Friday was a rainy, cold and windy day, but early in the morning I was able to find a few subjects worth photographing. I started at Petit Jean's grave site and then made the hike from the lodge to Cedar Falls. The falls and the creek were running pretty good from a nice storm the night before.
Here is a different take on Davies Bridge that I kind of liked. Everytime I go to Petit Jean, I find more I like about this place.
5D mark II
Sigma 70-200mm f2.8 lense
F16 2.5 seconds
ISO 100
Tim Ernst pointed out the rock that looks like King Kong and now King Kong is there everytime I go back! See if you can see him in the photo, "Stormy Morning at Petit Jean State Park" in my recents gallery
Posted by Wayne Rhodus on April 12, 2009 at 10:00 PM
Nice perspective Tom. I like what the slow shutter speed did not only for the falls itself but for the foam in the foreground water. Nice shot!
Posted by Dena Sanders on April 12, 2009 at 10:05 PM
I love this! It's so tranquil, the roughness of the bridge compliment the dreamy quality of the falls. Very nice!
Hey Tom, I stood in the same spot Friday at around 11am...Did you remove the branch in the creek under the front of the bridge? I shot this with both a 70-200 and a 100mm Zeiss - the IQ difference was quite large.
You guys had a quite a bit more water than I did on Thursday. The clouds at the overlook are cool all I had was thick thick fog. The cedar creek cascades look great
Posted by Daniel Loomis on April 13, 2009 at 8:55 AM
Very picturesque scene. I like the way you framed the image with the bridge and waterfall. The water below the falls is perfectly placed at the 1/3rd point and the top of the arch at the upper 1/3rd. A very fine, well-balanced composition.
Beautiful series from Petit Jean, Tom. I need to get down there more often to visit King Kong!
Tim, wonder how a 105 micro Nikkor would compare with the Zeiss? I've read mixed reviews on the Nikkor 70-200 - soft in the corners on an FX body according to some.
Hey Tim, we must have missed each other by less than 10 minutes. I think Ieft the bridge just before 11am. I thought about wading out and getting that branch, but I just cloned it out.
My thoughts EXACTLY! Although now that I know where it was in your photo I can see where it was, but no one else would ever see it. I was on my way elsewhere and needed to be seen in a public place so didn't want to wade in that deep and get everything wet - normally it would have been out of there in just a few seconds...I'm headed for Thunder Canyon in a minute or two (now with an extra lens in my bag for Bill) - wonder how much damage there was there?
Tom you got some great images from Petit Jean. They are all reall good. Plenty of water at cedar falls always helps. My shot from last year has more water but not as much green. Give me a call next time.
Posted by Aaron Szabo on April 14, 2009 at 4:15 PM
Tom, I like the long exposure you've done here and I really like the sunrise picks from Petit Jean!
From my little search comparing the Zeiss 100mm and the Nikkor 105mm, it seems the Zeiss in another league. At least according to this test from www.slrgear.com, the Zeiss is super sharp all across the frame at almost every aperture. It reminds me of the Canon 135mm f2.
A good alternative that might be sharper than the Nikkor is the Sigma 150mm.
The new Zeiss lenses seem to live up to all of their hype. I've been using Zeiss for more than 20 years on Hassy, Contax, Canon, and now Nikon. I used to always say that I could spot a Zeiss image sitting on a light table in the midst of other chromes from across the room - they seem to have a brilliance about them that I've never seen from any other glass, except for perhaps Leica glass. I used a dozen different Zeiss and Leica lenses on my big digital Canons, and now have a bag full of them for the Nikons. So wonderful that now we don't have to use an adapter any more, at least for Nikons - Canon folks still have to wait a little while, but then their lenses will be chipped and even better. These lenses are very heavy and there are no zooms - no plastic either....
Discussion
12 repliesHere is a different take on Davies Bridge that I kind of liked. Everytime I go to Petit Jean, I find more I like about this place.
5D mark II
Sigma 70-200mm f2.8 lense
F16 2.5 seconds
ISO 100
Here is a link to a few more from the day's excursion.
http://208.76.245.162/~tom/gallery.php?gallery=recentphotos
Tim Ernst pointed out the rock that looks like King Kong and now King Kong is there everytime I go back! See if you can see him in the photo, "Stormy Morning at Petit Jean State Park" in my recents gallery
Tim, wonder how a 105 micro Nikkor would compare with the Zeiss? I've read mixed reviews on the Nikkor 70-200 - soft in the corners on an FX body according to some.
From my little search comparing the Zeiss 100mm and the Nikkor 105mm, it seems the Zeiss in another league. At least according to this test from www.slrgear.com, the Zeiss is super sharp all across the frame at almost every aperture. It reminds me of the Canon 135mm f2.
A good alternative that might be sharper than the Nikkor is the Sigma 150mm.
I would like to see a real world test though...