Nature Photographers Network
This is the preserved archive of the original Nature Photographers Network. The community continues at naturephotographers.network.
Cane Creek Gorge
‹ PreviousLandscape GalleryNext ›

Cane Creek Gorge

by Michael Cothran

Gallery: LandscapePosted December 17, 2012166 views7 comments
aka Milliken's Overlook at the Buzzard's Roost area in Fall Creek Falls State Park, Van Buren County, Tennessee. The high bluff area gets its name from the fact that buzzards & eagles soar at eye level up here.
It was one of those days where the rain & sun battled for supremacy. Here, the rain was dispersing again, the sky was clearing up, and the mist from the rain was rising from the ridges below.
This is a 3 image focus-stack, done manually in CS3. A small amount of soft focus was applied to the middle section, as I thought the trees had too much "bite" to them otherwise. A slight bit of sepia tone added to warm the image a little (it was more bluish than what I wanted). A manual curves adjustment was added, then finally an Auto Curves ( which I always add at the end of each image processing) to "test/compare" its opinion of the image to mine). Most times, as here, I like its opinion better, and I keep it. If not, I simply delete the layer.
Thank you for looking, and for all previous comments.

H4D50
35-90 zoom
CP
Old Gitzo tripod, Kirk ball head, and RRS custom bracket for supporting my three H series lenses, including the 35-90 zoom (it's a monster!)

Comments

7 comments
Comment posted by Peter Cross on December 17, 2012 at 11:59 PM
Even though the sky and clearing fog suggest cool and damp, the abundance of green make this a very calming image for me. I low all the shades and tones of green plus all of the texture to the forest. I also like the alternating direction of the layers in the background. And, indeed it does look like a place where an raptor or vulture might sail past.
Registered on April 3, 2010, 271 Posts, 1342 Comments
Comment posted by Nancy Lea Sandy on December 18, 2012 at 12:25 AM
Beautifully saturated colors, great lines and the misty fog lifting up from the trees. Great composition. The fg rocks really put me in the image. Nicely done
Registered on January 24, 2011, 576 Posts, 6942 Comments
Comment posted by Nick Bristol on December 18, 2012 at 9:34 AM
Michael, This makes me feel like I'm standing right there seeing this view! The fog adds to the mood here. Very nice!

Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI
Registered on February 1, 2004, 752 Posts, 14140 Comments
Comment posted by Bill Chambers on December 18, 2012 at 9:55 AM
Very nice Michael - your processing looks spot on! I love the drama added by the dark clouds and also the mystery caused by the fog.
Registered on April 10, 2005, 753 Posts, 21216 Comments
Comment posted by R.Bill Moser on December 18, 2012 at 12:56 PM
Nice mood and i love the fog hanging over the forest.
Registered on January 29, 2010, 285 Posts, 4281 Comments
Comment posted by Richard Teller on December 18, 2012 at 1:17 PM
Michael, this is a great rendering of this image. This has a real feel of the Tennessee mountains. The mist adds a lot to the image.
Registered on August 23, 2010, 1162 Posts, 6692 Comments
Comment posted by Lon Overacker on December 18, 2012 at 4:40 PM
Michael,

+1 to what Peter wrote. I gotta say that you've done a wonderful job with the processing. "A small amount of soft focus was applied to the middle section," What a concept! First I've heard of doing something like this - other than intentional blurring to simulate shallow dof, but the notion that you tweaked this to take the edge off the "bite" is worth noting I think. As well as a slight sepia application; which, I wouldn't have considered if you hadn't mentioned it. In the end, you'v done very well to process this image to extract all the strong and important elements of this scene! kudos! :toast:

Did I mention this was a great landscape image? Where eagles soar sure seems appropriate.

Lon
Registered on November 24, 2006, 521 Posts, 19147 Comments