I had a “Friday off,” and decided to get up (somewhat) early to visit the Great Falls area of the Potomac River. I live in Virgina, in the Washington D.C. suburbs, and have often made the trip to Great Falls National Park, which is on the Virginia side of the Potomac. But this Friday I decided to drive a bit farther, and to visit the Maryland side. I parked at the lot across from Old Angler’s Inn, and walked into what is officially called the C&O Canal National Historical Park — AKA “Great Falls, Maryland side.” (Which is across the river from Great Falls National Park.) Then on to the Billy Goat Trail, which starts from the C&O Canal towpath and leads to — and then along — the Potomac River. The name “Billy Goat” is a good one! The trail is rocky, with lots of ups and downs and scrambling up and down rocks. It had a been a while since I’d been on the trail; it was a treat to be back!
The early morning started off with “good” clouds — what I was hoping for, for some cloud-streaked long exposure photos. But it was clearing into a beautiful, sunny spring day — prior to expected rains in the evening. (No complaints! It was treat to be out.) Once near the Potomac, I made my way down from a nice high vantage point to a small cove-like area a by the water. The sun was rising and the clouds clearing quickly, which meant that the scene would soon to be too “hot” (contrasty) for good photos. I found this nice spot for a photo, with a close-by rock “blocking” the view a bit. I moved around to try out different compositions, and found (what I think is) a nice diagonal alignment of the near rock to the left, a rock a bit farther out in the water, and a large(ish) rock and shadow on the far shore. I particularly like how what would otherwise be the “big” downstream (to the left) view of the Potomac is somewhat hidden; not fully revealed. And the light on the far (Virginia) shore suggests the openness downstream, but it’s not shown. This little bit of mystery appeals to me, perhaps emphasized by the somewhat dark, close rocks to the left of the frame.
Also, this 40-second exposure gives the water a smooth look, and adds a bit of wispyness to the clouds.
Anyway, it’s fun to try out “new” (for me) composition ideas, and to try something other than the perhaps “obvious” big vista.
Another idea I played with in this image is “split toning.” The idea is to replicate (through my Lightroom image processing software) a photographic look in which the photographic paper has a slightly different hue than the ink. In this case I made the lighter areas in the image just a little “warm” colored, but with the dark areas a bit green. This creates the same look you might get by printing with somewhat green inks on a warmer-colored paper. That is, where there’s less ink, the warmer paper color shows through. My aim was to do this in a subtle way that might not (I hope) be especially obvious. My intention, rather, was to subtly contrast the “cool” water and rocks with the just-a-bit-warmer morning sky.
Many thanks for taking a look!
Thanks for helping me to see things in a dinffreet light.