Upper Crow Creek Falls 2

Upper Crow Creek Falls 2.

 

All 4 of us shot this view of the falls, but it was interesting how each of us approached this composition. Each of us started in different areas working our way left, right, higher and lower. It seemed though that we all ended up with the same composition or very similar. Our difference in our images is how we ended up handling the image. Some used a smaller aperture (f16 or 22) to slow the water down, one even did a pano focusing on the top, then the bottom, I used a Circular Polarizer and a Neutral Density filter to slow the water down while maintaining the focus, sharpness and depth of field I needed for the image. Which one is right, which one is wrong, they all look good, so they are all right. It just goes to show, it isn’t always how you arrive, it is the fact you make it there in the first place. Experiment with compositions until you find what is visually the most pleasing to you and then decide how you want to present it to your viewer.

 

Tamron SP 24-70mm f2.8 Di VC USD G2 lens on a Nikon D-750, Manual Exposure mode, f11, ISO 100, Sirui Circular Polarizer to reduce glare, Sirui 4 stop Neutral Density (ND) filter to slow down the water, shutter speed of 10 seconds, Sirui carbon fiber tripod and K40X ballhead, MindShift Gear FirstLight 20L Backpack, processed in Lightroom CC. #WithMyTamron, #TamronUSA, #TamronLensesUSA, #TamronImageMaster, #Sirui, #SiruiUSA, #SiruiProfessional, #MindShiftGear

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Upper Crow Creek Falls

Upper Crow Creek Falls.

 

I shared the image of Lower Crow Creek Falls a couple days ago, but if you continue hiking a couple hundred yards up the trail you will be rewarded with the Upper Falls. Rabun County Georgia is loaded with great waterfalls, many of which are easy hikes. When we arrived we noticed 2 trees down in the scene. To me it makes me work harder to find a composition that works with the trees included in the image. Walking around and viewing the scene without your camera is a great first step. When you find an angle that is pleasing then you start to work the scene with different focal lengths. In this case I set the lens at 24mm to bring the foreground into the scene and lead the viewer’s eye to the falls. In doing so, it tends to minimize the log, which I positioned in a darker part of the scene.

 

Tamron SP 24-70mm f2.8 Di VC USD G2 lens on a Nikon D-750, Manual Exposure mode, f11, ISO 100, Sirui 4 stop ND filter and Circular Polarizer, shutter speed of 10 seconds, Sirui carbon fiber tripod and K40X ballhead, MindShift Gear FirstLight 20L backpack, processed in Lightroom CC. #WithMyTamron, #TamronUSA, #TamronLensesUSA, #TamronImageMaster, #Sirui, #SiruiUSA, #SiruiProfessional, #MindShiftGear

Minnehaha Falls

Minnehaha Falls.

 

There are two Minnehaha Falls that I am aware of, surely there are more, but I know of and have visited two. One is in Minnesota and the other in Rabun County. Since I live in Georgia, I tend to visit the one in Rabun County more often. Minnehaha was the lover of Hiawatha immortalized in Longfellow’s poem. It is also a Dakota word meaning “waterfall” or “rapid water”. Since the Minnehaha Falls in Georgia more closely resembles a cascade where the water travels rapidly, we will go with the rapid water translation. I have been photographing the falls since I was a young adult and love going there each chance I get. It is peaceful and relaxing. I prefer it with about the water flow it has at this time, because with too much more and it becomes a little more “powerful” and loses that relaxing feel. I love photographing it most during spring and fall. The colors around the falls add to the scene so much more as well.

 

Tamron SP 24-70mm f2.8 Di VC USD G2 lens on a Nikon D-750, Manual Exposure mode, f11, ISO 100, Sirui 4 stop ND filter and Circular Polarizer to slow down the water and remove glare, shutter speed of 4 seconds, Sirui carbon fiber tripod and K40X ballhead, MindShift Gear FirstLight 20L backpack, processed in Lightroom CC. #WithMyTamron, #TamronUSA, #TamronLensesUSA, #TamronImageMaster, #Sirui, #SiruiUSA, #SiruiProfessional, #MindShiftGear

Lower Crow Creek Falls

Lower Crow Creek Falls.

