Weekend Away in Brevard, NC

September 30, through October 2, 2016

Pastels in the Morning

It has been over nine months since Toni and I have taken a vacation and really gotten away from Winston Salem.  With the various headaches that we had going on at work, we decided that it was probably a good time to skip town and explore a little.  The question was....where to go?  Well, we decided to scope out Brevard, NC where we were considering spending our anniversary in January.  It would be a chance to get away and also to spend some time exploring the area and checking out the waterfalls.  We would make a weekend of it.

The weather for the weekend was nearly perfect for the average person, and even for the cyclists out there.  However, with very little cloud cover, it was not going to be that great for photographers.  I wasn't going to be able to do anything with the waterfalls that I was hoping I visit.  That was probably just as well since there was standing room only at most of the falls local to Brevard.  I guess that goes with the season in the mountains.  Even though the leaves were very patchy at best, this is the time when everyone flocks to the mountains.

We arrived on Friday, and went out toward Dupont State Park, but didn't really find much that caught my eye.  For this day, I was looking for barns and old cars more than anything else.  Oddly enough, there were none to be found where we were driving.  After a while the sun went down and it was time to retire to the hotel.

Our day started early on Saturday as we got up in time for the breakfast and then out the door to head to the Blue Ridge Parkway...Graveyard Fields to be exact.  The forecast called for light clouds, and I thought that I might luck out and get a decent sunrise.  Well, I was pushing to get up to the Parkway in time to get set up, but when I got there, the sky was pretty much blank, and the sun was starting to come up.  I was going to abandon the sunrise shot until Toni spotted an area below with some nice low laying clouds.  I quickly pulled off the road and built the camera, using the long lens since there was little chance of wanting to capture much sky.

Blue Ridge Dawn

I was able to get things put together in time to get most of the goody out of this sunrise.  There was not much drama in the sky unfortunately, but I really did like the wisps of fog in the foreground with the clouds in the background.  The sky was not very forgiving so I had to run back to the car and get my ND grads to bring the exposure under control.  Once I fitted the reverse grad, I was able to keep the sky held back so that I could get more detail out of the foreground.  It wasn't the ideal situation, but it was working.

I worked this scene for what seemed like an hour, but I'm pretty sure I was just thinking very fast and it only lasted about 20 minutes or so.  The sun came up very quickly after we got there, and without clouds in the sky, my options dwindled quickly.  However, one of the rules that I try to live by when I am working a scene is to look all around me before I pack it in.  You never know what you might miss as the lighting changes.  This was one of those times.  I was headed to Graveyard Fields hoping to catch some fall color since that is over 5000 ft in elevation.  When I turned around, I saw a little bit of fall color right behind me, and I wanted to grab a quick shot of it, just in case there wasn't more to be had a short distance down the road.

Patches of Color

Normally, I try to compose my images to eliminate sections of road unless I'm using them as leading lines.  This was one time I decided to break that rule.  With the side of the hill coming right to the roadway, it was difficult to crop the road out and still have the picture remain "grounded."  Instead of really trying to get creative with this, I decided to incorporate the road into the composition to balance out the blue sky above.  Since there were no clouds, I wanted only a touch of sky to provide scale, and the road made the sky make sense.  There was also the added benefit of the double yellow line, complementing the warm tones in the vegetation.  While it isn't one of my favorite pictures, there are a lot of aspects of it that I do enjoy.

With the sun climbing, and quickly creating some harsh shadows, it was time to move on down the road to Graveyard Fields.  Once we got there, the lighting was not flattering at all, and I didn't even feel like getting out of the car.  However, the trails below were still in the shadows, and I thought that I might be lucky by trying to use those shadows to work some intimate landscapes.  We grabbed our gear and started out on the trails.  Well, we weren't really equipped for muddy and soggy terrain, so once we saw a long stretch of standing water, we decided that it wasn't going to be worth it.  Back to the car we went.  We continued South on the Parkway without finding anything that would work in the existing light.  It wasn't for not trying though since we actually made it to the end of the Blue Ridge Parkway at milepost 469!

From there, the plan was to take a different route back and search out some barns, or old cars.  That would have been a great plan had the GPS on my phone had a signal.  I couldn't get the map to track us, nor could I get a direction back to the hotel.  To keep from just getting totally lost, we decided to head back up the Parkway and see if the lighting would change any.

Evergreen Family

Ironically, even though we stopped at a few different locations, nothing really worked out at all.  It wasn't until we got back to Graveyard Fields that the clouds started to come back in.  While it was nearly noon at this point, the clouds were providing some nice shadows across the landscape, and I was seeing some potential.  The problem was....there were a ton and a half of people at this location now.  They were filling the parking lot, and lined up along the roadway.  Toni and I had to be creative to get parked, but we managed to get out of the road, reasonably close to where I was needing to set up.

Early Autumn in the High Country

Not really knowing what I was going to be capturing, but knowing I was wanting the clouds, I left my handy 24-70mm lens attached and used a polarizer to add some contrast to the scene.  I started to compose my images making use of whatever I could in the foreground.  This was easier said than done.  I was having to shoot between the brush along the side of the road, and over an embankment that was too steep to walk down safely.  Working very fast, I found several vantage points that I could work with, and a few different compositions that worked from each one.

Relaxing Under the Clouds

For being the worst time of day to shoot in, I was actually having some pretty good luck capturing good light on the landscape.  While not full on fall color (actually, had a hard time finding any color), there was enough variation in the greens to capture the feeling of the early parts of Autumn.  I tried to compose my images along the areas that showed the color change the most.  I worked this area for about a half hour or less.  In that time, I probably got about 15 images.  The clouds kept changing, and just when I thought I had a good one, the shadows would move and light something else up.  I had the opportunity to choose from multiple lighting arrangements for each of my compositions which rarely happens in such a short amount of time.

