Okanagan Lake at Dusk
Apr, 2016Views
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken in Cedar Creek park in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada in February along the waterfront. It's a spot I've come to many times throughout the year in search of that special photo.Time
This image is a case of everything going right, which is rare in landscape photography. All three evenings prior to this one, the sunsets were intense, and I missed them all. As this day drew to a close, I noticed similar cloud patterns to the last three days and decided to head out to my favorite spot and camp it out. Sure enough, the sky and clouds turned a bright orange for all of about three minutes, before going away.Lighting
I really wanted it to be a long exposure photograph, as it was along the water. Unfortunately for me, I didn't have my trusty neutral density filter with me and had to rely on stacking ten images all shot at 1/6th of a second to get the look I was after.Equipment
This was shot with a Nikon D610 and a 20mm F/2.8 AF. This was taken on a tripod and with a two second timer.Inspiration
There were only a few places around the area that this photo could have been taken from. For me, it had to have something in the foreground to draw the eye, whether it be rocks, a pier, something like that. It also had to be along the water as I was itching for a long exposure, and when the sunset turns this kind of intense, the lake goes a bright amber. Thirdly, it had to be facing the sunset.Editing
Because I didn't have a neutral density filter, I had take ten images and stack them all together in post processing. That was the biggest challenge. There was also a decent amount of sensor dust in the photo that had to be clone stamped out as I was shooting right at F/22. Other than that, the scene was so beautiful right out of the camera that it didn't need much editing beyond that.In my camera bag
Typically these days I always have on hand a Nikon D610, and a range of primes. These days, my go to lenses are the 20mm F/1.8 G, the 35mm F/2 D, the 50mm F/1.8 G, and the 135mm F/2.8 Ai. I also have on hand a nifty travel tripod, a remote shutter, a ten stop neutral density filter, and a polarizer. Sometimes I will also bring with me a film body, usually a Nikon F4, with Kodak Ektar 100 if I'm feeling really adventurous.Feedback
The Okanagan region of British Columbia is known to have some pretty crazy sunsets. I find these are particularly crazy in the winter months when the sun is low in the sky and the air is dense. The other good thing about this region is that weather tends to be pretty predictable. Weather systems almost always come in from the southwest, and they move quite slowly. I like to have an app on my phone that tells me when the sun will set (like Sun Surveyor) and arrive at my destination a half hour beforehand, as the sun usually sets five to ten minutes early due to the mountains. I would recommend bringing a neutral density filter as that will make life a lot easier than stacking each image. The most important thing to do is to be patient, landscape photography isn't easy or predicable, and I find myself leaving with nothing often. It's just part of the game.
