MM10 - Weekend at Shenandoah N.P.

This past weekend, my cousin Taylor Ailshie and I, backpacked through the central district of Shenandoah National Park. We decided we wanted all the gear necessary to capture the park's splendor, so on top of all the normal backpacking provisions, we also hauled around about 20 pounds of camera gear. It made for a work out, but I'm quite pleased with some of the pictures we brought home.

Here's my ten favorite shots from a Weekend at Shenandoah National Park:

1) A tiny trickle over the side of the Rose River Falls

Nikon D3, 24-70mm (at 42mm) w/ Tiffen Neutral Density 1.2 Filter - f/22 for 13s, ISO 100 

2) The upper stage of a small cascade on the Rose River

Note: This photograph and the next on the list were captured at great cost. During the course of the weekend, Taylor would run ahead or go exploring when we were at a location to "scout out" the best pictures. These two photos were captured shortly after Taylor fell in the river... fully dressed with boots on.

Nikon D3, 24-70mm (at 32mm) w/ Tiffen Neutral Density 1.2 Filter - f/18 for 10s, ISO 100 

3) The lower stage of a small cascade on the Rose River

Nikon D3, 24-70mm (at 24mm) w/ Tiffen Neutral Density 1.2 Filter - f/18 for 4s, ISO 100 

4) The lower cascade of the Dark Hollow Falls

Nikon D3, 24-70mm (at 44mm) w/ Tiffen Neutral Density 1.2 Filter - f/18 for 0.6s, ISO 100 

5) The upper cascade of Dark Hollow Falls

Special thanks to the gentleman who, after seeing I was trying to take a picture, shouted to the dozen or so folks playing on the falls... "Everybody move, there's a professional photographer who wants a picture" - and amazingly, they did. If you see this message sir, contact me and I'll give you a free print of the photo you made possible.

Nikon D3, 24-70mm (at 34mm) w/ Tiffen Neutral Density 1.2 Filter - f/18 for 1.6s, ISO 100 

6) A small spill about halfway up between the upper and lower cascades of Dark Hollow Falls

Nikon D3, 24-70mm (at 42mm) w/ Tiffen Neutral Density 1.2 Filter - f/18 for 10s, ISO 100 

7) Just before sunrise, looking east from the summit of Hawksbill Mountain.

Nikon D3, 24-70mm (at 42mm) - f/8 for 6s, ISO 100

8) Sun just cresting the horizon will Old Rag Mountain in the foreground.

Nikon D3, 24-70mm (at 70mm) - f/5.6 for 1/800s, ISO 100 

9) Nine shot pano, taken just after sunrise, looking east from the summit of Hawksbill Mountain.

Nikon D3, 24-70mm - Multiple photos, balenced exposure 

Not long after I took the pano, I pulled out the D90 and did a quick video of the view from the top.

10) My cousin Taylor and I, taken at the start of Golden Hour, at the summit of Hawksbill - behind us, the Shenandoah Valley and the remnants of sunrise on the clouds in the western sky.

Nikon D3, 24-70mm (at 52mm) - f/2.8 for 1/1000s, ISO 100 

On Assignment: Deadline Tonight

Hi gang - just a reminder that if you're participating in the On Assignment contest your final photo set is due today. Feel free to email me if you have any questions.

Best of luck, and I look forward to seeing all your great work!

On Assignment with Towner Jones Photography is brought to you with the support of:

Fridays at Five - Friendly Reminders, Inspiration

Reminder: On Monday, I reopened the Monday Morning Ten with a scavenger hunt. Thus far, only one person has entered. Now, let me tell you, I have no qualms handing the Lightroom book over to Heather Rider. (She's an awesome local DC photographer, who I've had the pleasure of meeting a couple times) But, I would expect at least a couple more of you to give her a run for the money.

Inspiration: Go check out Heather's great work, either at her blog or on Flickr.

Reminder:  For those of you participating in On Assignment with Towner Jones Photography, please don't forget that your entries are due on Monday.

Inspiration: It was recently suggested that I check out Ivan Makarov's work on Flickr... he's exceptionally talented and he's definitely worth a couple minutes of clicking.

That's all for now folks, see you back here next week. Have a safe and relaxing weekend.

Software Review: onOne Mask Pro

Hello everyone. In this post we're going to be looking at the last of the onOne tools in the Plug-In Suite, Mask Pro 4.

After spending a little time playing around in Mask Pro, I realized that I wasn't going to be able to do it justice. It has too many slick features (read as, "powerful features") to show with a couple of screen grabs. So, here's the official video demo of the tool. If you've visited onOne and watched this already, my apologies - but if you haven't, make sure to check out the preservation of transparent objects (like water and bubbles) featured at the end of the video. If that in itself isn't enough to convince you to purchase this tool, the fact the you can see all your changes in realtime should put you over the top. Without further ado, Mask Pro...

In conclusion, I have not yet mastered Mask Pro 4 by any stretch of the imagination, but from what I've figured out already, it is certainly a tool that I underestimated at first glance. The more I play with it, the more I'm thinking that it could very well be the most impressive product I've seen come out of onOne. The implications in terms of time saved masking certainly make this plug-in worth considering if you do a lot of hard-core post processing and graphics design work. You can try it out for free by downloading it, here.

If this, or any of onOne's software interests you, the folks at onOne have generously provided a 20% discount to all of my readers. Simply click on the link below to go the onOne store, and enter coupon code "TJP10" at checkout to receive your discount.

Dianne and Frank Teaser

I've been spending the last few nights finishing up the post processing for a wedding we shot at the end of June. We had the opportunity to photograph a wonderful couple, Frank and Dianne Leone, with the help of our talented friend, Chris Breedlove. The entire day was full of wonderful moments, but I was able to sneak outside (onto the Westwood CC Golf Course) with Frank and Dianne to capture a few shots that I just loved. I look forward to sharing more from their wedding with you guys in the weeks ahead.

Friends or Family of the happy couple? You can visit their private web gallery, here.