Date Taken: 11/19/2016
Location: Devil’s Courthouse, Milepost 422.4 on the southern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina.

The post Devil’s Courthouse, Milepost 422.4 appeared first on Blue Ridge Parkway - Photo of the Day | Galleries.

Date Taken: 06/09/2016
Location: Devil’s Courthouse, Milepost 422.4

Devil’s Courthouse is a rough and rocky summit with a devilish appearance. There are many folklore tales from the Cherokee to early mountain settlers that says the devil holds court in a cave within the mountain. There is a trail from the parking area to the summit with an inspiring panoramic view into the distant landscapes.

Visit Virtual Blue Ridge for the most comprehensive online guide to the Blue Ridge Parkway.

The post Balsams in the Mist at Devil’s Courthouse, Milepost 422.4 appeared first on Blue Ridge Parkway - Photo of the Day | Galleries.

Date Taken: 10/09/2014
Location: Devils Courthouse, milepost 422
A wide-range view of fall foliage from the summit of Devil’s Courthouse, Milepost 422.

Camera: Nikon D7000
Lens: Tokina AT-X Pro 12-24
Focal Length: 12mm (equivalent to 18mm full frame)
ISO: 200
Shutter: 1/160s
Aperture: f/10
Filters: Hitech 2-stop hard edge graduated neutral density filter
Exposure: Aperture Priority
How I Got This Shot: I had “scouted” Devils Courthouse a few weeks previous, allowing me to test possible compositions to shoot once the fall foliage began to near its peak. When I arrived at the summit Thursday, the rock outcroppings accented by colorful shrubbery suggested the use of my wide angle Tokina lens, which at 12mm allowed me to incorporate the outcroppings into my image in a way I couldn’t with a standard 18-55 or 18-200 zoom. I used a graduated neutral density filter to balance the exposure, holding the “hard edge” of the filter at the horizon to keep the sky from washing out and to keep the foreground as I saw it.

I did not use a tripod on this image, which is rare for me – with the mid-afternoon light, a wide focal length, and reasonably fast shutter speed, I could get away with not using one, as I had to lean over the stone railing at the overlook to shoot this as I wanted. (I never shoot handheld under 1/100 second). I kept my camera level using my camera’s “virtual horizon” feature in my viewfinder, which guided me in leveling my horizon. Holding my camera in one hand, a filter in the other, with one finger on the “virtual horizon” button and another on the shutter was quite a juggling act, but I pulled it off (with a two-second shutter delay so I could steady my camera).

A simple color and luminance levels adjustment and selective high-pass sharpening in post-processing finished the job.

The post Devil’s Courthouse, Milepost 422 appeared first on Blue Ridge Parkway - Photo of the Day | Galleries.