Zo-Zo

Oak Alley Plantation

Aug, 2016

Views

2374

Likes

+350

Awards

Contest Finalist in Creative Compositions Photo Contest Vol4

Contest Finalist in Around the World Photo Contest By Discovery

Peer Award

+175

Superb Composition

+28

Top Choice

+15

Absolute Masterpiece

+14

Magnificent Capture

All Star

Outstanding Creativity

Genius

Emotions

Impressed

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Behind The Lens

Location

Right along the banks of the Mississippi at Oak Alley Plantation in Vacherie, Louisiana. You can't get much better than a grand old property where Mother Nature frames your shot with a tunnel of live oaks.

Time

We left New Orleans toward St. James Parish in the early morning to beat the Louisiana heat. I like to take in the landscape before I start shooting, so I can find features that speak to me before they're overrun with tourists. After walking around the plantation, I setup this shot in the early afternoon, around the time the clouds started to roll in.

Lighting

The great thing about this location is that you may have different light every time you visit. This particular day, I got lucky with a nice light overcast sky that allowed a little bit of the sun to peek through and warm up the shot.

Equipment

I shot this with a Canon 5D mark II and a 24-105mm f/4 lens. The body was mounted on a Manfrotto tripod and I used a cable shutter release to prevent camera shake.

Inspiration

It doesn't take a stroke of genius to see where this inspiration came from, this is the most celebrated view on the property and their signature feature. I simply wanted my own shot of it. These oak trees are a true marvel. They're more than 300 years old and nobody knows who planted them because they were there before the plantation was even built. They even sweep the breeze up from the Mississippi to the main house like some Victorian air conditioning unit.

Editing

I'd love to say, "no post-processing was done." However, yes some was done. I shot this photo the with the intention of using luminosity masks from multiple exposures. By shooting different exposures, I cleanly enhanced the shadows and highlights, and then moved into dodging and burning.

In my camera bag

My travel bag always has a lot of memory cards, batteries, chargers, a light tripod, cable shutter release, 24-105mm lens, 70-200mm lens, my Canon 5D mark II and usually a handful of unique quartz or river rocks I pick up all over the world but still haven't figured out what to do with. If I go somewhere out of the country, I rent lenses as needed.

Feedback

You're going to need a lot of patience and some luck. If you don't get to a tourist spot at an off-time, you'll have to accept the fanny-packs and Hawaiian shirts in your background. It must have been a lot easier to preserve the timelessness of an image when people always wore their Sunday best. This particular plantation is filled with tourists and photo seekers, but everyone is friendly and waits their turn to shoot. Once you've got an opening, don't hesitate to take it.

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Zo-Zo

Oak Alley Plantation

Behind The Lens

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