Rocks and Rivers

[navcom]

My first post in "How I Took It". For the more experienced photographers, this will probably be boring but if you are just starting out, I thought it might be interesting.



I took this shot just after sunset with the sun having set just off the left side of the photo. I set up my tripod right in the water with the legs spread almost flat so the camera was only about 6-8 inches off the water. It's deceiving but those rocks in the immediate foreground are only about 12 inches wide and I could jump from the first to the last rock with a little effort.

I love getting down really low for these shots. They always seem to produce something interesting.

I used manual exposure and set the ISO to the lowest it would go (100) and picked an aperture of f/14 for good depth of field. The lens is a 16-45mm zoom set at it's widest setting (16mm). This produced the deceiving perspective on the rocks.

I wanted to get detail in those rocks since they are the subject but even though it was starting to get dark, the dynamic range was still quite high and I couldn't get an exposure that would pull out the deeper colors in the sky. So I opted to use a graduated neutral density filter to "push back" the sky and allow for a more even exposure with more vivid colors. I used a Singh Ray 2-stop ND grad mounted in a Cokin "P" adapter holder.

I also used a cable shutter release as well as using the camera's 2-second shutter delay option...all to get the best stability possible and thus the best sharpness. I used the "shade" white balance setting.

With a 20-second shutter speed, the moving water from the river turned to smokey glass leaving a surreal feeling.

Hope you found this interesting!

[crewe1]

Thanks for sharing, love the photo.

[Chippee]

Lovely image and colors. Love the look of the water. Great capture

[Glayva]

Stunning image that has been captured beautifully. Great composition, perfect tonal values and lovely and sharp. I would love this on my wall!!

[derekspacelewis]

Great explanation and picture! I really need to add some filters to my LONG camera wish list lol.

[RecurrentNerve]

Very nicely executed. I think one of the key points here is that you've got down almost level with the water - these shots work so much better with a low angle, I think.

[prochman]

Love it... great explanation! Will definately have to try it. Thanks

[noreen23]

it's really interesting. the description "surreal" on the water was achieved. great work!

[klyvers]

Amazing pic! Thanks for sharing...and explaining!

[grandad]

Very nice! The colours and tones are supurb. Did you print and hang it?