Great Places to Photograph Fall Colors in Ohio

Hi Everyone, well it's that time of year again that all photographers like, Fall Color season and the question always gets asked.... "Where's the best place to take fall color shots?"  I'm going to list some of my favorite spots and I hope you will contribute you're favorite spots as well. Best place to post your favorite spots would be on the Cool Photo Ops Group page on Facebook

The only other question is WHEN to go shooting, every year the leaves peek at different times, you can use this site to see when the best time is to shoot in Ohio

Ohio Fall Color Report

At the bottom of this post I'll have a Google Map with direction to all the sites posted, included will be GPS coordinates in the Decimal Degree format, if you use a different format make sure you convert before entering the info in your GPS.

Conkles Hollow in Hocking Hills

While the whole Hocking Hills State Park is great for fall colors, my favorite place is the rim trail at Conkles Hollow. When you enter Conkle's Hollow head up the stairs on your right to get to the rim trail, there's lots of cool overlooks once you get up there.

 Click on the photo to see more Hocking Hills photos

Mt Jeez

Mt Jeez is located across from Malabar Farms and offers great views of the farm and the valley below, it's located SE of Mansfield
Mt Jeez is located up a gravel road off Pleasant Valley Rd. RT303
GPS: 40.653240, -82.386633

Click the photo to see more of Mt Jeez

Cuyahoga Valley National Park and Cleveland MetroParks

There's lots of great place to take Fall Color photos in the CVNP and Cleveland MetroParks, I'll list a few of my favorites here:

Bridal Veil Falls and Tinker's Creek Gorge Overlook

Get great shots of the Tinker's Creek Gorge then head down the road and get some shots of Bridal Veil Falls


Click the photo to see more of Bridal Veil Falls

Tinker's Creek Nature Preserve

Don't confuse this with the Tinker's Creek Gorge above, this is a totally different park. The parking lot for the nature preserve is pretty small, it might hold about 8 cars and that includes handicap parking. The Seven Ponds hiking trail is great for fall color photos, with all of the ponds you can get some great shots of the leaves reflecting in the water.
Click the photo to see more of Tinker's Creek Nature Preserve

Well there's a few for starters, other great places are Blue Hen Falls, Brandywine Falls, Sylvan Pond, Rocky River Metropark, North and South Chagrin Metroparks and many more.

Here's a Google Map of the sites listed above:


View Fall Color Cool Photo Ops in a larger map

  I'll be posting more fun places to take Fall Color photos on the Cool Photo Ops Facebook Group so be sure and check it out. Everyone is welcome to join in the fun!!!

Cool Photo Op - October Full Moon Rising over Cleveland 10/18 to 10/20

Wanna get a great shot of the full moon rising over Cleveland?  Well you'll have you're chance from October 18th to October 20th. Last Saturday some photographer friends and I got the moon rising over Cleveland from the upper level of Edgewater Park, if you missed out on that Cool Photo Op you might want to meet up with us on one of the days the Full Moon rises over the city in October.

Here a a few shots from last Saturday....



If you'd like to try getting some photos like those then please join us for the October Cool Photo Op of the Full Moon rising over Cleveland, you'll have three chances to get the moon rising over Cleveland from Friday October 18 to Sunday October 20th each day the Moon will rise in a different spot over the city and there are better locations to photograph the moon from depending on the night. Once again we will use the great program The Photographer's Ephemeris to determine where the best location to shoot the Full Moon will be.
This program is great for planning your shoots and the desktop version is free!!!  Anyway lets look at each night and see where we want to shoot the moon from.

Friday 18th
Sunset: 18:40
Moonrise: 18:30

The timing of the sunset to moonrise is perfect on Friday, the sun will set 10 minutes after the moon rises, that means the city will be lit with low evening light as the moon is rising, remember the the moon rise time of 18:30 is at a flat horizon, we will have to wait a few minutes for the moon to appear from behind the tall buildings of downtown. Now where will the best location be???? Well looking at the Photographer's Ephemeris Map the best location would probably be the bluff over Perkin's Beach which is just to the west of Edgewater Park. As you can see from the map below, from Perkins Beach the Moon will rise to the North of the Terminal Tower.  If you wanted you could take some shots from Edgewater like we did last Saturday however the Moon would rise behind the Terminal Tower and by the time we would see it would be to the right of the Tower which is still a nice shot.  I'm going for the Perkin's Beach location on Friday myself.  The light blue line is where the moon will rise.

