This is the smallest of the trail-side waterfalls that I encountered during a recent walk along the Virginia Creeper Trail. As I was setting up this shot the sun began to break through the clouds and cast shadows of the laurel branches across the water. After I began working on the image I realized that I should have captured at least one more with a shorter exposure. I could have used the shorter exposure as a layer mask to help correct the...

The water level in Straight Branch this weekend was so high that many of the rocks and boulders strewn along its path were hidden beneath the surface. Occasionally, there would be a section where some of the larger boulders would emerge and add a little visual interest. Gear: Canon EOS 60D, Canon EF-S 18-135mm Lens Settings: ISO100, 79mm, f/13, 1/5 second Processing: Adobe Lightroom 3, Adobe Photoshop...

I took some time out during my weekend hike to put my B+W ND110 filter to use on the thundering rapids in the river along the Virginia Creeper Trail. I knew that this super dark filter would smooth the water quite a lot but I wasn’t sure exactly how much or if I would care for the result. I could not have been happier with the first image when it popped up on the display. The splashing torrents had transformed into something that...

This is one of the trail-side waterfalls that formed along the Virginia Creeper Trail after a week of melting snow and rain. Allow for a few days of dry conditions and falls like this will slow to little more than a trickle of water dripping from the rocks. The infusion of moisture and warmer than normal temperatures have really brought out the brilliant greens in the mosses that cover the rocks in these spots. It is an odd sight to see such...

After a week of wet weather, local rivers are once again at full capacity. The rush of water has not only filled them to their banks but created some amazing rapids. Just a few weeks ago this spot had slowed to little more than quiet stream but it was a thundering torrent during my visit this past weekend. I also got in some abstract work with the 10-stop filter while at this spot that I’ll share later in the week. The river wasn’t...