Story Behind Image

Quantico Cascades by Todd Henson

Lower Quantico Cascades

When the trail map calls out waterfalls you know that stretch of trail will become popular, at least during the warmer months. But it’s sometimes possible to visit in relative peace when it’s colder out or the weather isn’t so nice. These photos were created in early February when there was still a very noticeable chill in the air, though not cold enough to freeze any of the water.

This section of creek has two small groups of cascades where the water flows over rock shelves. It’s a beautiful and relaxing location when not crowded. You can walk out onto some of the rock shelves if the water level isn’t too high and just sit and watch and listen as the water flows by.

The image at the top of this post is the downstream section of cascades. There’s a large tree at a bend in the creek, visible on the left side of the photo. I climbed down to the waters edge, being careful with my footing as many sections of the creek floor were covered in slippery green growth. But I wasn’t quite careful enough. I’d stepped into the creek at one point and when I walked back onto a flat section of dry rock my wet boots either had picked up something slick from the water or the dry stone became slick when wet. I slipped and fell straight onto my back, camera and tripod in hand, held up high trying not to let them crash onto the rock or water. I felt a little guilty about this as I was hiking with my father and when he saw me go down he rushed over to be sure I was ok. I was, though I did end up with a sore bruise on my back for a couple days.

It was after the fall I walked up close to the tree and found the composition you see above. At first I tried composing without the tree, but I ended up liking the interesting shape of it even though you can only see a small section.

Just a little ways upstream is the first set of cascades, interestingly also with a tree right at the edge, though not as large or curiously shaped. But this one had a nice bit of green moss growing about its base which I really liked. I’m curious to return later in the year and see how this develops.

For this cascade I decided to try another experiment with the polarizing filter. I created one image with lots of reflections and one with the filter eliminating almost all reflections. Then I combined the two, keeping some reflections in some sections and eliminating them from others.

Upper Quantico Cascades (lots of reflections)

Upper Quantico Cascades (minimal reflections)

Upper Quantico Cascades (merged exposures)

What drew to me to conduct the polarizer experiment were the reflections close to the tree. There was a somewhat bright spot, which then faded to a wide line with no reflection, as the tree blocked the light from the sun. That seemed a little off to me. But I did like the bit of reflection between the mossy land and the water just below. I also liked the shapes the reflections created a little further in. So I created the two versions knowing I could combine them in software when I got home.

Click the image below to cycle through each version for comparison:

Let me know which of these versions you prefer in the comments below.


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A Meadowood Mushroom by Todd Henson

A top down view of this beautiful mushroom along the edge of the trail.

I love photographing mushrooms and other fungi along the various trails I hike. There always seems to be something new to see, whether it’s a type of mushroom I’ve not yet photographed or just an interesting view of one. In the case of today’s post I’m not sure what species of mushroom this is, but I was drawn to it for how perfect it looked, and so close to the trail where people or dogs might easily and unknowingly crush it underfoot.

The first thing I noticed about it was how nice a circle the top created and how great it looked in the area of the forest floor it was growing on. So I stood over top and photographed it set against that forest floor, opening up the aperture enough to slightly blur the forest floor but leave it enough in focus to tell what’s what.

I love both the color and the various textures in this mushroom.

Then I got down on my stomach and tried to view what I could see of its underside. I loved the textures there, both on the stalk of the mushroom and on its underside, those interesting thin layers or ribs. This photo is actually a stitched panorama of two images. Looking back I should have gone a little lower to show where the mushroom was growing out of the ground.

Finally, I was so fascinated by those ribs under the top I got in really close with the macro lens and showed the edge of the top of the mushroom. We can see how the ribs are spaced along the underside. I decided to use an extremely shallow depth of field for this one.

It’s fun creating slightly more abstract views with closeups from nature.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this brief look at one mushroom I found along a trail at Meadowood Special Recreation Management Area in Virginia, a great little location full of mixed use trails for hiking, horseback riding, and mountain biking.


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Fungi Along the Forest Floor by Todd Henson

Fungi along the forest floor, growing from a fallen branch on top of fallen leaves

While out hiking in the woods I often find myself bending down and investigating fungi of various forms along the trail. There’s just something fascinating about the variety and the interesting colors and patterns growing on other surfaces, sometimes on rocks or trees, sometimes from the forest floor.

In mid-January I happened upon a fungi-covered branch lying on a bed of brown fallen leaves. I loved the contrast between the darker leaves and the lighter branch and fungi. This type of fungi usually has layers of growth very similar to those of the trees they’re often found on, with different layers taking on slightly different colors. And this pattern really stood out against the haphazard pattern of fallen leaves and the straight pattern of tree bark.

A vertical stretch showing the fungi growing from the branch

So I bent down and found a couple compositions. In the horizontal image the branch has a bit of a curve to it. I liked how it was a slow curve that stretched just slightly over the width of the image. And for the vertical image I chose a straighter stretch of branch that I thought worked well with that orientation.

From a technical perspective I has shooting with a 16-35mm lens at 35mm. I was fairly close to the branch and hand-holding. I chose an aperture of f/8 to hopefully have enough depth of field to cover the scene. F/8 on this lens would normally be fine but the closer you get to a subject the smaller an aperture you need to keep it all in focus, and this lens lets you get pretty close. I pushed the ISO to 640 to let me use a shutter speed of 1/60 second, fast enough for me to hand-hold. Technically, it would have been better to use a tripod as then the ISO could have been lowered and the shutter speed wouldn’t have mattered as much, so I could have closed the aperture down even more. But I sometimes prefer the freedom of moving quickly so I’ll skip the tripod.

I have quite a few more photos of fungi I hope to share in the future, showing a little more of the variety you can find. It’s a subject I never tire of, and I hope this gives you a little more appreciation for these small wonders of nature.


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