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Cellpic Sunday – The Boston Mountain Scenic Loop

Arkansas farmstead.

September 2023.
Boston Mountain Scenic Byway, Arkansas.

On our way to Branson, Missouri, from Texarkana, Arkansas, we found ourselves on the Boston Mountain Scenic Loop. The Boston Mountains are nowhere near Massachusetts. They are located in northwestern Arkansas and northeastern Oklahoma, forming the highest section of the Ozark Mountains. This Cellpic Sunday post features a teaser for a future post showcasing scenes captured along the historic main road to Fayetteville, which winds through the Ozark National Forest. Though it was September when we drove through the byway, there was only a hint of fall colors in the trees. October might be a better month for this drive if you want to see fall colors. More about the scenic drive and the mountain forests can be found in that post.

About the photo: I spotted this idyllic farm scene as we drove along the highway. Knowing I’d be taking pictures from a moving vehicle with my Samsung S23U cell phone, I switched to Pro mode, set the shutter speed to 1/6000 second, and rolled down my window. I used a high shutter speed to ensure there would be no motion blur, given that we were moving along at highway speed.

At my computer desk, when I saw this scene in the stream of images captured along the highway, I noticed the leading line in the partially hidden driveway. I followed that line through the image to see the farmhouses nestled against the mountain. I saw the line of recently planted evergreens that will conceal the houses from the highway in future years.

I cropped the image to center on the houses, creating a frame by the left and right bushes and the driveway entrance in the foreground. I used Adobe Lightroom exclusively to process the image. Since the terrain was mostly green, I thought the photo might make a strong black-and-white landscape image. Usually, I use Silver Efex 3 for black and white conversions, but switching on the black-and-white option in Lightroom Classic gave me a strong image without doing anything else. When you switch from color to black and white in Lightroom, the Color module transforms into a B&W module. You can then open the module and adjust each color channel to darken or lighten the shades of each color. For example, moving the green slider to the left darkens the scene’s trees and other green objects. Moving the blue slider affects the sky (assuming it’s not cloudy). I tweaked the green slider to darken the greens, made no other changes to the sliders, converted the image to 2K HD, and uploaded it to my Flickr site. You can see the image there by clicking on it.

I encourage fellow bloggers to create their own Cellpic Sunday posts. I never assign a specific theme to this feature—the primary rule is that the photo must be captured with a cell phone, iPad, or other mobile device. The second rule: link your challenge response to this post or leave a comment here with a link to your post. Oh, and there’s no penalty if you don’t post it on a Sunday.

John Steiner

50 comments

  6. Wonderful photo, John! You captured such expressive details of the landscape that add to the vibe of the homes along a country road and nostalgia. And brilliant choice in selecting the &W palette.

    Thank you for the great insights and pro tips for photography, John. Much appreciated. I learn some useful insights from.your explanation.

    Reply

  7. I wonder why they’re called the Boston Mountains. (We are accustomed to places in the UK having the same name as places in Massachusetts, but this is a surprise.)

    Reply

    • Mary, you sent me on a task to find out why. I admit to being curious when I wrote this post, and the upcoming Scenic Drive. I always enjoy diving into AI to see what it says (knowing it’s not always correct.)
      According to Google AI, the name is not related to the Massachusetts city, but could be a reference to a mistranslation of an old French term “rough road”. Another suggestion is that it was named after Boston, Arkansas, a small town in the region.

      Reply

    • While visiting the Waco Texas Ranger Museum, I photographed a placard featuring a dark story about Texarkana.
      I didn’t read that placard until recently when working on the photos for a post about the museum. For a Cellpic Sunday post next March, I’ve told that story, a chilling murder mystery. Sorry, you’ll have to wait for the details. 🙂

      Reply

  22. It’s amazing how cell phones can stop the movement when we are taking a picture traveling at interstate speeds. This one looks like you’re standing still. Amazing! You sure you didn’t stop and get out to take this picture?

    Reply

    • I learned my lesson about blurry photos from a moving car and found the solution was to use a high shutter speed. That can only be done when you use Pro mode where you can adjust ISO, Shutter, and Aperture. 🙂 I leave ISO and Aperture at automatic and just bump up the shutter speed. In this case, 1/6000 sec.

      Reply

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