It was one of those mornings that was made for the early fisherman. The lake was flat calm, the sun about to rise already turning the skies pink, the boat is ready to go. Where are you fisherman?
Please click the image to view a larger version.
I made this image before sunrise at Buttle Lake in Strathcona Park, Vancouver Island, British Columbia. I used a 3 step soft step graduated neutral density filter to even out the exposure between the bright sky and the darker foreground as well as a 4 stop solid neutral density filter that blocked out enough light to allow for a longer exposure.
Have a great weekend everyone!
Beautifully exposed image, Anne. These ND Grads really do work!
Love that boat!! I’m sure that if I had come upon that scene I would have composed to not include it, but I’m sure this is a stronger shot because it’s there. A great reminder to me to keep my options open and really evaluate all the parts of the frame not just the amazing water, colors and sky. Thanks Anne.
Wonderful sirene atmosphere. Composition is so lovely.
Did you use anything like Lightroom or Apeture to bring out those colors, or was it all the filters?
Hi Chris, sorry to take so long to reply to your question! I do process my images in Lightroom, but I didn’t saturate the colours at all. That is how the colours were at sunrise on that day. I had to adjust the white balance to correct the slight magenta cast caused from the filters, so if anything I removed some of the pink.
Hi Anne,
Found this post because we are planning a trip up to Vancouver Island next month and I am eager to experience its beauty while capturing some frames to bring back home. I read about the “soft step graduated neutral density filter” and went out to explore what’s available on the web. Overwhelmed! That’s what! How do I select a quality product that will get the job done? As with toothpastes, the selection is simply too vast. Can you make some suggestions on what to look for?
Thank you! Did I mention that I love your work and the simplicity of your instructions.
Marlee
Hi Marlee,
I know what you mean about the vast selection of products out there! My fist set of graduated neutral density filters was a Cokin set. They had a horrible magenta cast. A colour cast isn’t too hard to deal with if you have a solid ND filter and you can adjust the colour balance of the whole image in post-processing, but with a graduated filter it only affects part of the image so it is harder to remove. I discovered that alot of the professional photographers I follow use Singh-Ray filters so I bought a set of those. They also have a magenta cast but it’s not nearly as bad. They are also very very expensive. If I was going to buy a new set today, I would probably try the HiTech filters. I have other hitech filters that are good quality and they are not as expensive as the Singh-Ray’s. Here’s a link if you want to check them out: http://annemckinnell.com/hitechGND
Thanks for the compliment on my work! I hope this helps.
Anne.