Morning Commute Getting Dark

For the last couple of months, my morning commute has been my time to pick a location to stop and take photos, practice camera settings, and enjoy some peace before starting the crazy workday. This morning I decided to try my luck at the Narrows Reserve in Beavercreek even though it wasn’t quite sunrise. I was lucky, the gates were open. So I went in, parked, and started down the trail along the river. I found a trail that went right down onto some exposed rocks in the riverbed itself. Squirrels and other animals were rustling the crispy dried leaves, the water quietly but noticeably gurgled over the rocks, and now and then the blurp of a fish jumping could be heard. The water was clear exposing the riverbed in some places, reflecting the trees in others. I could have stayed all morning, but since that is not where I earn my paycheck, I set the tripod up here and took some more shots. Many more shots, lots of manual exposure bracketing. Plus I had a polarizing filter on the front of my lens. It was very tricky to not over expose the sky and not under expose the trees. What I do like is how water strung out over the rocks in the shallow part similar to the waterfall shots from Yellow Springs.



I also found the photos to be more appealing after some cropping. For example, see before and after cropping below.