After my sunrise shoot in Brown County State Park, I drove around the park, stoping at various locations, walking along the roadway, shooting the autumn color.
I included the roadway in a number of images, mostly as a leading line, but also because the road through the forest just looked so appealing. I hope I have not put too much of the asphalt into these images.
Well, I’m back to my vehicle, so time to move on to another location,
Ken
I went into Brown County State Park again for sunrise photography, this time stoping at one of the overlooks. It was another morning with scattered clouds and good cloud color.
Shooting into the bright sky and getting a good exposure of the foreground fall color is a challenge and no matter how careful one is with the exposure and filter application, post processing of the images is a must.
These sunrise images have varying exposures, filter usage and post processing, yielding variations in the colors and details.
More Brown County State Park fall images next,
Ken
After my sunrise shoot, I hiked a short distance along the north side of Ogle Lake in Brown County State Park, Indiana getting a few fall images.
That’s it for this morning’s shoot. Until next time,
Ken
Even though I’m usually sleeping well in the early morning hours, I force myself out of a warm, comfortable bed, because my favorite time for photography is in the early morning hours, especially in popular places, because the normal tourist don’t usually get out early and one doesn’t have to worry about people getting in the way of ones photography.
When I pulled into the parking lot at Ogle Lake, I was the only one there. As I prepared my camera and tripod, a lady drove into the lot and stopped to ask me about the best place for sunrise here in the park. She and her husband were staying in the park lodge, but they had apparently not had time to scout places for sunrise photos. I told her I did not know what place was best, but it might be good here and it was too late for her to get to another good place before sunrise. I suggested that she might photograph from the dam or from the north side of the lake for the best sunrise views.
She commented upon my camera, thinking it had an unusual lens. I was using my large 14-24mm wide angle lens with a Progrey filter holder mounted on it. Due to the bulbous 14-24mm lens, it is not possible to use screws in filters, requiring a bulky filter holder attachment. It is the filter holder that makes it look unusual.
I headed for the dam, where I thought I might have some fall foliage for foreground and good reflection on the lake, leaving the lady behind in the parking lot.
It was a cloudy morning, the sky color was spectacular. Sometimes we get lucky.
The morning color came on quickly and disappeared as quickly as it came, but the clouds in the sky still made it possible to get interesting photos after the color faded.
After finishing my shoot from the dam area, I decided to take a short walk along the lake shore. There is a hiking trail that goes all around the lake, which I’ve done in previous visits here. I knew the south side might not have the best views this morning and it was probably muddy in portions, so I headed for the north side.
As I approached the trail head, I encountered the lady from the parking lot again. We chatted for a few minutes. She was thrilled with her sunrise experience. She was shooting with a Canon R6, which she had not had for long. She is a retired portrait photographer, previously from California, living in Kentucky with her husband. I’m assuming her husband is not into photography or else he would have accompanied her this morning. She asked about my filters and I explained why I used these for my landscape work. I was surprised, when she revealed that she had not previously known anything about this subject. I never thought that a professional photographer of any speciality would not know about the use of these specialty filters. However, I have observed professional portrait photographers shooting in the outdoors without any filters. I’ve also noted the over exposed backgrounds in many such portrait photographs. I suppose some filters might be difficult to use for people subjects, but it can still be possible to compose outdoor photos and avoid overexposed backgrounds, unless one is doing that purposely.
Photos from my short hike around Ogle Lake next,
Ken
As has become a tradition, my wife and I spent a couple of weeks in Indiana in the fall of 2023. We stay in a cabin just a short distance outside of Brown County State Park, a popular park for fall leaf peepers.
I visited the park. on a number of our days in the vicinity, for photography and even when traveling to another destination, we most often took a route through the park just to enjoy the beautiful fall color in the park.
All of the photos in this post were shot at or near one of the overlooks within the park.
We had an interesting encounter at this location. I noted a park visitor on an electric bike and I asked him about his bike. He was kind enough to give me much information about the bike, its features and even how much he paid for it. When my wife joined in the conversation, she discovered that the biker and she had attended the same high school. Even though they attended the school some years apart, they knew some of the same people that were students at that school. Such a small world consequence!
Until next time,
Ken
In Brown County State Park I walked along a creek capturing fall color alongside the creek bed.
Having an interest in geology, I had to include some of the rock layers exposed along the creek bed.
There were only a few shallow puddles of water in the creek, so walking in and along the creek bed did not require getting my feet wet.
More fall in Indiana later,
Ken
It was a relatively calm morning as I hiked around Ogle Lake in Brown County State Park, Indiana. As the morning advanced, enough of a breeze developed to sometimes make small ripples in the lake, distorting the reflections of the trees and sky.
Fog remained just above the lake surface in the shadows near the end of the lake.
This ends my hike and morning photography at Ogle Lake.
Until next time,
Ken
As I had coffee and a light breakfast early one morning in the Indiana cabin, I noted that it was a foggy morning and if I got out soon I might get some interesting photos before the fog burned away.
As I drove the main road into Brown County State Park, I was regretting not getting up a little earlier this morning. I could see that the early morning fog would be good for photography and it was lifting rapidly. The park does not officially open until 7AM, but I was told at the entrance the prior morning that the gate was always open, so I could come and go whenever I liked. The gate keeper even offered that getting there early would let me avoid the entrance fee, which at $9 per day was a bit steep compared to many such parks, but I never got there before 7AM, even though it would have been best for photography had I done so.
When I arrived at the Ogle Lake parking lot well after sunrise, I glimpsed the fog coming off of the lake, and I hastened to grab my gear and walked rapidly to the dam.
My first composition this morning is my favorite one of this morning shoot.
After shooting a few images from the dam, I walked on to the hiking trail around the lake.
A small tree limb in the lake caught my eye and I shot a couple of compositions with it as a focal point. These images are best view on a big screen to see the details.
Enough for now. I will continue this hike and photography in the next post,
Ken
I continued hiking the trail around Ogle Lake and shooting images in and around the lake.
The big lens allowed me to zoom into the edge of the forest across the lake, eliminating the sky and the lake from the scene.
Reflections in water are always a good subject. The scene above drew me to it as soon as I noticed how the log divided the reflections and calmed the surface just enough to create the impressionist forest reflection.
Before I left the park, I stopped and hiked along a trail through the forest. I shot many images, but most were not all that appealing, so I’m just sharing a few of the better ones.
Thanks for following,
Ken
Brown County State Park, near Nashville, Indiana is a lovely park with hardwood forest, lakes and miles of hiking and biking trails through the forest. We were staying just a few miles from the park, making it an easy place to access for Autumn photography.
Possibly my favorite place to photograph in this wonderful park is around Ogle Lake.
I regret that I did not get out as early in the mornings as I should have for the best of sunrise. Even though I got up early enough to get into the park at or before official opening time, I lingered over my coffee and light breakfast too long, as it was so pleasant doing so in the cabin.
My first morning in the park, I decided to use my big lens, a Nikon 80-400mm with a 1.4 extension. With the fall color still not being near peak, I figured I would try to get more intimate shots, rather than wide angle images.
Walking along the dam at the end of the lake, I took time to get close ups of some of the colorful leaves, back lighted by the early morning sun light, on small trees or bushes at the waters edge, before hiking on the trail around the lake.
From the dam and the hiking trail, I shot across the lake into the forest on the opposite side.
That’s enough for now. I will continue this photography hike in the next post.
Ken
