Rainbow Log
Jan, 2016Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this shot on Gem Beach in Catawba Ohio. Catawba is up near the islands of lake Erie. This shot is looking North East-ish in the direction of Cedar Point. If I were to swivel the camera to the left you would see Kelleys Island and Put in Bay.Time
This shot was taken during sunset. The beach faces East so the sun actually sets behind it on the other side of the island. While unable to get shots of the actual sun setting it gives a unique look and light to the clouds during golden hour.Lighting
Being on the back side of the sunset as I refer to it, is pretty cool for lighting. You don't get the dramatic impact of the light coming up under the clouds like you do when you shoot right into a sunset but you do get a nice palette of colors that are soft and even. The clouds can turn almost golden and really light up the water in a different way. The soft golden light was nice and warm allowing for ideal shutter speeds to get some movement in the water.Equipment
I shot this on my Canon 60D with a Canon 10-22 lens. I use an Oben AC1461 tripod with the standard ball head. I did not use a flash or filters for this shot since the light was nice and soft.Inspiration
I absolutely love this time of day in the summer on Lake Erie. The colors in the sky with the calm water are pretty inspiring on their own. This is a place my wife has practically grown up so I make it a mission of mine to capture beautiful shots that really captivate the feeling of this beach. There is something really special about a body of water that can produce ice and waves to be so calm and serene that I knew I wanted to get a shot like this.Editing
This was a single exposure processed in LightRoom by Adobe as well as few Topaz plugins to pull out some nice detail and clarity in the foreground, sand, and log. The logs were a critical part of this image due to the texture they had and the look they gave. I knew the only processing I had to do beyond LR was to really showcase those logs. I honestly try to take a minimalist approach to post processing and the best way to do that is to get a good shot with good light. The coloring when I shot this was so unique that the photo was pretty easy to process and came out pretty quickly. I do use Photoshop to blend in the Topaz adjustments locally to where I want them and other than that the rest was just done in LR.In my camera bag
I typically carry my Canon 60D with the 10-22 lens, a 28-135, and a 50mm prime. For a tripod, I use the Oben AC1461 and recently switched out the standard ball head it came with for the Joby X Ball Head that came on my Gorillapod. I also keep a basic set of filters, and some cleaning equipment with me at all times. I recently upgraded my camera bag from a basic backpack to the Lowepro Whistler 450 so I can carry all my Canon gear as well as my Hasselblad 500CM with its 3 lenses, 50mm prime, 80mm prime, and 250mm prime.Feedback
Shots like this require two critical ingredients, great light, and an interesting foreground subject. Being on the backside of a sunset over the water makes for amazing light so the toning on this is just incredible. If you look at this photo and imagine the logs not being there it would be a bit boring. These logs were on the beach and had just so much texture in them. I wanted to use the longer log to walk the eye through the water and up into the photo. Doing landscape photography I pretty much live in Aperture mode but on this shot, I wanted to make sure I had the right shutter speed to not only get the proper exposure but to get some of that water movement. I didn't want to do a really long exposure, just enough to get that little bit of movement look to it. Other than that it came down to the composition and framing. As a photographer I find this to be what either leads to a great shot or a bad shot. Composing in live view helps to use the basic rule of thirds with the horizon as well as the placement of the logs n the shot. What I like to do in most cases and what worked in this case, was to get low and pretty close to the longer log. With the wide angle lens, you really want to maximize what is in the frame.
