Rainey Creek Swans
Jun, 2017Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
Is was negative ten degrees in Swan Valley, Idaho. It is on one of my regular routes to search for new and interesting pictures.Time
I drove upon this beautiful scene about mid morning. The muted sun reflected beautifully off the rising steam in the pond and it provided a soft backlight that helped bring out the flapping wings of the swan.Lighting
Being an incredibly cold day, the dew point was such that the entire valley filled with enough fog to mute the mid-morning light giving the scene a very soft look and made a very clean background.Equipment
I used a Nikon D750 with a 70-200 f2.8 Nikor lens. Due to the bitter cold, I only had a short period of time to safely capture this image as it is easier for me to use my camera without gloves, but, in doing so, risking frost bit fingers.Inspiration
This pond is one of my favorite places to search for a great image. It was so late in the day, but as I drove by, the soft ethereal feel of the pond was a must stop for the day.Editing
This image was a bit of a challenge to post process to prevent it from looking flat and bring out the soft glow that made the scene so appealing. I took advantage of moving the shadows and highlights higher on the histogram. To bring out the soft glow. I also lowered the temperature of the image and created a slight purple hue.In my camera bag
The equipment I used for this image is my go to setup. It is the most versatile equipment and suits a wide variety of situations from action to stills. I normally carry a tripod as well but did not rake advantage of it for this shot.Feedback
My favorite photos are winter shots. I love the monochromatic effect as well as the variety of lighting conditions that come with winter. The clean snow takes any place you would normally just pass by and makes it a wonderland.