When I was done with Graveyard Fields, it was time for us to head back to the hotel.  I was wanting to check on Moore's Cove Waterfall on the way back and was hoping that the building clouds would somehow provide enough shade to make waterfall photography possible.  Well, the clouds were not quite as thick as I needed, and the crowds were much too thick to be able to even try a shot of a waterfall.  I'm going to have to come back at a time when there are not nearly as many people there.  There are a bunch of falls that I am hoping to photograph at some point in the near future, but most of them are easy to get to which means I'll likely have to deal with crowds whenever I go.

The rest of the day was spent resting and just hanging around town.  I wasn't really feeling like going out any more after driving around for way too many miles that morning.  I wasn't even really wanting to go out in the morning before we left for home either.  However, Toni was pushing me to head out before breakfast, and looking at the forecast, there was a decent chance for a sunrise shoot to actually work out.  I set my alarm for early o'clock and turned in at a reasonable hour.

Racing Toward the Sunrise

When I woke up (actually before the alarm rang), I was full of renewed hope for a morning of photography.  I had selected three different locations where I could possibly get a good picture or two at sunrise based on Google Maps the night before.  The clouds were still in the forecast, and I wasn't hungry for breakfast yet.  This was going to work!  I loaded up my gear and set out through the Pisgah National Forest well before first light (about 30 minutes earlier than the previous day).  I arrived at the Parkway in plenty of time and the first location I came to seemed to lack any flavor.  I moved on to my second option and was met by three cars already in the parking lot.  Not really wanting to have any company, I moved onto my final choice.  This one was completely empty, and I could see a little bit of potential if the sky turned on like I was hoping for.

I set the camera up with my 70-200mm lens at first because I wasn't really interested in getting a sweeping sky of stars to start with.  I started to work with some long exposures which will pull color out of a nearly dark sky.  I was working in the neighborhood of 2.5 to 5 minute exposures and starting to see some very nice colors with the clouds.  The photo above was shot at 2 minutes, and shows some very nice movement in the clouds which was a welcome effect from the long shutter.  It had been a very, VERY long time since I had seen good clouds for a sunrise.  Not only was there color in the clouds, the sky behind the clouds was still a vivid blue as you looked further away from the rising sun.  To be honest, this might be my favorite picture from the whole weekend.  It has drama, color, depth, and emotion.  I'm sure it will appeal to those that love seeing sunrises too.

Soft Whispers in the Morning

Seeing the sky render in this way prompted me to find other compositions that would show the various colors.  There was not much in the way of distant mountains to really play off of, but I was able to find a few peeking out, that the long lens was able to capture with some detail.  Sunrises are a bit cliche', but every once in a while, I capture one that is exciting and interesting.  This was one of those, and it seemed to last for minutes, and not seconds.  I had plenty of time to work several different compositions.  I even had time to switch over to my 24-70mm lens which was responsible for the opening picture for this entry.

The Valley Beneath the Clouds

Even after the sun came up over the horizon, the clouds were thick enough to block it from the lens.  This enabled me to capture even more photos using the brilliant colors in the sky.  For this particular shot, I was able to get the sun reflecting off of the low clouds in the valley below.  There were even two places where you could see the sun shining through the clouds, onto the clouds below.  Yeah, this was a fun sunrise to work, and made the morning very much worth the getting up early for the second day in a row.

Thinking back to my rule, I did not forget to look around as the light changed.  One the sun was too far up in the sky to work with it directly, I started looking off to the sides.  Something that I had missed in the dark was Looking Glass Rock well off to the right.  I had no idea that this was visible from the Funnel Top Overlook, but there it was...and starting to get hit by the warm rays of the sun.  Picture time!!!

Looking Glass Rock From Funnel Top

The soft, warm light from the low sun has always been a great light source for landscape photography.  Today, it was really working for me.  The way that the hills were, everything by Looking Glass was in the shadows, while the rocky face was bathed in the warm light.  I wasn't in the best position to capture this landmark, but I was going to make due.  I fit my 70-200mm lens once again, and used an intensifying polarizer to grab the warm tones.  I worked myself on the side of the hill, right at the edge of solid footing to allow just a hint of the close in vegetation to be used as a foreground on the lower right.  The clouds were still in the sunrise mode, and had a good deal of warm light being reflected, which helped to bring the attention to the distant exposed rock.  The texture of the landscape also worked out perfectly with the low sun.  This one was going to look really good based on the negative that I was seeing in the LCD of the camera.

When I was done working on this composition, my fingers were getting numb, and my nose was running pretty heavily.  It was time to head back to the hotel and get some breakfast before heading home.  It was a really good trip with 10 photos out of about 90 taken that I feel are good enough to keep.  I'll be updating the Landscape Gallery here in a bit to showcase a few of these new ones.

I would like to say that this picture is from after two days of early morning sunrises, but I can't.  This was snapped on the way out to Brevard on Friday.  Yeah, it has been that kind of week...for both Toni and myself.  It was nice to get away, and we have decided that we are now looking at going to Natural Bridge in Virginia for our anniversary.  I'll be coming back to Brevard another time for some waterfall pictures, but we don't really think that it will be worth spending a week out there in the middle of winter.  