 

On Sunday I got to spend the morning photographing a couple waterfalls with some good friends. I always love photographing waterfalls and the hope of a little fall colors to boot made it more enticing to me. So along with my teaching partner Cecil Holmes, Rob LeRoux, and Max Hester, we set out before first light. We stopped first at Minnehaha Falls and were rewarded with some great images, of which I will share in the next days. Then it was off to Bad Branch Falls, but after a brisk hike lead by our speed hiker Max, we arrived to find the fall’s view were blocked by 3 downed trees probably from Irma as she worked her way across the state. Finally we went to Crow Creek to photograph the lower and upper falls. Conditions were really nice and it wasn’t until late in our shooting the sun started breaking through the fog and clouds. The image today is of Lower Crow Creek Falls. Photographing the waterfalls was really nice, photographing them with some good friends made it a great morning.

 

Tamron 10-24mm Di-II VC HLD lens on a Nikon D-500, Manual Exposure mode, f16, ISO 100, Sirui 4 stop Neutral Density Filter and Circular Polarizer, 10 second shutter speed, Sirui Carbon Fiber tripod and K40X ballhead, MindShift Gear FirstLight 20L Backpack, processed in Lightroom CC. #WithMyTamron, #TamronUSA, #TamronLensesUSA, #TamronImageMaster, #Sirui, #SiruiUSA, #SiruiProfessional, #MindShiftGear

Finally Feeling Like Fall

Finally feeling like Fall.

 

It has been unusually warm so far this fall, until yesterday anyway. Finally cool air has made its way in and the skies at sunset reflected the drop in humidity as well. The pastel colors that will fill the fall skies have always been some of my favorites. You can see in the image the fall colors are just starting to dot the landscape, and the tomato plants have finished for the year. It is a great time to take in the fresh air from one of “The 3 Chairs”.

 

Tamron 18-400mm Di-II VC HLD lens on a Nikon D-500, Aperture Priority mode, f5.6, ISO 400, -1 stop of exposure compensation, resulting in a shutter speed of 1/20th of a second, Sirui W2204X waterproof tripod and K20X ballhead, processed in Lightroom CC. #WithMyTamron, #TamronUSA, #TamronLensesUSA, #TamronImageMaster, #Sirui, #SiruiUSA, #SiruiProfessional, #The3Chairs

Flint Corn

Flint Corn.

 

We all see it this time of year decorating mailboxes, doors, tables…Flint Corn, or Indian Corn. This particular type of corn is one of the oldest known varieties of corn. It was one of the types of corn the Native Americans taught the settlers how to grow. You see it everywhere, but does anyone eat it? Not very often. Why? It gets its name not for being a variety grown in Flint, but because the shell is as hard as Flint, the rock. Little did you know that when you started reading this post by a photographer would you learn so much more…

 

Tamron 18-400mm Di-II VC HLD lens on a Nikon D-500, Aperture Priority mode, f11, ISO 400, -.7 stops of exposure compensation, resulting in a shutter speed of 1/80th of a second, handheld utilizing the Vibration Compensation (VC) feature of the lens, processed in Lightroom CC. #WithMyTamron, #TamronUSA, #TamronLensesUSA, #TamronImageMaster

Drying out the Wings

Drying out the wings.

 

When you get to a sunflower field just after sunrise you will find insects that are drying out their wings from the dew that is covering them. This little honey bee didn’t make it back to the hive before the sunset obviously. I try not to get too close to them because it would stress them out. They are sure I am there to eat them. I wanted to isolate the bee from the background so I used a longer lens at its minimum focusing distance with a shallow depth of field. Get over to Fausett Farms Sunflowers in the next week or so, you won’t regret getting up early!

 

Tamron SP 70-200mm Di VC USD G2 lens on a Nikon D-750, Manual Exposure mode, f4, ISO 100, shutter speed 1/1000th of a second, Sirui carbon fiber tripod and K40X ballhead, MindShift Gear PhotoCross 13L sling bag, processed in Lightroom CC. #WithMyTamron, #TamronUSA, #TamronLensesUSA, #TamronImageMaster, #Sirui, #SiruiUSA, #SiruiLensesUSA, #MindShiftGear