West Virginia Nature Photography By The TRaveling Photographer

Through a Misty Lens: Photographing  Dolly Sods, Blackwater, and Canaan Valley with Bruce Lovelace

It was a rainy and foggy weekend in October, but I managed to snap a few worthwhile images during a workshop in West Virginia's Blackwater State Forest, Canaan Valley, and Dolly Sodds Wilderness. This post will show you the resulting photos from that photography workshop given by Osprey Photo Workshops and give you some of my thoughts on compositions that you can learn from.

It was a nice small group of photo enthusiasts who gathered together as students in the wilderness to learn the craft of nature photography and enjoy the great outdoors. Unfortunately, the weather did not present ideal conditions, so it was, at times, a challenge to make great images.

I looked back toward the group of photographers from the boulder that  I had managed to jump to and noticed the positions of my fellow photographers across the rocks. Although the colors were muted, I saw a scene in front of me that was worth capturing with my camera.

Fog is not always a bad thing for successful landscape photography and in the photo below the inclement weather gave me an appealing effect. The fog shrouded the background, simplified the composition, and isolated the rocks and colored vegatation.

I've seen this unique rectangular column of shale and sandstone rocks at Lindy Point  photographed from many vantage points and I wanted to shoot with a perspective that I had not seen before. I chose a spot that would use the 3 boulders as framing devices  in the bottom of the composition.

I zoomed out to wide angle and positioned myself so that those 3 rocks in the foreground were similarly sized and smaller than the main subject, the rectangular column. 

In the photo of Blackwater Canyon above I composed the photo so that the river would come in from the corner of the frame and lead the viewer's eye into the photo.

West Virginia has dozens of great spots for photographing landscapes, including lakes rivers, streams, waterfalls, mountains, rolling hills, and gorges. Also, see my post on What To Photograph At Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.

Likely the main attraction for many photographers who want to shoot in this area of West Virginia is the Blackwater Falls. From this viewing location, trees have now grown to a point where they visually block the bottom of the falls, but because of the brilliant fall colors this photograph is still appealing to look at.

We had a 2nd opportunity to photograph the falls. The fog had lifted and this vantage point offered a more unobstructed view. With both of these waterfall photos, I used a tripod and a long exposure to get that creamy look to the flowing water

The view above is likely the most common taken when photographing the falls, and for a good reason. The falls are framed in by the gorgeous fall foliage and majestic rocks and the water flows in a nice diagonal direction. The soft lighting created a nice effect on revealing the details in the rocks and vegetation. 

As you may be able to tell from both of these waterfall photos, I usually use a tripod combined with a slow exposure to get the creamy blurred look in the rapidly moving water.

Speaking of rocks, the Appalachian mountains are known for their amazing rocks and there are plenty of them that serve well as subjects to photograph. In the scene below, I was fascinated by the tiny patch of my favorite color, red, off to the side of this boulder field.

The nearly monotone colors of the boulders help to emphasize the colors of the vegetation.

Vertical Blackwater Photos

The photos below are all vertical compositions that I did during the workshop. I have to keep reminding myself to shoot some using a "portrait" orientation rather than the usual horizontal landscape orientation.

Camera Gear For Photographing West Virginia

You don't need a high end camera to take great photos of such an amazing place as West Virginia. You can even get great snapshots with your smartphone. With that said, a camera with a medium-sized sensor and a quality zoom lens that will zoom from wide-angle to telephoto will get you great photos. A sturdy tripod will give you the best image quality and is a must if you're doing any long exposure photos.

For the photos in this article I used a Canon 5D Mark III and an EF 24-105mm f/4 lens. For a look at all the camera equipment I use see my post:  Traveling Photographer's Gear.

I hope you enjoyed this short little photographic tale from my photo workshop in Blackwater State Forest in West Virginia and that you're inspired to travel to this beautiful location and shoot some of your own photos!

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