02/21/2013 Featured Arkansas Photography–Night skies over Twin Rivers Park

Night skies over the bridge at Twin Rivers Park

Taken with a Nikon D800e, 14-24 lens@ 17mm, F4.5, iso 400. Image is the result of a series of 35 second frames that were stacked together. Well, it’s been a while since I put up anything new, and I do have my reasons, but I am going to try and get a bit more current. This shot was taken over the new bridge at Twin Rivers Park, in Little Rock. This is a new subject for me but one I have wanted to explore for a while now. The bridge has a series of bright lights that run along it’s course so it added an additional challenge for any type of shooting. If you exposed the bridge for 35 seconds, it would be totally over exposed, but I need the 35 seconds for the stars. So the solution is to expose a series for the bridge after the stack is done, then combine the images together later. The bridge added one other problem in that it had a much brighter center that would go off like a search light every once and while. You can still the effect in the center of the image, but I felt it was balanced enough as I had it. The effect of the center light is a bit harsher in the smaller jpg file I have uploaded for the web. I was blessed to be shooting with Dr. Smith that night and only to have a few planes overhead.

10/09/12 Featured Arkansas Photography–Stars over Roark Bluff late October

Star Trails over Roark Bluff in October

Taken with a Phase One P45+, 45 minutes, 35mm F3.5 lens @ F4.5, iso 50, Phase One DF Camera, One of the most amazing aspects of photography is working with time lapse shooting at night. By leaving the camera shutter open and using just the ambient lighting from the moon, you can get some great night photographs. In this shot I was working the Buffalo River Valley near Steel Creek which is one of the most popular spots along the upper Buffalo. There were no clouds and the sky was very clear with very little wind, perfect conditions for night work. I left the shutter open for 45 minutes which allowed me to capture the movement of the earth around the north star. If you can find the north star in the night sky then you will get the concentric circles outward from the north star. If you don’t have the north star, then you will get different patterns to the star movement, sometimes waves or other partial circles. I feel that the best shot will have a northern view even if the north star has dropped below the horizon. Remember, the moonlight will give the sky the wonderful blue tint.

10/06/12 Featured Arkansas Photography–Wintertime sunset at Flatside Pinnacle

Sunset over Flatside Pinnacle in the Eastern Ouachita Mountains

Taken in January 2012, Camera Digital-Phase One IQ160 mounted to Arca rm3di, Lens-Rodenstock 28mm HR, 2 exposures to create a exposure bracket. The wintertime in Arkansas can be very photogenic. I was out on Flatside in early January 2012 working with a new Rodenstock 28mm HR lens with a Arca Swiss rm3di. I wanted to test the lens in various combinations of focus and tilt. For this shot I was able to get a hyperfocal of about 24 inches to infinity. I used approximately 1/2 of a degree of downward tilt on the Arca rm3di. The corresponding depth of field was amazing. For this shot I took off my polarizer as it just did seem to make much difference. The Phase One IQ160 performed very well here. In the past when working with my older Phase One P45+, I found shots like this one impossible since the P45+ was impossible to work with bright highlights. For example on this shot I would have needed to take a shot for just the sun and these several more exposure brackets to try and pull in the shadows in the foreground. The Phase One IQ160 did this shot in 2 exposures. I still couldn’t get it all in one, but I found the Dynamic Range of the Phase One IQ160 a vast improvement over my P45+.

10/02/12 Featured Arkansas Photography–Branch in the Fog on Roark Bluff

Oak Branch in the Fog on Roark Bluff

Taken with a Canon 5D MKII, Canon 24-70 lens, F 7.1 at 1/40th, iso 400. When I am out working in the early morning, I often try to find shots where the fog can act as a major effect in the shot. On a morning like this, the fog did not lift for almost 3 hours but as it started, the sun briefly highlighted this lone branch which was just starting to leaf out in spring. Many people have looked at this shot and felt that it was taken in the fall, however if you look closely you can see that the oak leaves are just starting to open. This lone tree has taken a beating over the years but each time I come back to this spot it still there and and survived for another season of snow and ice during a typical Ozark winter. During the time I took this shot you could hear trucks and cars moving around in the valley below and people’s voices, but as the fog was so thick you couldn’t see anything. This is a great time to work the Ozark Bluffs and not just on the Buffalo River, but the Buffalo tends to allow for more fog.

09/11/12 Featured Arkansas Photography–Falling Water Falls in Searcy County

Falling Water Falls in early November–Click on image for a larger view

Taken with a Canon 1ds MKII, Canon 24-70 lens @24mm, F14 for approximately .5 seconds, iso 100. Falling water falls is one of the easier spots to get to in Arkansas. You can drive right up to it! Unfortunately this works against photography since you almost never find these falls without someone standing at the rim. I have never really understood the need to walk out and just stand there, but I guess there is some necessary fulfillment that some folks need. On the weekends, you can always expect to find a crowd here so if you are thinking about a trip, try to plan it on the weekdays and try to get there early.

07/27/12 Featured Arkansas Photography–Sunrise throught the trees

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

Lightening stike over Pinnacle Mountain in Pulaski County Arkasnas

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.

07/16/12 Featured Arkansas Photography–Jigsaw Blocks in Lost Valley on Clark Creek, Buffalo National River

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.

07/14/12 Featured Arkansas Photography–Butterfly and Thistle in the Boxley Valley

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.

07/08/12 Featured Arkansas Photography–Haw Creek Falls in Better days (before the drought of 2012)

Haw Creek Falls in north central Arkansas ozark mountains--Click on photo for a larger view

Taken with a Canon 5d MKII, Canon 16-35mm lens @ 16mm, iso 100, taken in 5 exposures ranging from 1/5th to 5 seconds. Haw Creek will always be one of my favorite spots in Arkansas. I try to go there many times during the year. I spent 3 nights there in late March and early April in 2012 working the night skies. It’s a great spot for this as you can get a waterfall and not have to walk too far into the woods. Of course you always have to work around the usual Arkansas locals and their flashlights and cigarettes. As the night wears on most of them will leave or pass out. The best times to work Haw Creek are during the week nights as the number of people will be much less. The campground at Haw Creek is open through the fall and is one of Arkansas’s best small campgrounds. NO HOOKUPS for those who prefer to bring along the house, but you can still drive your RV’s into the campground. Note, if there is a locally heavy rain, be prepared to wait out the creek. I would not attempt to cross Haw Creek if you can’t see the metal posts that the forest service has by the concrete slab. These are about 18 inches tall and if you can’t see them then the water in the center of the crossing will be over 24 inches deep!. Enjoy this spot. However right now it’s dry as a bone as are all the creeks in Arkansas right now as we endure one of the worst droughts in recent history.