Pizza & Beer at Frog Level Brewery, but don’t froget your camera…

Leaves in soft Light by Bob Grytten

Yesterday, about dinner time, Carol & I headed over to Frog Level Brewery. We grabbed a pizza and salad on the way and enjoyed the nice backyard deck & patio along Richland Creek. The light begins to change around 6PM, and I watched the light on a particular bunch of leaves go from high contrast to soft and pleasant. I finally couldn’t take it any more and went to the car for the camera. Settings: Nikon D300, 80-200mm f/2.8 lens set at 200mm, Aperture Priority on tripod, f/2.8, 1/160 sec., -3.0EV, Manual focus, matrix metering, ISO 400

Richland Creek, Frog Level, NC by Bob Grytten

More things changed and the evening was finally capped off with some interesting studies of motion of the rushing creek, heavy and filled with newly fallen rain.

Settings: Nikon D300, 80-200mm f/2.8 lens set at 120mm, Aperture Priority on tripod, f/16, 1/3sec., -0.3EV, Manual focus, matrix metering.

But, just before we left I couldn’t resist a small clump of leaves turning color as if closing in on fall. They were on the other side of the creek. Although I could have used less telephoto, my 200mm lens worked best to get the composition I had in mind.

My first exposure was overwhelmed by the brighter green of the surrounding leaves, but not wanting to wash out the rich greens, I stayed with it knowing that I could bring the reds out when returning to the studio, to better approach what my eye saw.

Leaves on bank, Frog Level, Waynesville, NC by Bob Grytten

The result pleased me as red and green are usually a good combination. And of course, the green leaves form a nice corner triangle…

Settings: Nikon D300, 80-200mm f/2.8D lens set at 120mm, Aperture Priority on tripod, f/18, 1/4sec., -1.7EV, Manual focus, matrix metering, ISO400

What is Frog Level?

Frog Level is a small community just down the tracks of Waynesville in Western North Carolina, about 30 minutes west of Asheville.

At one time Frog Level was more prominent, as that was where the train depot was. Horse Drawn buggies would line up to take folks to various hotels in the area. They flocked from the lowlands to these higher elevations, around 2,000 ft, to escape the heat in the summer.

As this area was a lower level and a bit swampy, it harbored chirping frogs who loved this place. It soon became known as Frog Level.