Montana Sunset
This shot was taken at Mc Donald Lake in the Glacier National Park Montana
This shot was taken at Mc Donald Lake in the Glacier National Park Montana
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Dec, 2014Views
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
This photograph was taken on a trip to the Glacier National Park in Montana and is a view over Lake Mc DoanaldTime
While driving along 'The Going To The Sun Road' which skirts this lake. I was scouting for photographic locations and came across the lake in the afternoon, but the light was too stark to produce any good image, so I concentrated on the waterfalls which are abundant in this area. On returning along the road, I could tell that we were going to get some good lighting as the sun was setting, so decided to make for this location again and the outcome was this outstanding vista.Lighting
I had to wait until the sun had set on the horizon behind me, which illuminated the mountain peaks in a lovely warm light and gave the whole scene some definitionEquipment
I used my Canon 5D Mk III, set up on the manfrotto tripod. I used my Canon 16-35mm L lens set at 25mm and set my camera exposure at 3.2 seconds, aperture of f16 and ISO 100. I used the Lee filter holder fitted with the lee circular polarizer together with a Lee 3 stop soft grad filter.Inspiration
The inspiration for this photograph was sense of tranquility and grandeur that it portrayed, it was truly breathtaking. If i could built a log cabin on the shores of this lake, that is where I would spend the rest of my life.Editing
I shoot all my images in the RAW format, so they have to be edited. I use Photoshop CC to tweak the exposure, highlight and shadows in the camera raw settings, I then use the dodge and burn tool to emphasise the highlights and shadows, this gives the image definition and punch. I then transfer the image into my NIK software and use the Viveza 2 filter to do local adjustments. The final operation is to sharpen the image and to do that I use the High Pass Filter in Photoshop.In my camera bag
I have my Camera, together with my Canon lenses, which comprise of the 16-35 lese that I took this image with, together with a 24-70 2.8 L lense, 70-200 2.8 L IS, a full complement of Lee filters, spare batteries and memory cardsFeedback
The main advice I would give is to plan your your shoot before you even set off, go onto the computer and Google the location and take notes, purchase good maps of the area, which show landmarks such as waterfalls etc and scout the area when you get there to find good locations such as this one in my photograph. The best times of the day for landscape photography is sunrise and sunset, as this is the time you will get the 'Golden Light', that will give your images life. If the sky is overcast then look for waterfalls, as this is the best light for this genre , which leaves the water devoid of highlights, as this tends to degrade the image, also use a polarizing filter together with a neutral density filter to give the water a more dramatic feel. I hope this has been of help, fired you up to get out with your cameras and take some outstanding images.
