Stop and Then Don't Stop

A few times each winter it will snow in our region of East Tennessee.  The rule of averages says 71% of the time it will snow on a work day.  Nothing like sitting in the office thinking about all the photo opportunities that are slowly melting away.  This weekend we hit the 29% and got snow on Saturday morning.

It was a bit too warm in Kingsport for any accumulation of the white stuff, but less than 60 miles

away is Carver's Gap at 5,550 feet and Roan Highlands.  It's usually 8 - 10 degrees colder and they can get a lot more snow.   

I've had some special times photographing winter scenes up there, but not this time.   It was in the low 20s and the wind was fierce as you can see in the video below.   At one point, my glasses fogged up then the fog froze into a nice layer of frost.  Nothing like trying to see through frosted glasses.  There was no cleaning it off without getting somewhere warmer.  

There were about a dozen cars up there with a few people hiking up the trail and a couple guys coming down after camping out the night before.   The strangest thing we saw was a young lady getting out of the car next to us wearing a fur coat with a red dress underneath and a crown if what looked like ice crystals on her head.  She and her photographer headed into the woods to take Ice Princes photos.  We stayed out of their way and didn't stick around long enough to talk with them.   I hope she had some thermals on under that dress!  I'd love to see how the photos came out.

On the way up we had passed a couple photographic opportunities that looked interesting.  Not seeing a good place to turn around and wanting to get to the top I kept driving and said we would get them on the way back down.   One was a bunch of Cattails that were covered with snow on one side.  By the time we got back much of the snow was blown off the Cattails.   As the blog title says, I should have stopped on the way up.  A little further down we stopped at the second spot. 

What we had seen was a field of dried up Coneflower stalks with the round spiked heads of the dead flowers covered with snow.   They looked like some kind of new ice cream desert - an entire field of candy balls on sticks dipped in vanilla ice cream.  Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory in the Winter.  I got this first shot showing a bunch of the cold delights.

Coneflower Field

Of course I didn't want to stop there.   This time there was a gentle breeze and the temps were in the upper 20s.  Much more conducive to spending time and looking for other shots.

Getting in a little closer to the flowers, I could see the spikes left over from better days.

Snowflakes on Coneflower

Getting in even closer, I could see the individual snowflakes where the wind had stuck them to the flower head.   Be sure to click the images to get a full screen view where you can see the details.

I need to remember to stop when I see something I might want to spend some time photographing.  If I had listened to June we would have stopped on the way up (first rule of photography - listen to your spouse).  Once stopped I need to not stop at the obvious shots but keep looking for different angles, compositions, and photos that can tell a story.

Calendar Chronicles - December 2014

The number of days left in 2014 is getting smaller and smaller.  Just a few more weeks left before it will be time to replace the 2014 calendar with the 2015 edition.  But, not yet.  

The photo for December 2014 is the road going from Carvers Gap on the TN/NC border up the mountain to the Rhododendron Gardens.   The only travelers on that road this day in March 2013 were cross country skiers.  It was a Saturday morning and I was able to get up to Carvers Gap just after sunrise before the road was plowed.  There were just a handful of hardy (some say crazy) photographers and skiers.  The snow was unbroken and beautiful.  The photo of the pines in the snow that is on the calendar page was  taken on this same day on the Roan Mountain Balds.

Taking photos of snowy scenes like this has special challenges.  You can read some of my suggestions from an older post here.

I felt very alone up there that morning.  The blanket of snow absorbed what little sound there was.  While I saw cross country ski tracks, I didn't see a single person on this side of highway 143.  It was like I was alone in the world.  But no matter how alone we my feel, The Lord is always in our midst.  I believe God rejoices when we are out in His creation, enjoying the natural beauty.  This was both a calming  and a joyful experience for me.  I am looking forward to more snow!

The Preparation, Anticipation and Results

We went to Roan Highlinds along the Tennessee - North Carolina boarder for sunrise this morning.   Here's how it went.

The Preparation

1. We gathered our hiking and camera gear the night before.
2. Got up at 3:00 AM.
3. Made coffee, gathered some snacks and were on the road by 3:40.
4. Drove the 90 minutes to Carvers Gap and hiked by the light of the full moon to Round Bald.

The Anticipation

1. Found our spot, which wasn't as easy as you might expect it would be at 5:40 AM.  There were lots of other photographers who had the same idea.
2. Waited as the sky began to brighten.  We could see below us billowing clouds as far as you could see, but the sky was clear above those clouds.   We were anticipating this was going to be a great sunrise. 
3. Made several photos as we waited for the sun to burst over the clouds and turn the cloud tops to fire.   Here's what it looked like at 5:53 AM

5:53 AM

The Results

See that cloud in the center?   It was moving up the hillside and quickly blocked the sunrise.   Within 11 minutes it looked like this.

