Ok, maybe not exactly faking a sunny day. And when I took this series of photographs up at Hurricane Shoals park in Jackson county Georgia, was I really thinking about making them look like its sunny and pleasant outside. Because actually it was rainy, dreary, cold, damp and generally awful outside.

After being faced with another excruciatingly rainy and cold weekend here in North Georgia I decided I was going to take some photographs damn it, even if I had to dodge rain and try to keep my hands from freezing. Some of my photographer friends just hang up their hats when we are at the apex of nasty, cold, rainy and dreary Georgia weather. Which normally runs off and on from late November thru early March.

Myself, I go nuts. I need to take photographs, even if they all suck and I throw them all in my virtual trash can. I still think I learn from doing it. And I can sometimes pick up a few tricks that let me shoot in our nasty winter weather. Thats how I pulled off this trick.

Ok, here is the situation for this particular shoot. Now, I have to say I cheated a little here in regards to being to avoid people in the shot. This is a very popular county park, and if you see this post, you can see what I was dealing with in the past. Soooo….. first it was cold, no one is going to get in a cold river and two, the park was closed that day. So yeah, I’d say I kind of took advantage of no one being around. Accept maybe a few other crazy folks just like me with their cameras. But, we knew how to stay out of each others way.

Fading North Georgia Limited prints for sale thru March.

I started off just playing around with my kit lens, which is pretty good on the Pentax line. Not doing it for me today though. With the rain we’ve been having lately the river is really swollen and I’m not going to get close enough to really get the impact I want with a kit lens. So, I break down and attach my trusty old 200mm manual. Much better, now I can focus in on various aspects of the river and rock features for what I really want to show.

So, here are some before and after shots.

Before:	After:
Hurricane Shoals -04 Before
Before:	After:
Hurricane Shoals -03 Before
Before:	After:
Hurricane Shoals -02 Before

Maybe I took the colors a bit on the extreme side. I don’t know, I sorta like the look.

How did I achieve this effect? Here are the basics.

• I created an HDR (high dynamic range) of the image.
• Open the HDR in my image editing software and apply a custom filter that emulates Fuji Velvia 50 slide film stock. This warms up the image quite a bit.
• Create some custom layers to lighten and darken portions of the image. This is to fake a  hint of directional light.

Thats about it. So, what do you think? Like it? Let me know about any techniques you use on days like this.

I just came back from a short trip over to the old bridge and mill spillway in Buford, Georgia. This spot is (I think) part of the Gwinnett Environmental& Heritage Center, or possibly Brogan park. I can’t really be sure.

Anyway, I attempted this spot early on a Saturday morning. Biggest problem, I hate getting up early… and I got there around 8:30 am. Sometimes I can get away with this lazy behavior with a ND filter. But, the biggest problem you will run into doing this at this spot is that the sun points directly in the barrel of the lens.

Buford Mill Spillway - too bright early in the morning

So you end up with something ugly and not very useful. Kind of like the photo to the left. And I was actually hiding behind a tree attempting to get a decent shot (silly me.)

Fortunatly I was able to talk my family into letting me come back later that day and try again. So, we packed up and drove back over around 4:oo pm.  Arriving around 4:35 pm. Just so you have an idea if you’re using something like Google Earth  to figure out the angle of the sun, this was in late November.

Another tip when getting there is if you’re coming down 85 south is to take the Georgia Mall exit but head to the Lawrenceville off-ramp, not the Mall ramp. When you get to the bottom of this ramp which is a tight cork-screw, you will see a little old gravel road that leads directly down to the old bridge. Jump off right there and park directly above the mill spillway. Now, I can’t endorse this being totally legal, I’ve done it a few times, and I know lots others that do as well. But, I can’t say whether the park frowns on it or not.

Buford Mill later in the day. Much better.

The shot I got later in the day was much better. Which turned out something like the photo to the right. See more natural and landscape photography.

Now, this photo is actually an HDR composite with some post-work to pull off the final image. Some other tips for this location is its really tricky to find a nice shot. Its a wide spillway, and if you don’t want to attempt to cross the water then look for a little island that should center you directly below the entire dam.

Another thing you will have to contend with is the junk. This spillway is below the mall and a major interstate. And as you might have guessed by now, lots of crap. Bottles, cans, tape, string, paper, bags… its a real mess. So, you are going to spend some time in post cleaning this crap out of the image.

Parts the automobile sim… By Mark Hewatt Book Preview

Check out my latest photobook, Parts at blurb.com

Finally, I played around a little more in post to come up with one more interesting image. The first image is what the orignal unprocessed photo looked like.

Buford Mill Spillway instructional - original

This is the second, tone-mapped image.

Buford Mill Spillway instructional - toned

And finally, the finished photograph with some added texture and depth-meddling.

Buford Mill Spillway instructional - finished composite

I hope this little list of ideas help you come with of your own neat ideas on how to take a very plain and average photo into something much more interesting.

