Oude Schelde
NIKON D3200
Aperture f/3.5 ISO 100 Shutter 1/400 Focal Length 18/1 
Munkzwalm, Oost-Vlaanderen, BE
Oct, 2019Views
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Contest Finalist in Rivers Galore Photo Contest
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken during a quick visit at the natural reserve "oude schelde" in Belgium. It is a very small reserve with ponds & wetlands and interesting for a divers fauna & flora. The "Schelde"-river is next to it and I was lucky enough to come across a small fishermans-jetty to come close to the watersurface.Time
This picture was taken on september 29th at 16:30. Ths sky was cloudy enough to soften the sunlight & gave a nice bonus for reflection in the water.Lighting
The clouds were obscuring the sunlight, but the light was still "rich" enough to brighten up the banks close to me. I used a circular polarisation filter to clarify the reflection and enhance the richness of te colours.Equipment
Since my main goal that afternoon was "scouting" the natural reserve I did not bring my tripod. I used my Nikon D3200 with my Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II Lens, combined with a circular polarisation filter. The picture was taken at f3,5 @18mm ISO100 en 1/400. I got down on my belly on the fishermans jetty to get as close to the watersurface as possible.Inspiration
Arriving at the scene, I quickly had a vision of what I wanted the picture to be. So many elements came together at the same time that I was quickly inspired. The water in the river was nearly at a complete standstill (it is a tidal-river, so depending on the time of day, currents can have a big variation) which was perfect for the reflection. The curve in the river towards the middle helps to get the depth in the photo since I was standing on a bank and not in the middle of the river (or a bridge). The trees on the other bank help to emphasize the leading lines towards the middle of the picture. The details in the vegetation on the rightside, the trees on the leftside and the clouds make it a rich reflection.Editing
As I take my pictures in RAW-format, post-processing is a must. For this picture I used Luminar 3 as a plugin on Lightroom. I did a little cropping and straigtening of the horizon. Than I adjusted some clarity and contrast. I also needed to decompensate a bit on the vignette because of the use op the CPL-filter.In my camera bag
I always work with my NIKON-body. At the time of this picture it was an old D3200, but since then it was replaced by a newer D5600. I always struggle to pick my lenses. For scouting (which I was doing here) I like to travel light, so I take 2 Nikkor kitlenses (18-55 & 55-200) which give me a wide range of possibilities. On scouting-trips I do not take a tripod either. When I am on a "photo-mission" I tend to bring all my lenses (so on top of the kitlenses I bring a prime 35mm and kit 10-22) and all of my filters (CPL, macro and a set of neutral-density filters)Feedback
I believe in propre preparation when taking pictures. I use a variety off apps to help me determine the best moment to go out on a "mission". Information on the cloudbase, the efemerides, wind-factor, mist and frost,... all elements that greatly determine the final result. beforehand I like to go out on scouting-trips to discover nice spots for later "missions". And I always have my camera with me when going out, sometimes it all just falls in to place when you least expect it and the biggest regret for a photographer is to not-have a camera in hand when seeing the perfect picture before you...
