for a valley full of fog, instead I only found a slight amount in the immediate trees, but with the rising sun and dramatic clouds that were present it still made for a great shot.

03/26/13 Featured Arkansas Photography–Sunset over Sam’s Throne in the Arkansas Ozarks

Sunset over Sams Throne in the Arkansas Ozarks
Sunset over Sams Throne in the Arkansas Ozarks

Sunset over Sam’s Throne in the Arkansas Ozarks

Taken with a Phase One IQ-180, Schneider 43 Super Digitar lens, F11, iso 100, exposure time 1/30 sec.  This was a strange day, as the wind was blowing about 20 to 30 mph and just standing around trying to take the picture was a bit dangerous.  Sam’s Throne is a great place to spend a day and or night as there is now a informal maintained campground.  Sam’s Throne is the single large hill out in the distance but the entire valley has some wonderful views.  I like to try and catch a sunset there working to catch the sun illuminating the throne in the background.  This area is frequented by climbers so be prepared to watch some interesting activity on the rocks.  The rocks are mainly sandstone and will take on a deep orange yellow color with the sun shining on them.  The valley is surrounded by oaks and hickory trees which tend to have great display of fall color.

03/15/13 Featured Arkansas Photography–Night skies over Roark Bluff on the Buffalo River

Roark Bluff star Trails
Night skies over Roark Bluff on the Buffalo River January 2013

Night skies over Roark Bluff on the Buffalo River January 2013

Taken with a Nikon D800e, Nikon 14-24 Lens @ 14mm, F4.5, iso 400, total exposure time approximately 40 minutes.   This shot was taken back in January, but it was a great night to be out shooting the stars.  The temperature was around 29 degrees and there was virtually no wind.  We started shooting at dark and by about 1 hour into the night we were getting excellent runs.  This shot is a composite of 40 minutes taken in 2 1/2  minute exposures at iso 400.  I will then stack the exposures to catch the motion and create the trails.  The blue sky is due to the moon.  If you work with the moon at night you will be pleasantly surprised by the results.  It will give a nice blue hue to the sky and also provide all the illumination to the bluff that you see in this photograph.  This is not a daylight/nighttime exposure as many people think.  This is all done at night with the aid of the moon.   As was looking up, it makes the perspective of the trees a bit more interesting, as if they are looking into the photo.  I am going to start working at night with a Canon 24mm TS-E for perspective control where it will give me a good enough FOV, which on this shot I needed all of the 14mm I could get.  You are looking to feature the sky, but you still want to get as much of the foreground as possible.

 

03/13/13 Featured Arkansas Photography–January Night skies over Roark Bluff

Night skies over Roark Bluff on the Buffalo River

Night skies over Roark Bluff on the Buffalo River–click on image for a larger view

Taken with a Nikon D800e, Nikon 14-24 lens @14mm F 4.5, iso 400.  Image taken in a series of 2 minute exposures and stacked to capture motion.   This was my first trip with the Nikon D800e for night photographic capture.  I had used the D800e throughout the 2nd half of 2012 but was never able to coordinate a good night for a shoot.  I prefer to have a clear night with a 1/2 to 3/4 moon and on the 20th of January in 2013 all of this came together.  There was also very nominal wind for the entire night.  This particular shot was taken looking downstream so I can featuer Roark Bluff and still capture Bee Bluff, the next bluff down river.  All of the on the bluff and riverside trees is from the moon and no light painting was needed.  The moon is a wonder ally with night photography, giving you a great blue hue to the sky along with adding just enough illumination to see the foreground details i.e. bluff, trees, etc.  I was very pleased with the results of the D800e at night.  The 14-24 lens at F4.5 still was extremely sharp and the corners of the shot were very useable.  I noticed no coma in the stars and very little chromatic aberration.   I used Capture One 7 to convert the raw files and stacked them in Photoshop CS6 to capture the star motion.  I then combined various versions of the foreground image until I got the best overall image.

