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01/11/25 Near Record Snowfall for Little Rock

Posted on January 12, 2025 // Leave a Comment
Snowy Scene Western Pulaski County Pinnacle Mountain
Pinnacle Mountain after record snowfall

On the night of January 9th, 2025 Little Rock Arkansas had one of the heaviest snowfalls on recent record.  At my house I recorded at least 14 inches.  One of local favorite shots is the view of Pinnacle Mountain which can be seen very clearly at the end of my street.  The day after the snow the sky was still grey and not clear and attempting to get a good shot of the mountain would have been a waste.  However this morning the skies cleared and I was able to hike down to get a much better view.  I had hoped to still catch all the snow in the pine trees near the base, however most of that was gone.  However the mountain was still covered with snow which is rare event so I was rewarded with this view.

I shot this image in 2 frames with a Fuji GFX100II and the 500mm GF lens.  All of the shooting on this morning was handheld with IBIS and OIS enabled and the results were spectacular.  The details that this combination of lens and camera can capture are most impressive.  I should add later some detailed crops but I am not sure that the effect can really be seen.  This view is about 3 miles or more away from where I was standing and the individual tree limbs on the mountain and around the base are clearly visible.  I shot with 3 frame exposure brackets and worked up only 2 frames from the total of 6.  I was using Iso 80 with shutter speeds ranging from 1/650 to 1/250.

Catching this shot was lucky for me, in the past after heavy snowfall the snow did not stay on the summit of Pinnacle as long.

Filed Under: Arkansas Landscape Shooting Information, Arkansas Outdoors, Fuji Cameras, Photographic Equipment // Tagged: , , , , , , , ,

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: , , , , , , ,

01/14/24 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: , , , , , , ,

07/03/12 Heat continues and burn bans abound throughout Arkansas

Posted on July 3, 2012 //

Yesterday, I saw the first clouds I had seen in the local sky for almost a week. In the morning, there were enough clouds to briefly darken the sky so that the local temperature was considerably cooler. The shot below was taken on a much different type of day in July about 4 years ago. When this shot was taken, Pulaski County was getting rainfall almost every other day.

Westward view from close to the summit of Pinnacle Mountain

Westward view from close to the summit of Pinnacle Mountain

Even in the shot, you can see some damage from fire however.  The amount of clouds in the sky do help a lot since they will block some the the direct light especially in the middle summer months.  For the past two days, Little Rock, has been blessed with clouds which has helped to keep our maximum temperature down below 100 degrees.

The long term forecast is showing some possible relief by the end of next week when we might be getting some more localize rainfall.

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Filed Under: Hiking // Tagged: , , , , , , ,