03/07/13 Featured Arkansas Photography–Midnight skies looking south from the summit of Mt. Magazine
- At March 07, 2013
- By paul
- In Featured Arkansas Photography
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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.
10/09/12 Featured Arkansas Photography–Stars over Roark Bluff late 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
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+.
09/17/12 Featured Arkansas Photography–Fall morning on Richland Creek in Newton County Arkansas
Taken with a Canon 1ds MKII, Mamiya 35mm Lens with a Zork Adapter, F16, for approximately 1/60th of a second, iso 100. I love Richland creek and have hiked it more times than any other location in Arkansas. The scenery on Richland has to be some of the best in Arkansas. In the fall, mostly you get a low water condition like this photograph shows where the water is only holding in the pools. This offers great reflection shooting and many times the leaves will build up like they did in this photo. You have to catch Richland at just the right time as the leaves only stay in good color for about 3 days. I try to make it up there at least once during the fall. You can also catch some great color further down the creek near the campground as two of the largest pools on Richland are here. If you are very lucky, Richland will be running and the hike up the creek is one to remember. All the various rapids have excellent photographic opportunities. Make sure you allow for the entire day so that you can take it all in.
09/11/12 Featured Arkansas Photography–Falling Water Falls in Searcy County
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.
Read More»08/28/12 Featured Arkansas Photography–Nighttime stars over the Big Dam Bridge in Little Rock Arkansas
Taken with a Canon 5D MKII, 14mm Lens, F4, approx 20 seconds, iso 400. I don’t spend too much time down at the big dam bridge, but it can be an interesting night shot on a clear cool night. On this night, it was pretty warm, over 85 degrees so I picked up some rose streaking in the sky. However the stars themselves stand out very well. I picked a night when they were running a bit of water through the dam so the 20 second exposure was plenty to blur out and smooth the water. The lights on the top of the dam took on a nice starlight look due to the 14mm lens. I recently sold the 14mm Canon since I am in the process of moving to Nikon, but I will miss that particular lens.
The Big Dam Bridge runs across the Terry Lock and Dam and allows cyclists, walkers and runners to cross over the Arkansas River to the North Little Rock Side of the bridge. I took the shot from the North Little Rock side, looking back towards Little Rock.
If you look closely over the middle of the bridge, you can easily spot the constellation Orion. The belt is very easy to see. I also liked the way the rose colored sky blended in near the tops of the hillsides.
08/13/12 Featured Arkansas Photography–Fall Scene on the Cossatot River
Taken with a Canon 1ds MKII, Canon 24-70 lens @ 70mm and F 14, iso 100, Shutter speed 1/160 of a sec. With the fall season just about here, actually in many places it’s already here in Arkansas as a lot of the trees have turned brown due to the excessive drought. This shot was taken during one of my many hikes along the Cossatot River in the southwestern Ouachita mountains. The Cossatot is a great stream, just takes a while to get there from Little Rock. When the levels are right, the Cossatot is one of the best kayaking spots in Arkansas. The area known as Cossatot Falls is the real mecca. Here you can find 6 distinct rapids each of which has a unique name. Along the banks of the Cossatot you can find wonderful displays of maples, oaks, and gum trees. I found this shot on my hike back out as the sun was starting to set and I was able to position the sun so that it back lit the leaf just the way I wanted. I used a polarizer to help block out unnecessary reflections and to give the sky a deeper blue hue. Fall is definitely one my favorite times to photograph Arkansas.
08/09/12 Featured Arkansas Photography–Richland Creek Reflections
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.
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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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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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.