Oh, hey this stuff is some of the first work I processed on my new laptop. Which is a Lenovo Thinkpad SL410 . Its a great little computer for those that can’t swing a macbook pro or, have a lot of dedicated PC software and programs. Its super-fast and has a nice display. Also, very sturdy and so far, very dependable.

Purchase photography from my gallery >>

I’m shocked, just shocked by my luck at Little Mullberry Park, located in Gwinnett county, Georgia.

Little Mullberry park sports these features:

• 890 acres
• 2 fish ponds
• play area
• hiking trails
• 2nd highest point in Gwinnett county
• nature preserve
• and… a 30ft waterfall

I’d read quite a few times on various hiking sites about a waterfall located in this park. And I’d never really made an effort to fully explore much of this park to substantiate this claim. Until this weekend.

Show as slideshow

[View with PicLens]

I got up early on a November morning, 38 degrees – plenty cool enough to keep my overweight self from dying of a heat stroke to get out this phantom falls and get off a couple shots. I arrived around 8 AM, and started walking down the main asphalt path from the eastern parking lot. Now, during this hunt I had no real idea where this thing was, and since its not really advertised I wasn’t sure which way to go.

So, I made the fateful mistake of going cross-county after walking about .5 miles into the forest, thinking hey if they don’t talk about this thing, it must be way back on a hiking trail. So, after huffing and steaming and almost going head-first down a ravine, I ended up at a slow-moving stream. And realized I was going to  have one hell of a time finding this elusive falls.

I clamored  back up the far side of the gully and had to stumble around a huge tree that had fallen. I then heard the flapping of wings and spotted a hawk perched on the top branch of this fallen tree. It was a very agreeable bird, allowing me to switch lens and squeeze off some photographs.

Right about then two hikers passed above me on the trail and I asked them about this so-called waterfall. My bird flew off then at the sound of us humans talking, drat! But, both of these hikers knew where the waterfall was, on a paved path – the one I had originally been on! Disgusted with my lack of patience, I thanked them and started back down the hiking path towards the trail head.

Walking back down this hiking trail I realized this park completely changed its character from a pedestrian walking park with a playground and fishing hole, to something more rugged and wild. There were little streams, boulders, dense pockets of trees and types of wildlife. I had taken a few photos along the path, but so far nothing I’m really happy with yet.

Whew! Ok, back to the paved path. The two hikers had explained to me that I should turn left once on the main trail and look for a sign that said “Caution, Steep Grade”. Steep grade? Here? And after being exhausted, sweating and blowing hard from hauling an extra 30 pounds of crap up and down through the woods and gullies in my quest for this secret spot?

And there it was, the sign! I stumbled towards it and looked up… the waterfall! And not some dinky little thing but a good 30 footer! With all the recent rainfall it was pouring water nicely, great for some long-exposure. I had to stumble down into the gulch that the fall poured into, getting myself soaked with ice cold water, but it was well worth it.

Ok, some details if you want to come and shoot this particular and unique waterfall in a county that has only a few really known locations (I happen to know of a couple more that are less known, but those are for another post.) First, stay on the main asphalt path if you park at the Fence Rd. entrance. I think  you want to stay on the Hog Mountain path and it will descend down to the falls. I can’t be exact on this  yet due to my overland journey.

Also, if you plan to shoot early, be in place by 9 AM -ish below the waterfall in the winter. The sun will still be below the top of the hillside and  you can expose longer. Wear boots, by golly I was cold in my walking shoes. In the fall the leaves will cover a lot of water making it look like solid ground, carry a stick and test it out first.

I have these prints for sale in my online gallery if  you would like to purchase one for your wall.

Gwinnett County Parks page.

PhotoFriday - Autumn 2009

Buy this print >

I think you can agree that sometimes your mind and schedule, get so cluttered with projects and ideas, that you reach a point that you can’t be sure what it is your really trying to accomplish.

Well, why don’t we sit back and take a break. Lets review some of my favorite local spots to shoot in North Georgia.