Location: Perkin's Beach on Friday Night

Saturday
Sunset: 18:39
Moonrise: 19:05

 On Saturday the moon rises about 25 minutes after the sun sets, so the city will be dark except for the lights in the buildings and you can get some cool shots of the Terminal Tower lit up. The Moon will rise further north on Saturday. North of the Key Tower to be exact. Best location on Saturday is from the Bluff in Edgewater where we took the photos from last Saturday. Since the moon rises more North of the city on Saturday we will have more hang time of the moon over the center part of the city. Here's the map:

Location Upper Level of Edgewater Park on Saturday Night

Note: You could also shoot from Perkin's Beach on Saturday, but the moon would rise a little farther North of the City about where City Hall is.

Sunday
Sunset: 18:37
Moonrise 19:44

I look at Sunday as the makeup date if the weather doesn't cooperate on Friday or Saturday. On Sunday the moon will rise a little farther North than it does on Saturday when shooting from the Upper Level of Edgewater Park.

So there you have pick the date and time that's convenient for you, I plan on going on both Friday and Saturday, the lighting and location of the moonrise will be different on both days so you'll get a nice variety of photos if you go both nights.

Moonrise Photo Tips and stuff to bring:

1. A flashlight so you can see what you're doing after the sun sets
2. A remote cable release if you have one
3 A sturdy tripod and DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT RAISING YOUR CENTER POST!!! Raising the center post is very unstable and will cause camera movement, its very windy by the lake and you will be using some long exposures, so you want your camera to be as stable as possible.

For the best quality shoot at low ISO's of 100 or 200, if you want to keep the exposure times down you could go as high as 400 ISO.

I like to get a lot of the building and sometimes the Lake in focus so I like to shoot at an aperture of around F7 or F8, if you close down more you end up with some really long exposure times which would be ok and a still night, but if the wind is blowing it could cause some blurry photos. Shooting at wider apertures or even wide open is ok too, but you'll have less depth of field.

Anyway hope to see a lot of you down by the Lake for this Cool Photo Op!  Everybody is welcome to join in the fun, bring family and friends if you want!

And if you enjoy going on fun casual photo ops like this then check out the Cool Photo Ops Facebook Group, where we post cool places to take photos in Ohio and beyond, everyone is welcome to join in the fun from beginning photographers to more experienced photographers the only prerequisite is Ya Gotta Have Fun!!!!!

Here's a map of shooting locations and where to park:



View Cool Photo Ops Oct Full Moonrise Over Cleveland in a larger map

Full Moon Over Cleveland from Edgewater Park 9/19 to 9/21

Hey Photographers, there will be a Full Moon rising over Cleveland this week, the actual Full Moon will be on Thursday, but will be 99.7% full on Friday and 97% Full on Saturday. So what day is the best to shoot the Full Moon, well that the depends the best time wise is Thursday, but the best location wise is Saturday. Lets look at this using the Photographer's Ephemeris.....

Thursday:
    Sunset is 19:28
    Moonrise is 19:25

     So this is ideal lighting the moon will actually rise a few minutes before the sun sets so you'll get the last rays of the sun lighting the city at the moon rises.  Now for the downside the location of the moonrise will be south of the city as we see below.  The light blue line is where the moon will rise on Thursday

Full Moon Rise on Thursday - moonrise is south of the city.

Friday
   Sunset is 19:27
   Moonrise is 19:58

 The sun will be setting 31 minutes before the moonrises which isn't as good for the lighting as Thurday but the moonrise will move farther north but still be south of the Terminal Tower

Full Moon Rise on Friday - Moon rises closer to the city but south of Terminal Tower

Saturday
    Sunset is 19:25
    Moonrise is 20:33

   Now the moon will rise a little more than an hour after sunset, however this is the day for the best location of the moonrise. The moon will rise on Saturday over Public Square.

