Don't Be Satisfied With The First

Many landscape photographers, including myself, have a bad habit of shooting the first obvious composition.  That's fine, but the problem comes when we stop there and don't take the time to look for other different less-obvious compositions.

1/4 sec, f/22, ISO 200, 41mm (cropped sensor)

Here's an example from a recent trip to Charleston Falls Preserve in Ohio.  The falls are billed as a miniature Niagra Falls because of the rock strata.  When we were there the water flow was low and the falls were nothing like Niagra, miniature or not.  There is a nice footbridge that crosses the creek below the falls.  This bridge is the obvious place to shoot from and I made all these photos from that bridge.  The best thing I can say about this first photo is it accurately depicts the falls.  It's what I call a documentary photo - accurate, but uninteresting.

The nice footbridge was also a barrier to getting to where I would like to have shot the falls - standing in the water about 20 feet from the base of the falls.  I could have positioned my camera low near the surface of the water and used the flowing water as a nice leading line up to the falls.  The day was cold, rainy and muddy - not worth climbing over the railing.

When the water falls vertically, a portrait (tall) aspect composition will often work best when shooting waterfalls.  That's how I shot the first example.  It shows the entire falls and the pool below.   Another option is to zoom in to capture some of the details in the scene.   In the second photo, I stood closer and used a horizontal crop to emphasize the three places where the water hits the rocks.

1/3 sec, f/11, ISO 200, 28mm

There is still a lot more rocks than water in the second photo.  I think the water hitting the rocks is the much more interesting than the rocks.   By zooming in even more I can emphasize the white water on the rocks. I also put a polarizer filter on my lens for this third photo.  The polarizer cut some of the glare off the wet rocks.

1/4 sec, f/11, ISO 200 66mm

My favorite part of this third photo is the flowing white water contrasting with the hard dark rocks.  The splashing water throws up a mist where it hits the rocks making it appear to glow.  Personally, I think this is a better composition than either of the first two.

When a photo is about contrast and shapes it can be a good candidate for black and white.  When you take away the color it can draw the viewers attention to other parts of the photo.  In this case that is the misty glowing water, the shapes or the water and rocks, and the contrast between the white water and the dark rocks.

The third photo converted to B&W

All of these photos were taken from the short footbridge.  By moving to different positions on the bridge and trying different compositions I was able to find multiple compositions I would have missed if I had stopped with the first.  When you arrive at a photo location, take time to look around.  You might try leaving your tripod and walking around with just your camera looking for interesting shots.  You can always go back for the tripod when you find a composition you like.  Just don't be satisfied with the first.

Hocking Hills State Park - We Need A Do Over

I've taken a little break from blogging about our trip up to UP of Michigan and back.  Now it's time to get back at it. 

After our first day in West Virginia, we spent our second day in the beautiful and distinctive Hocking Hills State Park in southeastern Ohio.  As with most of the places on our journey, we had never been to this park and only knew it from other people's photos. The park is filled with cliffs, gorges, caves, and unique rock formations formed by water carving out the Blackhand Sandstone.  Of course, when you have water flowing through rock formations you get waterfalls and this park has them, or at least the potential for them.

Like much of the Eastern US, southeastern Ohio has had a dry spell, which resulted in the waterfalls we looked forward to seeing being little more than trickles.  If you do a Google search for Hocking Hills images you will see some of what those waterfalls can look like when there is plenty of water flowing.

Cedar Falls

Low Water Means Dry Feet

Cedar Falls / Trickle

Low Water Means Reflections

What we did find were cool rock formations, grottos, cliffs, and caves.

Ash Cave

Bridge Near Old Man's Cave

We had to use our imaginations when looking at the dry river beds.  There were several cool stone bridges and walls that would look great with water flowing by.

One of the most popular areas of the park is the Old Man's Cave, where a hermit named Richard Rowe once lived in the 19th century. Before settling in the Hocking Hills area, the Rowe family had their home in the East Tennessee. Around 1810 he traveled the Scioto and Ohio rivers and after watching closely all the happenings of the 1812 War he became a loner and chose to live a solitary existence in the forest.

Richard often took trips to the gorge in the fall and stayed there throughout the winter trapping season. One day he stopped at a stream for water like he always did. As was usual, Richard used his musket’s butt to crack the ice when the weapon fired and hit him under the chin. The legend is he was found two days later by trappers who buried him in the forest. To this day, no one knows the exact space where Richards was buried in the Old Man’s Cave.

More Leaves Than Water Near Old Man's Cave

Stone Bridge

Another popular spot in the park is a cave called Rock House.  The Blackhand sandstone cave has a ceiling 25 feet high while the main corridor is 200 feet long and 20 to 30 feet wide. Water leaking through a crack in the cliff face caused the hollowing of the corridor. Nature has hewn out of this cliff the Rock House complete with seven Gothic-arched windows and great sandstone columns which support its massive roof. We were lucky to have the cave to ourselves while we made several photos.  Photographing inside the dark cave with its multiple bright openings required taking several different exposures which I blended together once we got back home.

Rock House

As a landscape photographer, I don't always get to photograph what I came for.  There is always something of interest if we just toss out our expectations, look around, and photograph the interesting things that are all around us.

We've put Hocking Hills back on our Bucket List to do in the spring when wildflowers are blooming, the rains fill the creeks, and water flows over the falls.

Portsmouth Floodwall Murals

Historic Downtown

Now that I am retired and have more time, we can take a little extra time on trips to explore.   Recently on the way home from visiting our son in Ypsilanti Michigan we took a detour to Portsmouth Ohio.  Thanks to Susan Scharenberg for the suggestion.

Like most small towns, Portsmouth has a historic downtown area that they are trying to revitalize. There are many old buildings with the character that comes from hard years.   What Portsmouth has that no other town has is a 2,000-foot long floodwall covered from end to end with murals.

Part of the Flood Wall

These murals portray the history of the area from the mound building Indians to the present day and use the 20ft. high, 2000 ft. long floodwall as a canvas. The project runs the length of the historic district and includes approximately 50 different scenes.

The Flood

We spent over an hour walking the length of the wall reading about each mural and photographing many.   I have created an online gallery of some of the photos.  I invite you to check them out, learn a little about the history of Portsmouth, and enjoy the art-work.

Portsmouth Ohio  Gallery

Windows on The World