TWO FROM THE BLUE RIDGE

Shenandoah National Park, Virginia, October 2017, Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35mm / f4, at 16 mm

As always towards the end of a year I do some housekeeping in my image library and sometimes I find another photo that I think deserves to be published.

This photo was made during our last morning in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia a couple years ago. There are some great views from the Blue Ridge in either direction, east or west. Here it is the morning light that gives the landscape on the east side some depth and reveals the beauty of these mountains.

Nikon D750, Sigma 150mm / f2.8 APO EX DG HSM

A few days earlier we watched the sunset at a different spot along the Skyline Drive. The staggered arrangement of at least eight mountain ridges, separated by the mist in the valleys, tell the story about a great evening on the Blue Ridge in Shenandoah National Park.

MERGING TO A PANORAMA

Click photo for a full view ------

I mentioned before the great vistas you may find if you travel through West Virginia or on the Blue Ridge in Virginia. This panorama image is from our last day in West Virginia. We visited the very interesting Droop Mountain State Park, which has seen some bloody battles during the civil war in 1863. The view to the east includes the Blue Ridge in Virginia on the horizon, which was our destination for the second half of this trip.

It is hard to catch it all in a single shot if there is an almost 180 degree view over the country. The image was made from six photos in portrait orientation, which were merged in Adobe Lightroom Classic CC to a single panorama. This sounds complicated but took less than two minutes in post process.

Nikon D750, Sigma 150mm / f2.8 APO EX DG HSM, @1/250 s, f6.3, ISO 100, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, KIRK BH-3 ball head;

SHENANDOAH

At The Point Overlook, Shenandoah National Park, Virginia ------

Shenandoah National Park in Virginia and its Skyline Drive are liked by many people for the  views they can have from the top of the Blue Ridge. Other than in West Virginia the week before we were a little bit too early for the peak of the fall colors in Shenandoah, but the views, especially at the end of the day, were just magnificent. The price for having sunny and warm days was paid with the absence of dramatic clouds, another reason to look for photo opportunities around sunset.

Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35mm / f4, @ 35 mm, 1/50s, f/10, ISO100, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, KIRK BH-3 ball head, VELLO wired remote switch,