A Little Jaunt to Virginia

Sunday, September 25, 2016

Sunbeams

Over the past several weeks, I've been wanting to take a long term Trek that encompassed a few planned destinations as well as some scouting.  Either the weather, or my time prevented me from being able make that happen until this weekend.  I managed to get a laundry list of things done prior to the actual weekend with the intentions of going out with the camera for a full day.  I wanted to make that day Saturday, but there were absolutely no clouds in the forecast anywhere in the state (at least where I wanted to go).  This meant harsh lighting, and limited shooting time at the beginning and end of the day.  Sunday was looking more promising though with 75% cloud cover for the entire day, with the possibility of a storm.  This was what I was looking for.

With the clouds coming in around sunrise near Roaring Gap, I chose to concentrate on that section of the Blue Ridge Parkway.  I would work my way North into Virginia to scout other locations as I haven't spent that much time on that section.  I wanted to pick out a place that would have a good possibility of a sunrise photo.  Looking back on what has worked before, I chose to go to overlook at Jumping Off Rocks at MP 260.  It is a short hike through the woods in the dark, but the trail is well maintained and I have a great flashlight.

I got up early, and checked the forecast once again.  It was showing the same thing that I had seen going to bed.  It was on...I got up and got ready to roll out the door at around 4:15 am.  Getting up that early allowed me to arrive at my destination right before 6am.  This gave me plenty of time to hike out to the overlook, and get things set up.  Things were going very smoothly...until I arrived and looked up.  Stars...Lots of stars in the sky.  Not a cloud in sight!

By Morning Light

The problem with no clouds is there is very little to reflect the colors of the rising sun.  This puts a damper on photographing sunrises since the primary draw in the color in the sky.  Well, I've learned over the years that when the clouds fail, pull out the long lens that will allow you to grab a very small portion of the horizon.  That small strip will have color due to the haze in the atmosphere, but there isn't much of it.  I added a reverse ND filter to control the exposure and set up my first shot in near pitch black.  With over five minutes worth of exposure, I wasn't happy at all with the outcome.  There was just not enough interest in the sky.  It wasn't until the sun started to come up, that the haze started to light up.  I was finally able to work with that.  It got even better when the sun crested the horizon, but only for a brief minute before the sun got too bright.

Sunrises at this time of year still go very fast, and the sun climbs in the sky much quicker than it does in the middle of winter.  After about an hour of waiting, I had about 10 minutes of action before packing up and going back to the truck.  I kept looking at the sky on the way back and saw that the clouds were NOW starting to enter into the sky.  At least I would have some drama in my skies for the rest of the day.

Nope...

As you can see to the left, the sky was pretty much washed out.  In fact, for about an hour before I found this location, I was stuck in low clouds and fog.  I could barely see to drive, much less be able to find anything to photograph.  Knowing the weather patterns up here, I knew that eventually this would clear.  I just hoped that it didn't completely clear and leave me with a blank blue sky.  At least with the overcast conditions, I could have my choice of subjects regardless of what direction they had to be shot in.  That is the nice thing about diffused lighting.  The tradeoff is, with this kind of overcast, I can't include the sky at all.  Fortunately, I was in the mountains, and there was plenty of opportunity to find subjects with a backdrop of trees or a hill.

I happened on a barn tucked in below a field of goldenrods which I had photographed years ago.  Ironically, I had first seen this barn on a stormy day, and had tried to include the sky for that shot.  It worked, but not well.  Today's view was much more promising with the golden field in front of it.  I also knew better about how to deal with the sky.  It was a job for my long lens once again, so that I could compress the background and keep from including the sky.

Goldenrod Field

With the narrow field of view, I was able to scale the barn much better with the fence post so that it wouldn't get lost in the background.  Even though I didn't get the lower half of the barn, I think that it is the roof that holds the interest, and since the big story with this image is the yellow flowers, I was quite happy with the composition as a whole.  The trick was waiting for the breeze to die down a little so that I could keep from blurring the flowers.  I have to admit...I bumped up the ISO to 400 to get the shutter speed fast enough to render everything sharp.

After shooting this barn, I was starting to feel the rustic subjects over the landscapes.  That was probably due to the fact that there was no visibility into the distant mountains anymore.  The lighting was right for barns and old houses today.  There were a bunch of them along this section of the Parkway, but only a handful were situated in such a way that I could photograph them sucessfully.

Fading Away

One such barn I found on a road that ran parallel to the Parkway.  I found a way to get around to it, but sadly, I didn't like the point of view that it offered.  I ended up back on the Parkway, shooting through the vegetation with my long lens once again.  This gave me the elevation that I needed to keep the trees covering up the background.  This was a much harder barn to capture than it looks like.  There just wasn't much I could add in with it for a composition.  I finally decided to just rack the lens out and shoot it at 200mm, making it a postcard shot with the strange tree to the right of it to counter the main subject.  Overall, I think that it turned out pretty well, but I was hoping for more with this one.

Before I put my camera up, I happened to see an odd tree on the other side of the road.  It was totally bare, and the bark was bleached.  it stood out because it was surrounded by green foliage and yellow goldenrods.  It was special enough to justify a quick composition or two.  I kept my long lens on, so that I could compress the background, and concentrate on the tree as being the total composition.

Bleached Bones

This is not usually my kind of photo, but I knew that if Toni knew I had passed it by, she would not be happy with me.  So, I listened to the voice in my head that sounded like her and I created the image that I thought that she would like.  I guess it worked because when I sent her the teaser picture while she was at work, she told me that she loved it..  So, here you go Toni...this one's for you!

