Lake Champlain Sunset
While shooting the sunset over Lake Champlain in the town of Burlington Vermont, I swear the guy sailing this boat saw all the photographers lined up and decide...
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While shooting the sunset over Lake Champlain in the town of Burlington Vermont, I swear the guy sailing this boat saw all the photographers lined up and decided to give us something more to shoot. He slowly made his way across our field of vision, sailed about 200 yards, then turned right back around. Maybe he was just out for a quick sunset cruise, but it sure did seem like he was doing it for our benefit. Either way, I appreciated it. His sailboat added that missing element and made a random sunset photo a lot more interesting to look at.
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Oct, 2013Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this photo while shooting the sunset over Lake Champlain in the town of Burlington Vermont. I swear the guy sailing this boat saw all the photographers lined up and decided to give us something more than just the sunset to shoot. He slowly made his way across our field of vision, sailed about 200 yards, then turned right back around. Maybe he was just out for a quick sunset cruise, but it sure did seem like he was doing it for our benefit. Either way, I appreciated it. His sailboat added that missing element and made a random sunset photo a lot more interesting to look at.Time
This shot was taken just as the sun had dipped below the horizon line. I had scoped the spot out earlier in the day and arrived in time to get some nice sunset shots.Lighting
This is all natural lighting. I'm a big fan of shooting both during the sunset hours as well that magical blue hour between sunset and nightfall. This shot somehow sits right between sunset and the blue hour. The shot was also taken in early fall (October) so there was that added touch of the way the sky looks in the fall.Equipment
I shot this photo using a Canon 5D Mark II with a Canon 24-70mm lens. The photo was shot at 70mm, ƒ/3.5, 1/125s, and ISO 100. I didn't use a tripod, although in all honesty I felt a little bit outclassed by all the photographers around me using tripods and remote triggers. Turns out, I didn't really need to worry. The shot came out looking great and there were no issues with focus.Inspiration
I had scoped the spot out earlier in the day while walking around in Burlington, Vermont. I noticed that there were any number of places to set up for sunset shots, so when I arrived later in the day to find several photographers setting up I wasn't too surprised. I brought minimal gear with me (just the camera) so it was easy for me to quickly run over and set up when I saw the sailboat starting to move. Most of the photographers around me either didn't bother trying to get the shot or had to lug heavy tripods over and try to get set up in time to take a photo.Editing
There was a bit of post-processing. For this shot, I went into the crop module in Lightroom and made sure the horizon line was straight (since it was shot hand-held). Once that was done, I realized that the sunset colors were looking a little drab, so I fired up Photoshop and dove into Nik Color Efex Pro. I didn't want to overdo it - there's something subtle about the lighting in the shot and I didn't want to lose that. After a bit of tweaking in Color Efex Pro, I had the look I was after.In my camera bag
When I took this shot I didn't even have a camera bag with me! But ordinarily my camera bag contains at least one extra lens (usually a 50mm), a micro fiber lens cleaning cloth, spare batteries, an extra SD or compact flash card (depending on the camera), and a battery charger. I also tend to throw a GoPro in there - you never know when having one will come in handy! I also carry a little Manfrotto mini tripod. It only allows me to shoot landscape shots, but it's light, sturdy, and has really come in handy quite a few times!Feedback
This was a sunset shot, so try to scope out the location beforehand and determine what might be a good spot to set up. Show up early while there's still plenty of daylight. During the shoot, try to keep your horizon line straight (especially if you have a tripod). If you discover after the fact that the horizon line isn't straight, it's literally a one click adjustment in Lightroom to fix it. I can't really stress enough how important that is with a shot like this, but for some reason you'll often see crooked horizon lines on what would otherwise be a fantastic photo. Make sure you are shooting in RAW so you can work with the most amount of dynamic range possible when post-processing. When post-processing a sunset photo, you might be tempted to really pump up the saturation in the sky, but try to restrain yourself a bit. There's a point where the photo starts to look a bit unnatural when colors are too vibrant. Also, try not to put your horizon line dead center in the photo. Make a decision about what you want to feature in the shot - do you want more sky or more foreground? Saying, "I want equal amounts of both sky and foreground" will result in a photo with a composition that looks a bit on the "amateurish" side. Luckily if you forgot about that little tip after you took all your photos, it's an easy fix. A simple crop adjustment will get you there. Lastly, just relax and have fun!