Full Moon Rise on Saturday - Moon Rises over Public Square

So there are your Moonrise options, Thursday is the best for the light, but the worst for the moon's location and Saturday is the best for the location of the Moonrise, I think I would go for Saturday for the best photo of the moon over Cleveland. The only other problem is the weather, you sure don't want to go if the sky is cloud covered.

As you can see the Photographer's Ephemeris is a great tool for planning your shoot and the desktop version is FREE, get it here.... The Photographer's Ephemeris  they also have apps for smartphones

Hey Photographers if you like going on fun casual photo ops, then you might want to check out the Cool Photo Ops Facebook Group where we post fun places to take photos in Ohio and beyond. Everyone is welcome to join in the fun.

Next Cool Photo Op is the Ravenna Balloon A-Fair

A Day at Sandy Ridge

I've been on vacation for the past week and last Thursday I decided to go to the Sandy Ridge Reservation in North Ridgeville. Here's a description of Sandy Ridge from their website....

Sandy Ridge Reservation is a 310 acre wetland and wildlife preserve located in North Ridgeville. The park opened in 1999 and has quickly become a favorite of outdoor enthusiasts and one of the most popular parks for birding in Lorain County. The reservation lies on level, soggy ground flanked to the north and south by ancient beach ridges and consists of forests and open lands to explore.

I thought maybe some of my photographer friends might want to join me, so I posted a Spur of the Moment Cool Photo Op at Sandy Ridge on the Cool Photo Ops facebook group. By the way if you're not familiar with the Cool Photo Ops group, it's a group where we post cool places to take photos in Ohio and beyond. Everyone is welcome to join in the fun and post photos and let other photographers know of great places to take photos, family and friends can come along too. To join just go here:  Cool Photo Ops

Well quite a few photographers saw the post and decided to join me, here's some photos of our adventure at Sandy Ridge  (Click on any photo to go to a gallery to see more photos)

Photographers exploring Sandy Ridge


Egrets in Flight                                          Caterpillar


        Slideshow


Everyone had a great time and got some really great photos.

The next Cool Photo Ops coming up are:

Historic Zoar Civil War Reenactment

Ashtabula Covered Bridges with Eileen Findak 

Two Fun Photo Shoots in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park

Hi Everyone, well last Saturday was a busy day for me, I went on two shoots in one day, first I got up at the crack of dawn and met up with some photographer friends at Kendall Hills for the Cuhahoga Valley Photo Society's summer photo walk. Some of us walked down to Kendall Lake to shoot the sunrise while others stayed at the top of the hill to catch the sunrise. The photo walks are a lot of fun, they have them 6 times a year and usually take place somewhere in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. If you like outdoor and Nature Photography you might want to check them out. Cuyahoga Valley Photo Society

Here are a few shots from the photo walk

Here's a link to some of the photo walks I've been on over the years with CVPS..... Photo Walks

After I left the CVPS photo walk I headed to the Fitzwater Rail Yard off Canal Road, this is where they work on the train that runs through the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.  Here a met up with 18 other photographers from the Cool Photo Ops facebook group and the Northeast Ohio Photographers Google community. We had a great time exploring the buildings where the work on the trains and also exploring the trains themselves.  In a couple of weeks 35 of us are going to a night photo shoot at Fitzwater when the 765 steam engine is going to be there.

Here's a slideshow of  the Fitzwater shoot.  Click on any of the photos on this page to see more photos in the galleries....





 If you like going on fun photo shoots like these then check out the Cool Photo Ops group on facebook, where we post fun places to take photos, everyone is welcome to join in the fun!!!

Some Cool Photo Ops coming up in August

Here's some Cool Photo Ops coming up in August.... Click on the Headings for more info

Civil War Reenactment at Hale Farm  August 9-11 10am -5PM

   

Thousands of visitors and re-enactors flock to Hale Farm & Village annually for this popular summertime event—one of the largest Civil War reenactments in Ohio. Meet soldiers and civilians. Hear the sounds of battle and smell the gunpowder. Shake hands with President Lincoln or shop for a hoopskirt. Don’t miss the excitement!