After I got everything secured from this location, I marched on Northward.  I had thought about stopping at the Mabry Mill, but decided against it.  I decided this way for a couple of reasons.  First of all, it is the most photographed location on the Parkway, and there is nothing that I can do any different than has been done before.  Second of all, I have photographed it several times before and have been very happy with the results.  Third, I knew that there would be a lot of people there since this is the busy season on the Parkway.  However, when I arrived, I pulled in the parking lot.  It was full.  I looked at the mill, and there were people all around it.  It did not appear any different from any other time I had photographed it.  Yet, something inside told me to get the camera out and give it a try.  Well, I did...

The Mabry Mill

You see, sometimes I just go with my gut and it pays off.  Years ago, I got a picture that I was very happy with with the exception that the water wheel wasn't spinning.  I remember that it started up the minute that I packed the camera up.  I missed out.  This time, however, the wheel was spinning sporadically.  The challenge became timing the shot so that there were no people milling about in the frame, no people in the windows, AND having the wheel spinning.  Talk about waiting for the planets to align just right.  I did have the fortune of getting that lucky timing a few times while I was out there.  This first picture actually happened pretty easy since the line of people waiting to go inside was covered by the mill from this angle.  it was the next one that caused me to pull my hair out!

Turning the Gears

I must have waited for 20 minutes before all the planets lined up and I had a workable shot with no people in it, plus the wheel spinning.  I was very fortunate that this shot happened to be timed right when the wheel started spinning and dumped the accumulated water.  The one second shutter speed blurred the water just right.  I was very lucky to have timed this perfectly...even if by accident or coincidence.  After getting this lucky shot, I decided I had had enough of the crowds and decided to move on down the road to see what else awaited me.

Nowhere to Go

I made my way about another mile on the Parkway and decided to get turned around.  The weather was not improving, and I was just getting further and further away from home.  My plan was to take a different way back in the hopes of finding something else to photograph.  Well, that paid off in a big way!  Not too long after getting on Highway 52 in Virginia, I came up on group of old antique markets.  Beside one of them was a handful of old rusty cars.  Hmmm, could they belong to the antique market?  Well, I went to ask about them and was told that the owner of the market did own the cars.  I was hesitant to ask about photographing them, but after a quick second of thinking about it, I was given permission to go and have my way with the cars.  It has been a very long time since I've found some old iron to photograph and I was loving every click of the shutter.

Forgotten Luxury

These cars were not easiest to photograph since they were right on top of each other.  It took me a little while to figure out how to best capture them.  I started with my long lens and found that I didn't like the perspective at all.  I swapped out with my 24-70mm lens and found that I could get in close and use the wide angle without too much sharing of space with the neighboring cars.  I took group photos, and individual ones.  These cars had character dripping from their rusty bodies, and I was in heaven photographing them!

Peeking Through the Trees

I wasn't sure the models I was photographing, but was very pleased that they were ones that I had not previously shot before.  That helps to make them special in their own right.  With the way the brush had grown over them, I am pretty sure that this was the best time to photograph them.  With the fall leaves, there would have been too much color, making them hard to stand out.  Had I waited till winter, the overall brown tones would have blended in with the cars, again making them harder to single out.  Yeah, I was happy with my luck in finding these when I did.

Moonshine by the Barn

This property wasn't all rusty cars either.  Just around the corner was an old barn tucked into the woods.  Of interesting note, there were a few empty bottles on a drum out front.  Of course, I figured that this had been filled with mountain whiskey at some point and I thought it added a lot of character to the barn.  I grabbed a couple of quick frames before going back to work the cars some more.

I had been concentrating on excluding the sky for most of the time I had been shooting so far.  However, I was looking up and I could see some detail in the clouds starting to form.  It wasn't much, but with a little help from graduated filters, I should be able to bring that detail out in the photograph.  I decided to incorporate the sky a little bit and capture the cars from the opposite angle.

Blue Ridge Autos

The first one that I took turned out to be probably my favorite shot from the day.  I was able to get the four cars all lined up underneath what turned out to be a wonderful sky.  The lighting worked out perfect for the photograph as well. There was something brooding about this picture that just fit the long forgotten relics.  This one worked out so well that I decided to go over to the other group of cars closer to the market and try another one in that same direction.

Strapped

 I'm not exactly sure what kind of car this is, but I just loved the patina of the paint.  The rubber strap holding the trunk closed was a bonus as well!  I was limited with the possible compositions, but I think that this worked out pretty well.  You can sure tell the weathering that has taken place, and the foreboding sky helps to set the mood for this one.  This was my last picture of the day.

It was getting late, and I was needing to get home.  It was a successful day for sure.  It has been a long time since I've shot over 100 frames in a day.  To have that work out to 13 keepers is amazing!  I'm still perfecting my new workflow, but I think that I have something that will work out very nicely for sure!

A Little Hike at Stone Mountain

Saturday, Sept 10, 2016

Early Signs of Autumn

I've been wanting to get out and do some landscape photographs for a while now.  Not the intimate ones that I've been doing, but some grand views of the mountains.  I've been watching the weather for a while and haven't seen much in the way of favorable weather conditions here of late in the mountains.  For the times that I could go, the skies were forecast to be basically clear.  This doesn't work for me at all, as I really enjoy clouds in my photographs, and for grand landscapes they are almost a mandatory feature.  It just so happened that as I was planning my weekend, I saw that Saturday was going to have 70% cloud coverage in Roaring Gap, and they were going to be low clouds at that.  This usually means some very dramatic skies, which work really well for Stone Mountain.