6:04 AM

After the preparation and anticipation the resulting sunrise was a dud photographically.  Later we ran into another couple who had left Spartenburg SC at 2:00 AM to get to the higher Grassy Ridge for sunrise.  Their sunrise was not blocked by the clouds and looked spectacular on the back of his camera.

It didn't take long for the fog to blow out and things improved quickly.

6:15 AM

By 6:29 we were enjoying the first rays of sunlight to hit the balds and light up the Flame Azaleas.

6:29 AM

In the end the results were not what we prepared for or anticipated but it turned out to be a great morning to hike the balds of Roan Highlands.   Today God gave us a great morning to start the weekend.  Now for a nap.

The Crop

Do you crop your photos or leave them as they came out of the camera?  If you crop, do you use the standard crop sizes such as 8x10, 5x7 or 11x17?

Photos out of my camera come out with a 2x3 ratio, meaning the photos are 1 1/2 times as wide as they are tall.  They can be printed uncropped 2x3, 4x6, 8x12, 20x30, etc.  Often they look fine just the way they were composed and don't need to be cropped.  But other times, they could be improved with a little creative cropping.

Here's one I took this weekend when hiking up the balds of the Roan Highlands from Carver's Gap.

This is uncropped just as it was composed and shot.  It is in a landscape orientation, but is that the best way to present it?   The trees dominate the image giving it a vertical feel.  The trees sticking out of the snow in the back hint at a horizontal line tilting down on the right side.  I think there are multiple options here to explore.

What if it was in a portrait format?  This first 8x10 crop simplifies the image by removing many of the trees and focuses the viewer on the clear area leading to the lighter section in the center of the top half.  Including the snow at the bottom makes it feel like the trees are further away.  This crop emphasizes the vertical trees.  Vertical lines in a composition symbolize strength and stability.

You don't see square crops very often because they can tend to feel static and uninteresting.  However, in the second version of the same image, the square crop has been used to remove distracting elements and focus attention to the lighter point in the back of the trees.  Removing the snow at the bottom and the tree on the right makes the viewer feel like they are in the scene and gives it depth.  Almost feels like I can touch that tree on the right.

The third option is a wide crop using a 1x2 aspect ratio, meaning it is twice as wide as tall.  A horizontal image is more like what we naturally see with our eyes. In this version you see more of the horizontal line across the background made by the trees and snow.   Horizontal lines are peaceful and tranquil, which seems to be appropriate for this peaceful snowy scene.

Composing a horizontal or landscape image with repeating vertical lines can give a sense that the scene can't be contained and the repeating lines continue to the left and right.   In the image below I framed the image with a tree trunk on either side, which contains it and the composition loses that infinite feel, but they do give a sense of depth to the image.  A good title for this one might be "Lost in The Woods" because it feels like trees are all around.  There is no one element in the image that jumps out and says "look at me", but my eyes want to explore the path through the trees on the left side.

Should you crop using the standard ratios found in Lightroom and other photo editing tools?   It might be easier to get a standard size printed and it will be easier to find a ready made frame for a standard size print.  However, I have come to realize it's more important to crop right than to fit within a limited number of print sizes.  There are companies out there that will print in almost any dimension.   Places like American Frame will custom build a frame for you at a reasonable price.  If you only going to display the image on a website, then there is no reason to restrict the crop at all.  Crop to any ratio you think makes a better composition.

I like some of these better than others.  You may not agree with what I like or may not like any of them.  There is really no right way to compose an image.  Don't let others opinions limit your creativity.

One last point about cropping is you should always try to get the composition as close to what you want when you take it and not rely on cropping later.  You may find you don't have sufficient resolution to crop a horizontal image into a vertical.

Both of the images used here were taken while hiking up the balds of the Roan Highlands from Carver's Gap on Saturday.  It was snowing and I was in the clouds all morning.  Not great conditions for the grand landscape vista shots (I couldn't tell the mountains from the sky) but the low contrast conditions were great for these in the woods shots.

Some Seasons Just Don't Last Long Enough

I'm blessed to be able to live in a part of the country that has four seasons.   Although some of my friends and family in Florida may not think so, even winter is a welcome change from the monotony of tropical living.

My favorite seasons are Spring and Fall.   The freshness of Spring with all the wildflowers blooming all around just makes me feel good.   Walking though the woods surrounded by flower and brilliant new green growth can recharge the deadest personal battery.   With the many different varieties of plants and flowers Spring can last for many weeks.

