A great place to shoot . . .
. . . and shoot, ..and shoot.
Established on June 14, 1934, The Great Smoky Mountains is a National Park consisting of an amazing 816 square miles. Just recently I had the opportunity to visit and photograph this stunning park.
The number of beautifully perfect scenic locations is a bit overwhelming. It is ultimate place for Infrared photography.
If you are considering an Infrared shoot there, I have a few suggestions.
– Bring a tripod, always. These locations can make for wonderful Infrared HDR.
Here’s an example. Now I admit it, I got a little carried away with the Auto Exposure Bracketing capability of the Canon 7DMKII and shot a 7 exposure series likes this.
However, from those I was able to create this.
Everything in this piece was made with a Canon 7DMKII converted to Super Color Infrared.
– Do not over pack your camera bag or backpack
I always like to include things in my bag,…. just in case. After a few miles of hiking, uphill, on uneven terrain, 20 lbs of dead weight on your back is a bit much.
Yes, I was whiny by the time I got to this waterfall, but the trip was worth it.
As a side note, I shot this image very low and White Balanced using the water as a reference.
Which takes me to the next point
-White Balance,…………… often!
I know the issue of White Balance is a sore subject with many IR photographers, but I found I need to White Balance quite a bit. As I moved from place to place, the lighting conditions changed. It only takes a minute, but can make such a difference.
With This
I was able to easily make these
And from this
I was able to get this
-Wear clothing and shoes you can get dirty in
I had to climb down a group of slimy, dirty boulders to get the right angle for this set of 3 exposures.
But I think it was worth it to get this Infrared HDR
-Be prepared to shoot all the time
I was setting up for a simple scenic image, when a huge Crow decided to stop for a rest. That made the shot.
From this
I got this
-Bring a Wide Angle lens
My go to lens for this entire trip was the Tamron SP AF 10-24 f3.5-4.5 Di ll I have had this lens for years and it consistently provides me with great images, no hotspots, and little to no side distortion.
As a side note, Tamron has an amazing 6 year warranty on their lenses. I used this lens,….. to death and after 5 years literally wore it out. Tamron replaced the lens. That is impressive.
-Bring lots of memory cards and storage
It is very easy to run up a high image count when you are shooting an area as stunning as this. I had several days that my image numbers were 4 digits. External hard drives have dropped in price and make it easy to save all those great images.
So, If you are looking for a great place to shoot, consider the Great Smoky Mountains. I know I will be going back next year with a group.
Here’s one last image
And ……..YES I did remove the Horses,….ear from the bottom right hand side of the image.
What did you think I was going to say?
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Dan Wampler
Dan Wampler is a digital artist from St Louis, MO. Having been interested in art and photography since childhood, he spent most of adult life working for Kodak and in the portrait photography industry. A student of the works of Ansel Adams, Any Warhol, and David Hamilton, Dan attempted to keep a wide range of artistic style.
As an early adopter of digital imaging, he found it gave him a way to completely incorporate art and photography. Began shooting Digital Infrared in 2004, and had first camera converted in 2006. His work has been seen in numerous gallery shows, is featured in an iTunes app. He produces Infrared and natural color digital art for sale and teaches his post-production techniques online.
Dan is LifePixel's Creative Director, social media manager, lead blog author, main workshops and training sessions instructor. His images appear in this gallery and throughout the website.
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Hi Dan and thank you for sharing so many great images and comments with the what, where, how etc. I have a recently 590nm converted Nikon and am immersing myself in all things IR. Appreciate all you do!
I have “taking pics for quite a while, but now I want to approach this great hobby more seriously. I live in Aruba, and we have some very scenic areas on our small island, besides we like to travel. I am considering to form a group of photographers together with one or two professional photographers from whom we can learn. I was amazed with the IR pics that I
saw in this coverage. Really extraordinarily beautiful ! This article has really inspired me.
I would like to know how I can get more info on IR filters used here, a good tripod, and the Canon 7DMK II. I am looking forward to this new experience.
Great pictures. .I am a beginner, I can’t wait to learn more. , and take beautiful pictures. And travel. ..too love ..nature and landscape picture
Gorgeous! Thank you for sharing your images and your experience.
Love your work, Dan! Your articles are so helpful. I think you need to write a book on infrared photography. I’d be the first one in line to buy it!
excellent work as always Dan. Your blended exposures always give me inspiration. BTW, do you routinely use a polarizer? I have used my Canon 10-18 on my Xsi and it worke quite well.
Hi Tim, I do not use a polarizer. I had the opportunity today to use the Canon 10-18 lens and it worked very well.
You converted me! I prefer to shoot or convert to black and white; however, your images are stunning. You inspire me to challenge myself with my photography.
Great shots…. One thing I did notice was you did not list what conversion you were using. Looks like 665nm as a guess, but was wondering what it was exactly? You also didn’t say what white balance you changed to as lighting conditions changed. I usually use sunny green grass or in shadows, green grass in shade for my WB. I would appreciate if you could possibly let me know.
Thanks… Mike
Mike, I used a Canon 7dMKII converted to Super Color Infrared. I put the info below the horse shot and I think it goes unnoticed. In nearly every case I used foliage as my white balance reference, with the exception of water falls, and I found I liked the look using the water as a reference. I found that I needed to do a new WB when I would check a shot and notice I had very little separation between the foreground and background.
Thanks Dan… I appreciate the info on the WB. I did miss the info below the horses…;0)
Mike
I was HERE, baby! Great images as per usual, Dan.
Beautiful photos! It is now on my bucket list! Question: do you do the color editing before or after you have the merged image? Thanks!
Beautiful infrared photography, lovely landscape with plenty of photographic opportunities and a place worth visiting for creative work. Thanks for sharing your experience.