The clouds were not set to build until the afternoon, so I slept in with Toni and set out after she left for work.  As I went, the clouds were building, but it was more of a haze than anything.  There was very little definition in the clouds.  I started to get a little discouraged with my plans and pulled off of the highway and went through Yadkinville in search of a few other potential subjects.  What I found was not presented well in the existing light, so I continued to march on to Stone Mountain State Park.

When I arrived, I saw a lot more vehicular traffic than I was accustomed to, and actually saw all of the parking lots filled to capacity.  I know it's been a while since I've been forced to go to a park on the weekend but, I really don't recall seeing this kind of attendance when I've been there before.  I was hoping that whatever the activity was, that it was restricted to the front of the park and the trails that I was planning on taking would still be vacant...

No such luck

When I got close to the parking lot at the lower trail head, I found cars parked on the sides of the road because the parking lot was filled. Man, I'm just not batting a thousand here!  I did manage to find a spot to park in, and I tried to Google what was going on.  Of course, I did not have internet connection there, so I was still ignorant to what brought everyone out today.  I could see a bunch standing by the map and restrooms, and I could hear kids yelling and screaming already.  So much for a relaxing hike to the top of the mountain.  I thought about turning around and going home since I don't care for doing pictures when the park is filled to capacity, but since I had driven all this way, and the clouds were looking better, I stuck it out.

Taking a Foothold

I took my place in line for the trails and followed a family, with another one on my heels.  I had planned on going on the Stone Mountain Loop trail, but when I saw everyone else on that one, and could hear lots of commotion down the trail, I decided to take a detour to the right.  I didn't really care where it went because it was quiet.  It happened to direct me to Wolf Rock, Cedar Rock, and Blackjack Ridge.  I have been to all of these places before, and knew that there were a few things to photograph on that side of the mountain.  It was a bit of a hike with the majority of the trail being a steep grade which got me breathing heavy and sweating.  I was at least getting my exercise if nothing else!

I was fortunate to have chosen this route because I saw absolutely nobody except for a couple coming back down the mountain that said I was the first person they had seen in a couple of hours.  GREAT!!!!  When I got to Wolf Rock, I was still alone, and that gave me great optimism about finding some really good compositions.  The problem was, the sky was still rather hazy, and the sun was not in the best position for photography.  Most of the good compositions were shooting directly into the sun which would not have worked out very well.  What I was left with was a little on the drab side, but on the other hand the trees were already starting to show a little color.  The clouds were also better on the side opposite of the sun.  The sky was far from being 70% covered though.

I pulled out the camera and got it built using my 24-70mm lens for flexibility.  It has a decent wide angle coverage and can zoom in fairly tight as well.  I screwed on a polarizer to bring out what contrast I could in the sky since there was a lot of haze to deal with.  I started to pick out compositions that showcased the yellow leaves and the rolling hills beyond.  There was not much to choose from in terms of foreground interest, so I relied on finding interesting patterns in the rocky surface below me.  That turned out to be more difficult that it sounds since all of the leading lines I could find went in the wrong direction.  I did manage to find a decent patch of interest which provided the foreground for the opening picture for this entry.

I stayed around this area for a while before moving on to Cedar Rock to see if there was anything I could do there.  I know that there is one really good composition to be had showcasing Stone Mountain.  I was excited to get to it, but that excitement was short lived.  Once I got there, I realized that the patch of vegetation that I like to use as a foreground had grown over, and looked rather sloppy.  That wouldn't work for me anymore.  I wasn't all that upset though because the clouds were thinning out very quickly.  Even if the foreground had been there, I would not have been able to capture the picture that I wanted.

I started to look around for other compositions and found some eroded drainage lines from the wood line above.  I was luck enough for this feature to have a terminal point with a patch of vegetation which would make for a terrific foreground.  The background was not all that spectacular, but at least the sky was pretty interesting here.  Using my same 24-70mm lens, I got in close and went wide to exaggerate the foreground.  This worked out pretty well, and was the first composition I was actually excited about.

Eroded and Stripped

From there, I continued to look for ways of getting a shot of Stone Mountain.  While I was working my way back to the trail, I found my spot.  There was a small sapling growing from a crack in the rocks which gave me a little foreground interest, but mainly provided a visual block for the eyes following the slope down and out of the frame.  The lighting wasn't too bad here, but the clouds were nearly gone at this point.  I was able to capture a few of them just minutes before they cleared the horizon.  Once they were gone, it was time for me to move on as well.  I tried to follow where the clouds went, out to Blackjack Ridge, but found more expanses of blue sky.  It was starting to get late anyway, so I decided that it was time to head on back to the truck.  It was around this time, I met another three hikers.  I sure can't complain considering how many people were in the park.

I continued to search for different subjects and compositions, but could find none that would work with the clear sky, and low sun.  All that changed when I got back to the parking lot and found that the cloud coverage I was expecting at 4 was now rolling in at 7.  The low sun was even putting on a bit of a show with some color in the clouds.  I looked for a picture, but the parking lot made for a terrible element for the sky, and there was not time to hike back up to the top again.  I just enjoyed the sight for a moment and loaded the truck up to head home.

I had a total of 30 frames exposed on this Trek.  Most of them were nothing special, but I found three that deserved a little bit of processing.  While not what I was hoping for out of this Trek, I actually found that those three had merit and deserved to be shared.  Two of them have found their way into the Landscapes Room even.

A little change to the site

You might be noticing some changes around the gallery.  For years now...TEN years to be exact, I have been known through the name of 446 Photography.  That moniker will always hold a special meaning to me, and to Toni.  But times change, and it was time to move away from that name.  For simplicity, and for a little bit more of a professional approach, I have started using my name, officially relating to my photography.  This is a little more than just "hanging a new sign" though.  It really symbolizes a shift in my approach to things related to my photography.