Fall is a different story.  Once the leaves start to turn it's not long before they go from brilliant to gone.   Often I only get one good weekend to get out and shoot fall colors before the yellows, reds, and oranges are  brown and down.  This fall I had a free day to go out and shoot and I chose to head up to the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina and see what I could find.

On the way from Kingsport to the Parkway I got to Lake Watauga at sunrise.  I was the only person out there that morning.   I don't think anyone even drove by while I was there enjoying the peaceful morning on the lake.   The "golden hour" light gave the clouds a nice pink color.

After a stop in Boone NC for a Hardee's biscuit I stopped at the Moses Cone Mansion on the Blue Ridge Parkway.   My favorite shot of that stop was looking out from a walkway tunnel under the parkway.   I went for that shot because of the fall colors and blue sky but was given a bonus when a girl rode by in her equestrian riding outfit.   I should have stayed in the tunnel and took some more shots but I didn't want to spook the horse in the tunnel.   I wish I had that opportunity again.

A little ways up the road was a small pond surrounded by fall colors. There was little to no wind but the skies were starting to cloud up, which made the colors really pop, but was a preview of the rest of my day.

Soon after leaving the pond the clouds rolled in and descended on the Parkway eliminating any chance of the grand vista with blue sky shots.   I stopped and hiked up the Rough Ridge Trail which is a great trail.  The fall colors were still pretty nice but the clouds were still with me.   I made the best of the overcast conditions by taking several pictures under the trees with no sky, including this one that looks like Elves and Hobbits should be walking by, and a great arched bridge where trolls could be hiding.

I did take one shot of the Blue Ridge Mountains from near the top of Rough Ridge.   Nice fall colors but wouldn't it look great with a blue sky and white puffy clouds?

It was the best day for fall color photography I had this year.  Six days later everything was past peak and done for the year.   Now we've had an early winter with more than a foot of snow in the mountains.   This time I was at Hilton Head and missed the whole thing.   My son got great pictures from Roan Mountain, which makes me wish for more snow.  The good thing is winter lasts much longer and I'll have more opportunities to get out and shoot some in the snow before we start over again with spring in 2013.

These photos can be ordered from my website under the Blue Ridge Gallery.

Sunrise Layers

June and I got up at 3:30 AM Saturday, jumped in the car and drove 1 1/2 hours to Carvers Gap on the Tennessee - North Carolina state line then took off up the Appalachian Trail towards Round Bald to be there for sunrise.   We were hoping for some clouds to make the sunrise dramatic but when the sky started in lighten there were no clouds in sight.   When the sun did come up over the mountains of Western North Carolina the sky was very bright but the mountains and grassy bald we were standing on was still very dark.  No digital camera can handle this extreme tonal range from dark to very bright without the darks being almost black or the sky being totally white or "blown out".

To handle this I used a combination of two techniques - graduated neutral density filter and High Dynamic Range or HDR.

The Graduated Neutral Density Filter or ND Grad is dark grey on one side and clear on the other.  I placed the filter on the front of my lens with the dark grey on the top to block much of the light from the bright sky and the clear portion on the bottom so I didn't darken the already dark grasses and mountain ridges.  I used a 2-stop ND grad, which cut the light from the sky to 25%.  That wasn't quite dark enough.  I think I need to get a 3-stop ND Grad for my camera bag for these conditions.

I also took three different exposures of the same image shown below



As metered by the camera



-2 stops darker



+2 stops brighter


The first exposure was almost good enough but some of the sky was blown out, meaning there was no information there only bright light.   A 3-stop filter would have fixed this but I didn't have one.  When I got back home I used HDR Efex Pro from Nik Software to combine the three images.   The software will basically take the properly exposed parts from each image and blend them together to make one High Dynamic Range or HDR image.   I use HDR Efex Pro because it allows me to create HDR images that are realistic and close to what my eye was able to see.

Once I had the HDR image I did a little additional editing in Adobe Lightroom to crop it, adjust the tone curve, update the color balance, add a little edge vignette and sharpened the photo.  Here's the end result.

This is not what I was hoping for when we got up at 3:30 AM, but I do like the layers of green, blue/grey and orange. 

We spent the rest of the morning, which there was still plenty of, hiking the Appalachian Trail to Round Bald, Jane Bald, and Grassy Ridge Bald.   The Rhododendrons and Flame Azaleas were in full bloom and beautiful.   Photos from our hike are available in the Blue Ridge Gallery on TheSiggins.com.