	1. Hurricane Shoals Park This is actually a pretty large park in Jackson county. It sports an old historic town that includes shacks, a church and several homes. If your planning on shooting natural or landscape photography then head over to the rapids. The shoals features lots of large rocks and spillways for some nifty long-exposure stuff. I will say if you are planning on a trip here for the shoals it is going to be difficult to get something without people during the summer. Its a popular spot for bathers. As I figured out in this video >
	Parts the automobile sim… By Mark Hewatt Book Preview Check out my latest photobook, Parts at blurb.com
	2. Yellow River Park Yellow River Park, located in southern Gwinnett county is a rather simple park. Its only real feature is the river itself, which you can access from the parking area very quickly. Its strong point is proving a great location for water and landscape photography. You can get right down into the river and move around for some great stuff. It’s not a very busy park so you shouldn’t have any problem here. Here are some shots I’ve taken >
	3. Sells Mill Park Sells Mill Park is also located in Jackson County. Its a little quaint park with a mill, dam and pond. The mill itself isn’t really that impressive since they replaced the siding with some modern junk, so it lost its rustic feel. The real attraction is the dam itself. You can get right below the dam and on a day after a heavy rain, get some great water curtains. There is also a rock formation with water flowing down below the dam next to the mill. You might be able to find some interesting ways to use that in conjunction with the mill. Check this out >
	Fading North Georgia Limited prints for sale thru March.
	4. Mt. Arabia is a really great park for some mountainous landscape photography. It provides a small mountain region that provides a view of the surrounding area. There is an old quarry and some rock formations that supposedly were put there by local Native Americans. Two more things are an old quarry building and a frog pond. A few notes about going here. The layout is confusing depending on where you start. This is a sprawling park with lots of trails. One thing that confused me is that you will need to actually cross the road to climb the mountain. And do not attempt this in the middle of summer, I did and I almost died. Check it out >
	Other little spots I like. There is a great field at the corner of Flanagan Mill and Dee Kennedy in Winder. Show up early and point your camera east. If you time it right with some nice fog, a great sunrise and not too much traffic you can get something like this. Urbex. I can’t really give away these spots since most are kind of sketchy. I can say that if you look at just about any rural location in North Georgia you can find something that is a state of decay. Our economy has made sure to provide you plenty to work with. Here are some spots I’ve been to >
	Ok, great! If you’ve thought of some really neat places to shoot in North Georgia please comment on this post and share!

Visit my print gallery to purchase some of my photography >>

In this photo expedition we traveled up to Hurricane Shoals park in Jackson county Georgia [ Natural Photography Gallery ]. This trip mainly focused on the river/rapids. One reason we needed to break this trip up is the sheer size of this park. It’s pretty big, and has a few different interesting things to photograph.

- scroll down for the video -

The park can be broke down into a few sections:

• Rapids – this area offers some rapids and large rocks that offer some great photo opportunities.
• Old town – the county has setup a semi-village of old builds and structures
• Covered bridge
• Grist mill

One thing to watch out for (which I had to deal with) is people. And sometimes lots of them. Its going to be hard to find a good time to shoot the rapids in the warmer months. I’d suggest early spring or fall to get these photographs if you don’t want to fight the crowds.

Photography for sale from Hurricane Shoals park.

Short video from a recent trip.

More posts about Hurricane Shoals Park.

• Faking a sunny day
• Taking a pause.
• Photography Expedition - Hurricane Shoals Park - part 1

Fort Yargo - Birdberry trail

◄ Back

Next ►

Picture 1 of 9

Fort Yargo - Birdberry trail

We recently took a trip over to  Fort Yargo state park in Barrow County Georgia to enjoy being outside and, hopefully get some nice photographs. [ Visit my nature gallery, wildlife or visit my online store. ]

Some of the wildlife we saw included:

• Stork/Heron
• Red wing blackbirds
• Several types of turtle
• A few curious and rather large fish
• Marsh rabbit

I would suggest arriving early if your primary goal is wildlife photography. Most of the activity we captured happened no later than 10 AM. The large heron we saw would have been a great shot, but the largest lens I carried was a 210. From the pavillion area you would do better with a longer lens since its still a bit of distance to some of the marshy areas.

For more dramatic lighting of the foilage then go around 7PM. I captured some interesting light on several old trees and some of the shrubs at this time of day.

For more information

• Visit the Georgia state park website
• Wikipedia

Visit my print gallery to purchase photography >

We recently took a trip to Sells Mill Park, located in Hoschton Georgia. This park has an old mill, pavilion, play area and the old dam spillway. There is also a large granite outcropping that was pretty interesting to explore.

We arrived around 4 pm, which is a decent time for mid-April in this location. If you arrive later the treeline might block some of the sunset for you as this spot is in a small valley. I like to use Google Earth as well when trying to decide on a good time of day. You can check available light a position with this application, which is a real time-saver.

One of the most interesting shots here is the old dam which allows water to spill over creating a nice opportunity for some long exposure photography. And right now is a great time with all of the rain we’ve gotten lately.

To find out more about the park you can check out the Jackson County parks page. Also, if  you want some quick directions I’ve provided you a quick Google Map below. Have fun!

More posts that mention Sells Mill park.

• Taking a pause.
• Slow shutter at Sells Mill Park dam

I went out to the old mill at Stone Mountain park to test out some slow shutter techniques with my new Pentax DSLR. Not real impressed with my first take on this since I’m still learning to use this camera.

Funny, I showed up around 4:00 pm that day, expecting it to be pretty quiet. When I arrived there where four photographers already camping out the mill to capture slow shutter stuff. We each took turns taking some photos, and the only real problem we had was some boy scouts who just kept trying to get in the frame.

Still have no idea what the other shooters were  saying, they were all Asian. But, I tried to thank them for being polite anyway.