I really want my photographs to speak for themselves.  I figure if my photographs are good enough for me to put my name on the back of each print, I should feel confident enough to put my name at the top of my website.  I want you all to get to know me, through my pictures, and through my blog entries about how I created the images.

You will also notice a much more streamlined appearance to the gallery.  While I liked the old layout, I decided that it was a little bit busy, and lacked focus on the images.  I've toned down the textures, as well as the color pallet and have improved the presentation of the images, or so I hope.  Please feel free to offer suggestions to the gallery so that I can continue to improve things, and make this a more enjoyable place to spend some time.

One other thing that has changed is the addition of another page.  I have been very hesitant to list prices because I have not been focusing on selling images for several years now.  However, I have been asked a number of time how much I would sell prints for.  You can now view that by visiting the "Prices" tab to the right and see the basics.  I'm still not in the business of selling my prints, but I am always very happy when folks decide to bring my art into their home or business.

I hope you enjoy the new layout, and especially the photographs found within these pages.

Greg

Just trying out the new workflow

Down to Earth

OK, so I have started working with a new workflow here in the studio.  I'm like a kid in a candy store at this point for several different reasons.  I've never been much of one for post processing of my images, and have spent countless hours learning how to get the image right in the camera.  Part of that is capturing all the available information I can when it comes to exposure latitude.  This means I am working with RAW files...or a digital negative.  For years, I've been working in various versions of Photoshop to do the basic conversions and tweaking of the images.  I've been pretty happy with my results from that workflow, right up until the time of printing.  At that point I was not as excited about the product, although I found some work arounds that seemed to work most of the time.

After my computer crash a few months ago, I was forced to upgrade my Photoshop since CS4 was no longer available.  I ended up with Adobe Creative Cloud, which included the most current version of Photoshop, and also Lightroom.  I had mixed feelings about Lightroom, as I had read a lot about it in the past indicating that it was the preferred photo editor these days.  I was used to Photoshop though, and don't much like change, so I was reluctant to move into a new editor, especially since Photoshop CC was very familiar in terms of looks and operation to what I was used to.  However, I wanted to give Lightroom a try to see what the fuss was all about.

The first time I used it, I have to admit, I got so frustrated with it, I gave up and moved over to Photoshop to finish the editing of my batch of pictures.  The next time, I tried again, and figured out a little bit more about what the program could do, but got bogged down in the adjustments.  I didn't care at all for the final product.  This was not due to the program being bad, but rather me making adjustments without knowing what I was doing, and how they worked.  It was time to learn about Lightroom, and quit messing around.

I looked into taking a class on workflow, so I could work this part out.  After talking to the instructor, I decided that I would be better off watching videos and and teaching myself as I had with everything in photography.  Well, I watched a couple of hours of videos on the subject, and learned more than I ever knew about Photoshop.  I was ready to roll with the new workflow, and managed to edit a series of photos rather efficiently with Lightroom for the first time, and actually found that I was able to squeeze out all that detail that I had trained myself to capture in the field with the camera.

Dairy Barn in the Summer

This image turned out very well, but when I printed my proofs as I typically do, I was less than satisfied.  There were color casts that I didn't like, and had not seen on the screen while processing them.  This was not a new problem; in fact, it was a problem I had been facing since I started photography back in '05.  I had done the prescribed monitor calibration, and profiled my workflow, including getting specific drivers for the printer based on the papers I was using.  Theoretically, my prints should be exactly what I was seeing on the monitor every time...but it was hit or miss.  Even when it was good, it was not quite what I was expecting.  This really bothered me with my new workflow because I was actually producing some really nice colors and detail as seen on the computer, only to be let down by the print.

I started to do more research (UG graduate here, University of Google) on the topic and found out a step that I had been missing since day one.  I was not disabling the computer's printer driver in favor of having Photoshop manage the colors.  I learned how to do that, and with a couple of button clicks, and slider movements, I had turned over control to Photoshop.  I printed out another proof, and the difference was amazing!!!!

So, with this new bit of knowledge to my photography, I set out looking for a new color picture to print out to enter in a competition that is taking place at the end of the month.  I thumbed through all of my pictures and just couldn't decide on any one particular one.  The picture of the barn above, had already been printed out in monochrome for the same competition, so I didn't want to duplicate the subject matter.  I had been wanting one from my Old Iron collection for my office at work, but none of them really stood out for this particular competition.  There was one truck that I liked though...

Rolled Flareside

This was the image that I was considering, but I wasn't happy with the deep shadows under the roof panels.  The colors were good, even though the grill was a little blown out.  This just wasn't the right picture for a competition, but I still liked the scene.  I happened to be going through my old RAW negatives (which I keep archived) and found a few alternate views of this truck.  These had not been processed because I was unable to get them looking the way I wanted through my limited knowledge of Photoshop.  However, with my new workflow in place, I decided to give one particular one a try, just to see how powerful Lightroom actually is.

As you can see in the last picture, the shadows are very...very deep under the roof.  I tried to lighten them a little bit in Photoshop, but any more than this started to look unnatural.  This was the limit of what I was able to do with Photoshop.  Now, if you look at the opening picture, you can see that the shadows are opened up quite nicely, and even the highlights are much more controlled.  The colors are much more vibrant, and actually required no adjustments to the saturation levels to achieve the look.  All that this photo represents is a basic conversion from RAW.  It took about 5 minutes to process and get ready for print.