03/10/13 Featured Arkansas Photography–Sunset from Flatside Pinnacle

Sunset from Flatside Pinnacle
Sunset from Flatside Pinnacle in the Eastern Ouachita Mountains

Sunset from Flatside Pinnacle in the Eastern Ouachita Mountains

Taken with a Canon 1ds mkII, Canon 70-300 lens, F11, iso 200, Composite shot taken as a manual exposure bracket. If you get a chance to visit this area you won’t be disappointed by what you find.  Flatside is the 3rd in a series of pinnacles that I consider to be the gateway to the Ouachita mountains.  In Pulaski County, you have Pinnacle Mountain, then just a bit east from Flatside, there is Northside Pinnacle.  These are followed in turn by Flatside and then Forked Mountain.  Forked mountain can easily be seen in the distance from the summit of Flatside.  Forked Mt. is a considerably harder climb than Flatside but the view from it’s summit is worth the hike.   I like to shoot to the west from the summit of Flatside after the sun has dropped below the horizon as you then can pick up the rolling hills out towards the west.  I worked this shot up from 5 separate exposures in a classic exposure bracketed series, which was required back when I was shooting with the Canon 1ds series of cameras, now with Nikon’s newer cameras like the D800, I should be able to get the same shot with 2 or 3 frames max due to the extra dynamic range of the Nikon sensors.  The trail runs up the back of Flatside mountain and right now there are several large trees down that make the hike take a bit longer.  The trail is an easy 1/4 hike from where you park your car.

03/07/13 Featured Arkansas Photography–Midnight skies looking south from the summit of Mt. Magazine

Midnight skies looking south from the summit of Mt. Magazine
Midnight skies looking south from the summit of Mt. Magazine

Midnight skies looking south from the summit of Mt. Magazine

Taken with a Nikon D800e, iso 250, Nikon 14-24 lens @ F4.5, final image is composite of 50 minutes of 2 minute stacked exposures. I had been to Mt. Magazine a about a week earlier but was still learning about the place.  The small ceder tree to the left is a famous landmark on Mt. Magazine and has been recently adopted by the Mt. Magazine lodge as their emblem on all signage.  It’s a easy shot, but tends to be over run with people most times during the year.  On this night with temperatures ranging about 25 degrees, I didn’t have too much to worry about in regards to people, however I did need to watch out for ice.  The bluff line drops down about 80 to 100 feet about 5 feet in front of where I had the camera.  On this night the moon was more of a hindrance then a help as I was near full, just two days past full and very high in the sky.  The day had been very hazy and some of the haze can be easily seen in the distance against the horizon line.  The town in the distance is called Havana, not sure where the name came from and the lake in the foreground is call Blue lake.  All my night work is now shot in stacks since I get so much more control over the final product.  For some reason I still had some gaps that I didn’t expect so I am starting to feel that the Nikon D800e might be buffering out with a long series of raw files, but I need to test this in a control to make sure.  The gaps can be easily fixed with Startracer software so I am no worried.  However I still managed to somehow touch the tripod and move it so that last few stacks were out of line.  This image represents a 50 minute time frame and I took the individual stacks as 2 minute images.  This gave me the best balance of star light against the very bright moon.  However I still added a dark short frame that I took towards the end of the series which helped a lot in closing down the moonglow to the left of the image.  This shot is looking due south and the pattern of the trails was a pleasant surprise for me.

03/05/13 Sunset over Cameron Bluffs on Mt. Maganize, Arkansas

Cameron Bluff on Mt. Magazine
Sunset over Camron Bluff on Mt Magazine in Arkansas

Sunset over Cameron Bluff on Mt Magazine in Arkansas

Taken with a Nikon D800e, iso 100, Nikon 14-24 Lens @14mm, F9, 1/1250 of a second, Single Exposure.  I was lucky enough to catch this great sunset as the sun was just dropping over Cameron Bluff on Mt. Magazine last week.  All day the weather had been overcast and hazy, but when I reached the summit of Mt. Magazine, things changed dramatically.  The sky started to clear and the temperature dropped by as much as 20 degrees.  The wind was blowing out of the north and I figured the wind chill was close to 24 degrees F.  I had been working the opposite side of the Cameron Bluff overlook and just happened to turn around in time to catch a great sunset over the bluff.  I did not have my tripod and with the wind that was blowing I knew I had to go to a very fast shutter speed to stop the trees in the foreground.  I set the camera to iso 100 and then moved my shutter speed to 1/1250.  The overall exposure was quite dark in the area around the bluff and the sun appeared to be overexposed, but as I worked the image up in Capture One 7 I was pleased to see that I had an amazing amount of detail still available to me in the hills below the bluff.  My only issue was FLARE, which is a real problem with the Nikon 14-24 whenever you are shooting into the sun.  I have a love/hate relationship with this lens as it’s so sharp but the issue with flare is terrible.  I spent more time working on the flare issues than anything else.  The 14-24 tends to create a rainbow looking flare and depending on the angle to the sun it can tend to dominate the lower portion of a shot away from the sun.  As you are shooting into the sun and want the sun in the shot, there is no way I know of block out the flare at the time of exposure.  The D800e was still able to give me a wonderful shot that I feel captured the moment perfectly!

Copyright © Paul Caldwell, Photos of Arkansas