Sunset at Klingman's Dome - Practicing Patience

Discipline is a part of every professional photographer's habit. One of my disciplines is to get myself into position at the right time of day, hoping that the lighting will be "magical."  One evening a couple of years ago, I headed up to Clingman's Dome. The sky was mostly cloudy and not promising. But because my time on location is limited, I put myself into place.

I saw a number of other people in cars, photographers I was assuming. Since it was cold and the sky was uninviting, we were just there, waiting, hoping that as the sun traveled below the horizon, that a slit would open in the clouds.  Truthfully, I wasn't hopeful, but discipline had me out with camera and tripod, just in case.

The time for sunset was past, but there it was, the beginnings of an afterglow, lighting the colors a subtle pink.  All of a sudden the photographers in the cars were leaping out, grabbing their equipment and trying to find their spot.

The color started spreading across the sky.

The colors got brighter and brighter, filling the sky with a beautiful crimson glow.  The sidewalk was filled with photographers trying to capture this magic moment.

As I worked the images later, I put multiple exposures together to try to recreate the beauty of that sunset with the amazing sky color and the beautiful ridges of the Great Smokies.

While I am not always rewarded when I wait out a dull looking sky, it is always peaceful and tranquil to be on location.  And, many times, it is worth practicing patience when the sunset or sunrise exceeds your expectations.

Great Smokies - Planning your photography

When you are traveling through the Great Smokies, it is always so tempting to stop at every overlook. They are all so breathtakingly beautiful, regardless of the time of day.  But photographing that beauty can be challenging.  This 2010 trip had given us unusually good weather - sunny, cloudless days for the most part.  But great weather doesn't always make for great photographs.  

Here are a couple of photos from this year's trip taken at either the same or a very similar overlook.  Late afternoon sun, most of the composition is shaded.  The shrubby growth in the foreground is showing its color and is backlit, but this is just not a great image.

I changed  my composition and this one is a little better, we can see the colorful hill on the left and the exposure is dark enough that you can see the mountains in the distance.  That horizon line is a little too centered though.  But then again, I don't think the shrubby growth is that photogenic for a foreground.

Two years ago, I photographed this from the other platform, different time of day, when the weather was provided that magic lighting.  I did use HDR techniques on this one, but it all came together.  To me, this is a much more pleasing image.

Also two years ago, we caught what I think is the hill that is shadow in the first two. Different weather, different lens, different time of day . . .Plus, I think the foliage two years ago was closer to peak, this year so much was past the peak. Oh, what a difference these seemingly little things make between an ordinary photo and a "magic" one.

There are definite advantages to visiting one location over and over. Each day will have different weather and different lighting.  Some days, the photos are mundane . . . snapshots.  But some days you get lucky and end up with images to be proud of.  But at the beginning of any photography day, you never know if the light and weather are going to cooperate.  The discipline is to get yourself out there on location regularly, because you sure won't get the beautiful images if you aren't out there making the attempts.

Water Studies

 I like to sit at streams with my camera finding different compositions with the water.  Fall is such a great time because the leaves land on the rocks, blanket the banks, and flowing down the water.

I've learned to photograph streams when they are shaded. The least bit of sunlight blows out the highlights in the water.  The other nice thing about shade is that it requires longer shutter speeds that give the water a soft, silky, flowing look.

I accidently left one of my lenses at home, so I played with using my 300-800mm lens to try to get "intimate" landscapes of the streams and leaves.

 

These last two are the same scene, just different compositions.