01/08/25 Fall Scene from the Buffalo Red Bluff Overlook

One of the many great bluff/overlook locations on the Buffalo National River is Red Bluff. Actually there are at least two different Red Bluffs. One is this one which is below Gilbert the other below Woolum, closer to Hwy 65.

I tried to find this spot for several years, before locating it in 2022. The spot where you actually stand to take the picture is literally right above the drop off. If you prefer to not have the old twisted Cedar tree trunk in your image, you have to be pretty brave and get to where your feet are hanging off. It pays to remember that the slope behind you is actually about 45 degrees and all loose gravel, so I do not go any lower towards the edge.

I took this shot with an Hasselblad X2D, and 21mm lens, on a tripod, and shot the image in a 3 shot exposure bracket. I have found that the X2D is very selective on exposing highlights correctly and it’s very easy to blow out skies. You do have considerable shadow push at base ISO of 64 but even so if I can, I will always shoot a bracket. The image was worked up in Phocus and then tweaking in Photoshop. As much as I hate Phocus, I have repeatedly found that it give the best color to a X2D file. Lightroom just can’t get the same look for me.

When you arrive at this location, be aware that it’s not going to allow very many photographers to be standing around so you might try to get there as early as possible and not attempt to go there on a weekend. For example, from where I was standing off to the left of center, if another person decided to come down and get below me by the tree, then they would have been in all the shots I attempted to take. This would have made post processing very difficult.

Fall in 2024 for Arkansas was another terrible year. As you can see in the image most of the color is brown. There was some nice color up by the river in many places, but when you went looking for an overlook most of the trees showed up with brown. We were lucky to get an amazing sky on this morning and it added immensely to the overall look of the shot.