Days Last Light
The serenity of a lake shore at sunset fills your soul and awakens your senses. The sky seems reluctant to release its grip on the day, as the warm tones of sun...
Read more
The serenity of a lake shore at sunset fills your soul and awakens your senses. The sky seems reluctant to release its grip on the day, as the warm tones of sunset slowly succumb to the cool blues and purples of evening. It is a wonderfully humbling experience.
This is the view from the deck at The Deadfish Grill, on Lake Belton, in Belton, Texas.
Read less
This is the view from the deck at The Deadfish Grill, on Lake Belton, in Belton, Texas.
Read less
Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Aperture f/8 ISO 100 Shutter 1/160 Focal Length 40/1 
Belton, Texas, US
Nov, 2020Views
339
Likes
Peer Award
Absolute Masterpiece
Top Choice
Superb Composition
Outstanding Creativity
Magnificent Capture
Superior Skill
Genius
All Star
Virtuoso
Emotions
Impressed
Top Ranks
Top 10 rankTop 10 rank week 1
Top 10 rankTop 10 rank week 1
Top 30 rank
Categories
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Discover more photos See all
Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken from the deck of the Dead Fish Grill, overlooking Lake Belton, in Belton, Texas.Time
The photo was taken at sunset.Lighting
The light at sunset is always nice, but I just got lucky on this particular day. The clouds were positioned just right, so they could catch all of the colors of the sunset and reflect them on the surface of the lake.Equipment
I used the following equipment for this photo: Camera: Canon 5D Mark III Lens: Canon EF 17-40 f/4L USM Exposure: f/8 1/160 40 mm ISO 100 I brought my tripod, but couldn’t use it without getting the railing in the photo, so I had to shoot it handheld, with the railing and columns for support.Inspiration
On my way home from work on a Friday evening, I noticed the clouds off to the west. I had my camera with me and had a little time, so I decide to delay my trip home and go get some pictures. Ultimately, I couldn’t think of a better place to go than the Dead Fish Grill, on Lake Belton. This restaurant-bar has a very nice deck on the cliffs, overlooking the lake. I was able to get there well before sunset, so I could order a beer and get permission to set up my camera to get some pictures. The rails on the deck would not allow the use of my tripod, so I just had to brace the camera against the rail while I was shooting. The sunset was magnificent and I was able to get several decent shots of the lake as the sun went down.Editing
I shoot in RAW format, so post processing is definitely necessary. For this photo, I just did the normal edits, in Lightroom, such as adjusting the curves, contrast and temperature. I did have to use a graduated filter adjustment in Lightroom to reduce the exposure in the sky, since I was not able to shoot bracketed exposures while handholding my camera. I actually had to reduce the saturation a bit, as it was a bit too juicy!In my camera bag
My bag always has my trusty 5D Mark III and my 17-40 lens, but I also carry a 50mm, 70-200mm, and a 100mm Macro lens. I just bought a variable ND filter, but haven’t had a chance to use it yet.Feedback
Watch the sky and alway have your camera with you, at least as much as possible. Even if it is “just a phone camera,” because you never know when you’ll see that perfect light setting up. I put phone camera in quotes because the newer phones, especially my iPhone takes really good pictures! Another tip if you have to handhold a shot at sunset is to set the exposure to where the sky is just below the level of blowing out the highlights (a few little spots are ok). Always protect the highlights. You can usually bring back a lot of detail in the underexposed areas, but blown out highlights are unrecoverable.
