From the BlogSubscribe Now

Archives for January 2024

01/24/24 Sunset over Walton Heights and Pinnacle Valley

Posted on January 24, 2024 //
A wintertime sunset from Walton Heights in Little Rock featuring Pinnacle Mountain.
Wintertime sunset from Walton Heights in Little Rock overlooking Pinnacle Valley

There are times that the best view of a particular subject is from the air. With the use of a drone, I was able to capture this sunset in several separate images, then combine them into one single image. The dynamic range of the files is limited, so I chose to use exposure bracketing of 5 shots per image, then combining several of the single files to create one image.

The problem with a drone is that you have to be very careful when shooting into the sun as it’s very easy to totally blow out your highlights. This image was taken with a DJI Mavic 2 Pro, which has a 20MP sensor, but the sensor is nowhere near the same quality as a 35mm camera with 20MP or 24mp.

The other problem that can occur is drift, during the series of images. Even in a quick 5 shot bracket the drone can slightly drift and thus the file will not line up perfectly. If this occurs, then it’s best to use load the needed files into Photoshop, as layers, and then use the “align layers” feature. This will usually allow for a close enough alignment so you can proceed with the work.

Using a drone often gives a much better perspective overall and I always try to have a drone with me in the woods.

Filed Under: Arkansas Landscape Shooting Information, Drones // Tagged: , , , , , , ,

01/22/24 Looking through the Keyhole on Roark Bluff–Autumn

Posted on January 23, 2024 //
A view from the summit of Roark Bluff in Arkansas, featuring the keyhole.

One of my favorite locations in Arkansas is the Buffalo River which runs across the northern part of the state. It runs eastward eventually emptying into the White River, making it the largest tributary of the White.

I love to work the river, along it total length. Fall offers some wonderful color as various deciduous trees turn shades of yellow, red, and bright orange.

This particular spot is what I call the keyhole and is on the top of Roark Bluff. Roark bluff is one of the single largest bluffs on the river and is near the town of Ponca. You can get to the base of the bluff by stopping by the Steel Creek landing. Directly below Roark is Bee Bluff, which can offer a wonderful view at sunset in the fall.

I took this shot with a Fuji X-T2, in a series of bracketed exposures to combine later as a single image. From this view you can see the upper end of Roark Bluff as it winds around to the left and in the lower part of the image you can see the Buffalo River and the row of Maple and Gum trees that line the river bank on the left side.

Filed Under: Arkansas Landscape Shooting Information, Arkansas Outdoors // Tagged: , , , , , , ,

01/14/24 Sunset from Pinnacle Mountain Little Rock, AR

Posted on January 12, 2024 //
Snowy sunset from Pinnacle Mountain, Little Rock Arkansas
Snowy Sunset from Pinnacle Mountain

This is what might be available the hardy photographers on next Monday or Tuesday as we are going to get another snowy period of 2 days. My days of hiking up Pinnacle on a snowy evening are over however. I wanted to share this image as it brought back some memories.

Arkansas snowfalls are rare in Little Rock, and often times you will get a snowy morning and then as the skies start to clear, you can catch a sunset with the sun shinning on the sun. This particular evening was special as the snow was a wet one and stuck to all the tree branches.

I used a Canon 1ds MKII for this shot and 24-70 lens, which was my go to solution for many years until Nikon came out with the D800. I had more trouble coming down than going up as the snow was very slushy and made the down hike much more dangerous. I was on the part of Pinnacle that I call the nose, which is a solid rock area with no trees. It’s made up of large flat rocks some of which are as long as 12 feet, so if you slip you are going to slide down a long way.

Due to the warning light, I had to shoot quick and all the shots were down hand held. I waited until the last few minutes hoping that the sun would break out from the clouds and I was rewarded with this shot. One of all time favorites of the wintertime at Pinnacle.

Filed Under: Arkansas Outdoors // Tagged: , , , , , , ,

01/14/24 Winter View of Pinnacle Valley

Posted on January 12, 2024 //
Clearing Winter Ice Storm over Pinnacle Mountain

Hopefully this is what the valley will look like in about 3 or 4 days as we have a lot of snow and ice scheduled to hit. This image was taken in 2023 after the only real winter weather we had in Arkansas for 2023. I was hoping to catch the sun on the icy coating in the trees, which I did.

For the image I used a Leica SL2, and 90-280 lens at approx 120mm. I used ISO 100 and took 2 sets of bracketed images in what I call a short pano. Using this method, I was able to later combine the files into a single image using Ptgui stitching software.

The final image shows the effects I was looking for, mainly to capture the sun on the icy trees in the foreground but also keep the dark skies over Pinnacle mountain which added quite a bit of nice contrast.

Filed Under: Arkansas Outdoors // Tagged: , , , , , , ,

01/12/24 Fall Scene, Pinnacle Mountain

Posted on January 11, 2024 //
Sun and Storm Clouds over Pinnacle Mountain

My Favorite view of Pinnacle, this time early fall. The trees in the valley have just started to turn to their fall colors. On this day, the sun was at my back and was illuminating the valley as a strong storm was starting to blow in from the west.

This photo was taken with a GFX100II, and 100-200 lens at approx 120mm. I captured the shot with two frames and then merged them together into one larger file using the Ptgui software. Capture One was used to convert the raw files from the GFX100II.

Focus was at Infinity and the overall details of the image were impressive, as even the small details of the rocks on Pinnacle could easily be made out.

You can view the image in my Pinnacle Gallery by following this URL:

https://photosofarkansas.com/gallery/photo.php?src=galleries/Views_of_Pinnacle_Mountain/26_Sun_and_clouds_over_Pinnacle_Mountain.jpg

Filed Under: Arkansas Outdoors //

01/11/24 Hasselblad XCD Camera lenses, all out of stock?

Posted on January 11, 2024 //

Most interesting in that today I noticed that you can easily purchase the Hasselblad XCD2 100MP camera pretty much anywhere in the United States, but try to find any of the following lenses, the 38mm, 55mm or 90mm. All of them are out of stock until around March 2024.

What type of manufacturing/supply line design is this, where you can purchase a camera body, but no lens for it. As far as I can tell, the supply for the new style XCD lenses has been tight for many months.

However checking B&H, Adorama, Capture Integration, and Camera West, all of them display the same message, “out of stock, supply expected March 2024”.

So my question?, How do you sell a new XCD 2 camera at all since none of the 3 main focal length lenses appear to be in stock

Example of lens supply for Hasselblad XCD

Hopefully this will improve sooner than later. However this also makes me wonder how fast you could get a replacement lens from the DJI/Hasselblad repair center? Since DJI now has full ownership of Hasselblad I have not followed closely how well they are handling repairs of the lenses. Since all XCD cameras do not have a focal plane shutter, you are 100% dependent on the leaf shutter in the lens.

Filed Under: Arkansas Outdoors // Tagged: , , , , ,