I was so confident about my new print ability that I decided to forego printing a proof and went straight to the big print for framing.  When it came out of the printer, I realized that I had finally overcome the one hurdle I have had as a photographer for all of these years.  My prints were now spot on what I was seeing on the monitor with no extra manipulations needed.  A new chapter is starting, and I'm excited to see what happens next!

The Greensboro Dairy Barn

September 4, 2016

Dairy Barn in the Summer

This Trek was a little different from ones that I've done in the past in a couple of respects.  First of all, I was wanting to go out and really try a new workflow with my image processing.  Second of all, I wanted to go and have the goal of getting one good picture instead of trying for volume.  In a lot of respects, I have succeeded with both of these goals with this Trek.  I'm hoping to fine tune what I've learned on this one, and apply it to others, while still tweaking what my intentions are for pictures.

Let's look at the first goal.  After a recent computer crash, I have been getting used to a new version of Photoshop, which is now referred to as simply "CC" for Creative Cloud.  With this program, I am no longer purchasing the software, but subscribing to the service each year.  With the subscription comes quite a few other Adobe Programs, most of which I am not planning on using.  However, it was the first time I have been able to use Lightroom which is a program I have been hearing a lot of great things about over the years.  Since I now had it, I wanted to use it.  This was primarily because it was more dedicated to photography, while Photoshop was getting into much more than just photography, and has become rather complex over the years.

I have been reading about Lightroom, and watching many videos on the subject trying to get my work flow ironed out.  Over the past two or three Treks, I have played around with Lightroom, but ultimately ended up processing in Camera RAW and Photoshop.  This is not to say that I am doing a lot of editing in software, because I still feel strongly about capturing the scene as it is, and not manipulating nature.  What I am doing is starting from a relatively flat RAW file (digital negative) that has very little contrast and saturation in the interest of capturing as much information in the digital file as possible.  From this, I am processing it to bring out that detail and bring the saturation and contrast back into the final image.  There is no slight of hand in what I am doing, and even when I am doing a lot of tweaking of the image, I am still nowhere near the "photo manipulation" end of the spectrum....but I digress.

This Trek marks the first time I have been able to come back, and actually import the RAW files into Lightroom, and start to work on them from that program.  It took a little trial and error in some of the windows, but I actually made a final image that I was happy with on a first try.  I then imported it into Photoshop for just a little bit of polishing because I was used to how that worked with my printer.  I also made a B&W conversion of the above picture that I really liked from this shoot.

Dairy Barn in the Summer in B&W

Of course, the subject here is a barn that I have visited many times in the past.  I have shot it under stormy skies, blue skies, and even in the dead of night under starry skies.  Each time, I have captured a different feeling with the images.  This time, I wanted something a little different.  I have been wanting to get this barn with the white fence of the neighboring yard for some time.  My previous attempts have been rather blah because of my compositions.  Either I have been too far away and the fence was a bigger element than I wanted, or I had come in close, with a wide angle lens which has had the same result.  In my attempts to stay away from a "normal" view, which is what I usually end up with when I shoot with my 24-70mm, I decided to use my 70-200mm for some scaling properties.  With this lens, I would be able to keep the visual scale similar between the barn and the fence, and I had decided that I was only going to include a small portion of the fence to keep the balance in place.

It took a bit of time to set up a good point of view where the fence made sense, and the barn was still dominant.  This was part of my second goal.  I was no longer worried about making as many good pictures as I could.  I wanted to capture just one image that represented what I was thinking at the time.  I think that the images above (still only one image) captures that very well.  The clouds work nicely to keep the sky visually interesting, and the fence works with the barn instead of against it as it has in the past.  The rolling grassy field keeps the foreground interesting and feeds into the fence, helping it to make sense, and not look like an added in element.

As I was trying to perfect the composition, I shot from far away all the way up to a point where my 70mm focal length would not capture the entire barn.  This actually turned into an interesting view where I cropped out the long side of the barn, for a more intimate view.  It is this view that Toni enjoyed the most, and I also like how it presents.

Bricks and Boards

As you can see, the clouds are less of an element in this image because there is so little sky above included in the frame.  I was lucky that there was a cloud formation directly above so that the sky wasn't rendered as a stark blue void.  While I like this composition, I think I am still partial to the openness of the other composition.  Either way, I have finally done a full photo shoot, start to finish with a new workflow in place.  It took a little bit longer, but I can see some promise to using Lightroom, and plan on tweaking this workflow over the coming Treks.

A Rainy Morning on the Blue Ridge Parkway

 August 21, 2016

Carpet of Clouds

Here of late, I have been wanting to get back out and do some photography.  My schedule has been quite busy and I have been tied up on my off days with other interests.  However, the time had come for me to grab the Tamrac and head out in search of some more sights to put in front of the lens.  The weather on Sunday was an interesting thing.  On one hand, it was nearly perfect for a long morning bike ride at home.  On the other hand, the mountains were looking pretty good for some dramatic skies, and the chance for some intimate shots under heavy clouds and light rain.  Since I had chosen the bike a few days before, I decided to take my chances in the mountains and see what I could get.

I started my day off very early with the hopes of getting a sunrise in before getting started on other subjects.  I was running a little behind and was hoping to get to Carol Gap which has a nice viewpoint to take advantage of low lying clouds which I had experienced on the way through Wilkesboro.  As I arrived on the Parkway, I came across a viewpoint near the Elk Mountain Overlook which gave the view that I was really interested in so I decided to abandon my original plan and see what developed.

