Work the area

I visited one particular spot on a small river in the smokey mountains, It was extremely scenic and the trees were nice shades of yellow, The first time i arrived there was already a photographer there, I let her shoot whilst i had a quick look around at various angles imagining the images in my mind, She took some shots at track level and went, I say track level as we were above the river-see the image above, I shot a few images and some more photographers arrived and took the same image, I worked that part of the river and then decided i would return and try again in different conditions and when the area was quieter, This one particular stretch of river seemed to have unlimited possibilities but all the photographers that i watched shooting there all took the same images, I returned and when the area was free i clambered down the bank and set up at water level and spent a pleasurable hour shooting all kinds of angles of the same scene and still felt that i hadn't covered half of what a good landscaper could walk away with, Here are a few of the images taken-all HDR of the same scene, I shot the whole time with my D3 and 24-70, I used a Lee filters Circular poloriser to reduce the reflections and enhance the colours, My camera was set to manual mode and daylight white balance, I took test shots to get a perfectly exposed image and then bracketed both side +/- 1 and 2 stops giving 5 images in HDR to create one, In the portrait mode image i also used a 2 stop Lee grad filter at an angle to tone the bright trees on the right of the image, Landscapes don't move so you can take your time and explore the scene,If the area is a good one make sure you return at different times of the day/year and in different conditions



Dave