Admission:
General admission is $10.00 for adults, $5.00 for children 3 - 12 years of age. Members of the WRHS and children 0-2 years old are admitted free.
Group admission rates available. 330-666-3711
Special admission rates are $6.00 for handi-capped/mentally challenged adults, $6.00 for handicapped/mentally challenged children, $6.00 for chaperones (varies), and wheelchairs are no charge.
We gladly accept Visa, Mastercard, Discover and American Express in the Visitor Center Admissions area. If you are onsite making purchases or paying admission and a gate opened specifically for the event, we can only accept cash.

Directions:
Hale Farm & Village is located at:
2686 Oak Hill Road, Bath, Ohio 44210 .
Telephone: (800) 589-9703, out of Ohio (330) 666-3711.

Cool Photo Op - D-Day Reenactment Conneaut 8/16- 8/17

Here's a great event suggested by Robert R. Schleimer...


Join us for the largest D-Day Conneaut ever!


Once again D-Day Ohio, Inc. will invade the Lake Erie shores of Conneaut, Ohio, and stage the largest D-Day (1944) living history reenactment in the country. Featuring nearly 1,000 reenactors from across the US and Canada, spectators witness men, women, and their machines perform a living tribute to the veterans of WWII through dress, mock battles, and living history displays. 

Come join us at this Admission FREE event and experience what many call the most realistic and educational D-Day reenactment showcasing the WWII era.

The event occurs within the beautifully kept grounds of Conneaut Township Park, in Conneaut, Ohio. Just off Interstate 90 (Exit 241), 5 miles west of the Pennsylvania border, Conneaut is just about half way between Cleveland Ohio and Erie Pennsylvania. There's plenty of free parking with speedy shuttles. *Entry is free but donations of any size are always appreciated.



And for you Train lovers Duane Zen Loya event:

Fitzwater Train Yard Tour  8/17 9am - 12pm

Click the header for more info

Go here to see the latest Cool Photo Op Events

and remember to check out Cool Photo Ops Facebook group, where we post cool places to take photos everyone is welcome to join in the fun and if you hear of any cool places to take photos please post them in the group.

The New Smugmug

Hi Everyone, for years I've been hosting my photos on Smugmug, it's a great place for displaying and selling your photos, they don't compress the photos the way some sites do and you get unlimited uploads. Well Smugmug just got a lot better with new easier ways to customize your site to make it your own. In the past when you wanted to customize your site you had to know how to code CSS, HTML and Javascript, with the new site you drag and drop and change settings and colors in a dialog box and for those who want to use CSS and HTML for even more customizing you can. You can add slideshows to your homepage and other pages, you can display your galleries in many different ways, you can have a map page to display geotagged photos, you can have search and keyword pages.  I have a combination search/keyword page on my site. They added a cool way people can search for photos using a rotating keyword cloud. You can check it out here.

If you want to sell photos Smugmug makes it easy to do that to and you can set your own prices if you have a Portfolio or Business account.  For more casual users who just want to share photos with family and friend the Basic or Power user account are for you.

Here's a comparison of the different accounts: Smugmug Features

I recently redid my site in the new format and you can check it out here Digital Images by Ron Skinner. Feel free to explore the site and let me know how you like it.

Smugmug also interacts well with the social sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and many more.  You can create FB Albums directly from Smugmug with their "Publish to Facebook" feature. You can quickly post links to your photos by sharing them with one click to FB, Google+ and Twitter

If you'd like to try Smugmug out free go here: Smugmug Trial
That link should insert a coupon code to get you a $5 discount on your account or you can just insert this coupon code if you decide to sign up....  aUvDzphm1l71Y


They even make it easy for you to put stupid photos of yourself in a blog like this one:




Well there you have it if you're looking for a place to host your photos or maybe even sell them then check out Smugmug.  Check out my site to see what you can do Digital Images by Ron Skinner 

and if you like what you see try it out here: Smugmug Trial


And for you photographers that are looking for cool places to take photos, check out the Cool Photo Ops Group on Facebook where we post fun places to take photos every week. Everyone is welcome to join in, but ya gotta have FUN!!!

Some of the events coming up in the next few weeks are Civil War Reenactment, D-Day Reenactment, A tour of the Fitzwater Train Yard tour in the CVNP