Tetons Reflected
Aug, 2014Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This was taken at Schwabacher Landing in Grand Teton National Park. This is one of my absolute favorite spots because there's usually a good reflections of the Tetons.Time
I was actually pretty surprised to get this image! We had friends visiting the Tetons for the first time, so we played tour guide and didn't arrive here until early afternoon, which definitely isn't the best time to photograph! This was around 1:00p.m. with the sun to my back.Lighting
You're always told if you're going to photograph during the day to go early morning or late afternoon and avoid the harsh midday sun. That is usually true, but the cloud cover this day really helped me out. I waited until the sun was behind a cloud which really cut down on the extreme contrast that you usually get from areas getting all sun or no sun.Equipment
This was shot using my Nikon D810 camera and my go-to lens, the 24-70mm.Inspiration
Grand Teton National Park has had a place in my heart since my first visit. I absolutely love the view of these majestic mountains and always try to find a new place to capture them from, as well as visiting the common places that you usually see in photos - I think that you usually seem them because the view is so stunning! This is a favorite place of mine because of the reflection you get of the mountains, and the clouds just really added to the image.Editing
I shoot in RAW, so there's always post-processing that needs to be done on your image. When I'm out somewhere like this and I change lenses often, its inevitable that I have dust spots on my sensor, and when I don't use a tripod my image is usually a little crooked. First thing is to open my image in Camera Raw and straighten my image and remove the spots. I then adjusted my white balance and then set the white and black points and added a little contrast. I then brought the image into Photoshop and cloned out a couple of rocks and twigs that I found distracting.In my camera bag
I always have my main camera body, my Nikon D810 and my favorite lens, my 24-70mm. For trips like the one to Grand Teton, I also have my 70-200mm and my 80-400mm lenses in case there is wildlife. I also carry my polarizing filter and my 6 stop neutral density filter. I don't always use them, but I like to have them on hand just in case. I always try to keep some lens cloths in my bag as well as an extra camera battery and a bottle of water. I almost always carry a tripod as well as a cable release so that I can do bracketed images to create HDR images, as well as to be able to do long exposures if the lighting is right.Feedback
I think the best advice I can give is to try and capture places that move or inspire you. When you get a location such as this one, you can get really good images on your phone... it's really hard to get a bad image here! When I go someplace that I see lots of images of, I always take photos at the obvious spot but then try and find a different perspective, either by getting lower to the ground or standing at a different angle or further down a trail as well as the spot where everyone else is taking photos.