I arrived a bit later than I normally would want to, and there was already a good deal of light in the sky, but we were still about 25 minutes from sunrise so I set up very quick and started to grab pictures.  The sky was moderately interesting with clouds, and there was an overall reddish tone to the atmosphere, but the clouds below really captivated me, and they changed constantly over the half hour I was there.  To make the best advantage of the light that was there, I used my ND Grad filter and nothing else to keep the sky from over exposing and losing the color that I was seeing.  While I got a large number of shots, the one that worked out the best between composition and exposure was the one that opened this entry.  It was the third shot of the morning after I had fine tuned the original composition to my liking.  I was really hoping for a better sky, but I have to work with what I am given.

As the sun came up, the light was lost, and the clouds below started to get very bright causing too much contrast.  It was time to move on to see what else I could find.  My ultimate goal was to scout Flat Rock Trail for a possible sunset on another day, but there was lots to see between here and there.

Crumbled

As I was headed down the Parkway, I came across a fallen tree that Toni had pointed out years ago on a Trek we did together.  I always look at this tree when I'm in the area, but it hasn't had that same magical appearance for me until today.  The way the clouds were rolling across the sky, and the early morning light on the field really captured my attention so I turned around and got the camera set up to see what I could do.  As I was building the kit, a herd of cattle started to approach from the other side of the field.  This was not overly alarming as there was a fence between me and them, but I wasn't really happy with the possibility that they would be walking through my shot.  While they were getting used to me being there, I set up several test shots for composition and worked on finding something different than I had done in the past with this tree.  I was having a real hard time with the exposure due to the sky, and having the cows walking in front of me constantly was not helping matters at all. I decided to move over to the other side and see if maybe I could incorporate the cows, but all they did was follow me around.

I decided to let that work for me, while I looked at other compositions.  When they all came over to my location, I quickly moved back to my original spot and found the field of view to be clear once again.  I was able to snap a few quick exposures with a 3-stop ND Grad attached to control the sky.  The moody feel of this image really appealed to me as it captured what I had been after with this tree since I had seen it driving by.  I wasn't done yet though...I had found another view I wanted from the other side, but the cows were still there.  I went across the street for a bit to see if they would lose interest.  They did in a few minutes and roamed on to the far side of the field, far away from the tree, and from me.

What Remains

Knowing that the sun was going to be coming up over my shoulder, I was interested to see how things would illuminate when the time was right.  As the sun peeked over the trees and through the clouds, I was met with a nice surprise.  There was a cluster of trees in the background with exposed trunks that made for a perfect counter element for the fallen tree. With the sun on them, they really popped from the greenery, so I re-framed the shot and got this grab with just a minute or so of light to work with.  With the ND Grad still attached, the sky exposed perfectly without being too bright in the clouds.

With this picture, I was pretty much done at this location.  I got back in the truck and headed South, looking for Flat Rock Trail.  The clouds had pretty much taken over the sky, and it was misting, at times heavily.  I was starting to think about doing some waterfall photography, but I wasn't really in position to do any new falls which was what I would want to do.  I knew I would be close to Linville Falls and Crabtree Falls which are both fun, but ones I've done a number of times in the past.  The same conditions that make waterfall photography so fun also work for intimate landscapes, which was what I was hoping for at Flat Rock.

Flat Rock Trail

When I arrived, the rain had all but stopped, but the clouds were still thick above me.  I grabbed my gear and started on the relatively easy hike.  At the beginning of the trail I found an interesting tree surrounded by the lush leaves of the rain soaked vegetation.  It was worth a shot or two, so I set the camera up.  I used my polarizer to remove the glare from the moisture and started to compose the simplest images that I could.  After I shot this one, I started to see a need to shoot vertical to show off the size of the trees that lined the trail.  I flipped the camera and recomposed.

Giants of the Forest

I think I kind of like this one a good bit better than the horizontal version.  The trail and trees work out great to lead the eyes through the frame, and the textures of the trees are a nice touch as well.  A nice cloudy and wet day is the perfect time to photograph the interior of a forest.  So much detail is able to be recorded.  I really like the lush green of the background as well.

As I continued on, I came to the overlook in a very short amount of time.  The view was pretty good from what I could see, but the clouds were too low, and lacked enough visual contrast to work for a shot at this time.  Checking on the directions, I think it will make a really good sunset spot that I am looking forward to sharing with Toni in the near future if scheduling works out.  As I continued down the back side of the trail, I came across another one of those scenes that always draws my eye...

Slowly Reclaimed

Starting years ago, I studied the works of Mark Lucock (an Australian Photographer) who was amazing at capturing scenes of decaying wood in a bed of lush vegetation.  I've often times tried to use this technique, but don't have much luck finding the right scenes to work with.  Today, I stumbled across just such a scene and had to take full advantage of it.  At this point, the rain was falling pretty heavily, and the wind was starting to blow.  For anyone that knows about photography, I'm sure you realize with the heavy cloud cover, my shutter speed was extended to a very long time.  In fact, with the proper aperture, I was shooting around 13 seconds.  In that time, the ferns were blowing around wildly, and blurring too much.  I wanted them reasonably sharp for this shot; so for the first time, I jacked my ISO up to around 800 in order to get my shutter speed in a more appropriate range.  This worked out well, and I was able to capture the image I have been after so many times before.  Fortunately, my camera handles these ISO's very well, and still produced a noise free image.

It has been a while since I've been out on a Trek where I've been really happy with the results, but this was one.  I didn't get as many images as I would have liked, but the ones that I got I'm really happy with, and feel like the trip was worth my time.  I'm actually looking forward to my next Trek, and hope that it comes along soon.

Be sure and check out my Landscapes Gallery and see the new arrivals, as well as some of my favorites from other Treks.