bduffy

golden sunrise

NIKON D750

settings

Aperture 56/10 ISO 200 Shutter 1/500 Focal Length 260/10

upload_date

Aug, 2016

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+15

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Behind The Lens

Location

This photo was taken on a little lake in Calabogie, Ontario. As someone who is constantly looking to grow as a photographer, I like to challenge myself with particular themes. The theme that was in my mind when I took this photo was "Reflections".

Time

I took this around 5:30 in the morning. I was on vacation with my wife and two young children and had set my alarm to get up on our last day to try and get this shot. Not long after I took this shot, two different fishing boats started crisscrossing the lake and I was no longer able to get the near perfect reflection.

Lighting

I really wanted to capture as much of the light as possible in both the sky and water. I could see such a wonderful range of tones and I wanted to ensure that I captured it as best as I could. I love the slight bit of backlighting in the foreground clouds.

Equipment

I used a Nikon D750 with a 24-70mm 2.8 lens.

Inspiration

I kept an eye on the weather and the previous day had unfavorable conditions. It was my last morning and I had to at least get up as I knew that the small lake had great potential for taking a "reflection" themed photo. Unfortunately the floating dock was making for a very awkward photo, so I just walked along the shoreline until I saw it nestle perfectly into the reflection of the sun.

Editing

I did all my post processing in Lightroom. I used two graduated filters, one for the sky and one for the water, to balance out the exposure and to get as much detail without over-processing the photo.

In my camera bag

I love my D750 and 24-70mm 2.8 lens combo. Together they are such a workhouse and give me great flexibility in almost any situation. I also have a 70-300mm 4.5/5.6 and a 50mm 1.8. I usually take a tripod with me and at least 2 flashes when I go on trips as I can keep all this in my backpack. I also happened to have my laptop with me on this trip for unrelated reasons, but was able to start editing this photo right after I took while I had some more coffee.

Feedback

Be aware of what is in the scene. I could have taken this photo with the floating dock somewhere off to the right (where I originally was standing) and maybe called it a day. Instead I walked around a little and checked some different compositions to see what was the best. I also exposed for the brightest part of the sun to ensure I was able to capture the entire tonal range of detail in the scene. In order to maximize a pictures potential, always shoot in RAW.

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bduffy

bduffy

golden sunrise

Behind The Lens

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