Roaring Fork Creek, Great Smoky Mountains NP

Dixie

Roaring Fork Creek alongside the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Comments and suggestions are always welcome.

Click on the image for EXIF data.



Thank you for taking the time to look.

thapamd

Beautiful comp, Dixie! The water looks a little too much like shaving cream for me, but long shutter time effect on flowing water is a matter of personal taste.

Dixie

thapamd wrote:

Beautiful comp, Dixie! The water looks a little too much like shaving cream for me, but long shutter time effect on flowing water is a matter of personal taste.

Thanks, Mahesh. Actually, I prefer shooting running water around .8-2 seconds, but the image above was exposed for 25 seconds. I shot this one under some really weird circumstances. It was around 2:00 pm in the afternoon, but was almost dark because of an approaching storm. I was in somewhat of a gorge with a cliff to my right and the trees towering about 100 feet over me. I set my f-stop to 22 and went for great DOF (note the closeness of the right foreground) and wanted the entire range in focus from the foreground to the background. In fact, I was really surprise at the stillness of the leaves in the foreground since limbs and leaves were whipping and breaking off above me and falling to the ground around me while I was taking the photo, but the leaves and limbs remained still close around me.

I was off the little bridge, shown in the image below, to the right and about 5-10 feet below the level of the bridge to capture the image above. The image below, taken about 11 minutes after the image above, was exposed for 30 seconds. I didn't want the car in the image, but there wasn't much I could do about it under the circumstances. The rain had already started by the end of the exposure and I ran to the truck and waited for over an hour for the downpour to stop before giving up and leaving.

thapamd

Dixie,

I've shot in the Smokies before so know exactly what you are talking about. It's amazing how dark it can get there, especially when a storm is appraoching. It's too bad about the car in the second image, but it does give it a cool effect. You made lemonade out of a lemony situation.

squirl033

just curious what lens you were using... f/22 is probably a bit too much - you're into diffraction limiting at that point, and actually starting to lose clarity, especially on the 5D2. normally you can get all the DOF you need, even on a FF body, at f/16. and of course, the 5D2 should be 'clean' up to ISO 1600, anyway, so you could easily have gotten that 25 second exposure time down into the 1-3 second range..

regardless, that first shot is a lovely composition, with rich greens and a soft mist rising above the stream... nicely done!

schmoo

thapamd wrote:

You made lemonade out of a lemony situation.

and

The Smokies look so awesome whenever you're shooting them, Dixie. I think it takes real skill and familiarity to capture such beauty in a place that can be tricky and subtle at times.

Dixie

thapamd wrote:

Dixie,

I've shot in the Smokies before so know exactly what you are talking about. It's amazing how dark it can get there, especially when a storm is appraoching. It's too bad about the car in the second image, but it does give it a cool effect. You made lemonade out of a lemony situation.

Thank you again.

Dixie

squirl033 wrote:

just curious what lens you were using... f/22 is probably a bit too much - you're into diffraction limiting at that point, and actually starting to lose clarity, especially on the 5D2. normally you can get all the DOF you need, even on a FF body, at f/16. and of course, the 5D2 should be 'clean' up to ISO 1600, anyway, so you could easily have gotten that 25 second exposure time down into the 1-3 second range..

regardless, that first shot is a lovely composition, with rich greens and a soft mist rising above the stream... nicely done!

EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM

Dixie

schmoo wrote:

and

The Smokies look so awesome whenever you're shooting them, Dixie. I think it takes real skill and familiarity to capture such beauty in a place that can be tricky and subtle at times.

thanks, schmoo.

NeilL

Dixie wrote:

EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM

Must be the IS kept those leaves and twigs still. I always knowed Canon were good!!

Yes, more natural water is my preference (you lose what is most attractive in water - its gemmy translucence), but I love the 1st pic anyhoo.

Allan FG

I love the ghost car.

Dixie

NeilL wrote:

Must be the IS kept those leaves and twigs still. I always knowed Canon were good!!

Yes, more natural water is my preference (you lose what is most attractive in water - its gemmy translucence), but I love the 1st pic anyhoo.

I do tend to go more for the smoother look - especially in this one with the mist, etc. Something to do with the history of the place and the passage of time. However, I do realize that it is a matter of taste.

The trees were whipping way up above me, but it was "the eerie calm before the storm" down in the bottom while this capture was being made. Within minutes of this shot, leaves and small limbs were falling all around me. You can see some of the leaves and small limbs in the "ghost car" image.

Dixie

Loud Al wrote:

I love the ghost car.

Thanks, Al. It did turn out sort of neat, but if I had my druthers - I wish I hadn't been haunted.