Nikon Z8 with Nikkor Z 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 VR S at 400mm, 1/8 sec, f/8, ISO 64.
Two weeks after my shooting day in New Hampshire, I was staying for the week in Norton, Virginia, which offers plenty of fall color of its own. The image above is just a tiny piece of endless forests bursting with color. Unfortunately, I was only free for a couple short forays into the woods that week. Fortunately, it didn’t take long to find magical scenes. All five of the following images were taken during a 45-minute span along a single quarter-mile stretch of two-lane road through the woods.
Nikon Z8 with Nikkor Z 24-120mm f/4 S at 68 mm, 1/350 sec, f/9.5, ISO 500.
For the last couple years, I have been geotagging my photos using a GPS device, which lets me see see exactly where every image was taken. In looking at the locations of these images on the map in Lightroom, I noticed something interesting: all of these images were taken at hairpin bends on this short section of road. That is, in part, because there tended to be enough area outside of the sharp curves to park. But there is another reason, too. Just as I mentioned a few weeks ago about shooting over rivers, when there is a hairpin turn, you can shoot across the “U” of the road—this gives you the chance to get even further back if you want to and still have a clear view. The nice thing, of course, is that you can even stand on the road if you need to to get the right perspective; there isn’t a lot of traffic and what traffic there is is going pretty slow because of the hairpins. So, what you lose in the attractiveness of a potential foreground (the river) you gain in freedom of camera position.
Nikon Z8 with Nikkor Z 24-120mm f/4 S at 86 mm, 1/180 sec, f/8.0, ISO 500.
I mentioned that these images were taken over 45 minutes. What I didn’t say is that it was right at noon. With the opening in the forest canopy caused by the road, having the sun high in the sky helped more light filter down to the lower parts of the forest.
There are no end of photographic opportunities in an area like this, but there are even more if you look up:
Nikon Z8 with Nikkor Z 24-120mm f/4 S at 50 mm, 1/750 sec, f/8.0, ISO 500.
And even more if you start to focus in on details:
Nikon Z8 with Nikkor Z 24-120mm f/4 S at 57 mm, 1/125 sec, f/8.0, ISO 500.
I am pleased with all the images above, but this last one is unquestionably my favorite:
Nikon Z8 with Nikkor Z 24-120mm f/4 S at 100 mm, 1/250 sec, f/9.5, ISO 500.
I am definitely going back.
4 responses to “Western Virginia in the Fall”
A glorious riot of colour!
(Did I really see blue sky in one of your images?!)
Rob
An apt description! Thank you!
(Yes, and a deeply polarized one at that! I am going to have to feature more of it…apparently I have become predictable. There is some blue sky in the queue two weeks from now, so be prepared!)
The last one is my favorite, too, though they all are glorious. What a magical 45 minutes it must have been!
Thank you! The tragic thing is that there wasn’t anything special about that 45 minutes other than it was the time I had free…could have spent all day.