The Chosen One

[Colin Southern]

Shot tonight on the way home from work. 1/4th Sec @ F5 @ ISO 100 @ 60mm with Canon 1Ds3 (EF24-70mm F2.8L USM).


(Be sure to click on the image for a better view)

[JohnC]

That's a beautiful photo. Photography is a lot about right time,right place too and this was both- it's serene. When I travelled home from work it was never past scenes like this.

[Nihia]

How can you do that to me Colin? "Oh just a little something I ran up on the way home from work. It's nothing really" !!!

It's very emotive, & the water has a silky feel. The darkness of the hills keeps everything from floating up into the sky.

Cheers
Nihia

[Colin Southern]

That's a beautiful photo. Photography is a lot about right time,right place too and this was both- it's serene. When I travelled home from work it was never past scenes like this.

Thanks John,

I saw some clouds sitting just above the mountains earlier on in the day and thought it might make for a nice sunset, but as usual, things changed -- so this is what I ended up with instead.

[Colin Southern]

How can you do that to me Colin? "Oh just a little something I ran up on the way home from work. It's nothing really" !!!

It's very emotive, & the water has a silky feel. The darkness of the hills keeps everything from floating up into the sky.

Cheers
Nihia

Hi Nihia,

Thanks for the kind words Where abouts in NZ are you (I'm in Nelson)?

To be honest, shots like this aren't that hard - really just a case of knowing what works and what doesn't, plus having the right gear (I had a variable density ND filter and a GND filter as well, but I think I'd taken them off at this point).

The "trick" for this kind of shot is to keep the shutter speed at around 1/4 sec so it doesn't smooth out the nice ripples too much - apart from that it's just a pretty standard composition and processing

[jupiterlush]

Oh wow. What can I say? Everything looks serene.

[Colin Southern]

Oh wow. What can I say? Everything looks serene.

Thanks Al,

It's sure more serene there than being at home listening to the kids argue!

[Bobobird]

I agree with the "nothing much" sentiment.

[Dizzy]

Absolutely beautiful image Colin..

Mike

[Colin Southern]

Thanks Bobo & Mike - much appreciated.

[KeithH]

A stunning image Colin

[Colin Southern]

A stunning image Colin

Thanks Keith

[Pandrion]

Serene shot.
I love the way the clouds balance the boat. I think it makes the composition.

[FrankMi]

The "trick" for this kind of shot is to keep the shutter speed at around 1/4 sec so it doesn't smooth out the nice ripples too much

Great technique, Colin. I wouldn't have thought about it on my own. Now I'll need to go find some water scenes where I can try out this approach. Thanks for the tip!

[ga6742]

This the kind of shot I find very real. Not much ps(bs). I love it.

[Lon Howard]

The "trick" for this kind of shot is to keep the shutter speed at around 1/4 sec so it doesn't smooth out the nice ripples too much - apart from that it's just a pretty standard composition and processing

So lovely, Colin! I can see why the opportunities for this kind of image are probably more plentiful than one might imagine, especially if they live near the water. But now it's time for a really dumb question (as opposed to waiting for this evening to go out and find out for myself ). When you say "keep" the shutter speed around 1/4 second, do you mean keep it from being too fast, or keep it from being too slow? Told'ya it was dumb but just had to ask.

[Colin Southern]

Serene shot.
I love the way the clouds balance the boat. I think it makes the composition.

Thanks Mike,

Although I didn't really have a lot of choice with the clouds

[Colin Southern]

Great technique, Colin. I wouldn't have thought about it on my own. Now I'll need to go find some water scenes where I can try out this approach. Thanks for the tip!

You're very welcome

[Colin Southern]

This the kind of shot I find very real. Not much ps(bs). I love it.

Thanks George,

Yes - it was a very nice scene to start with.

[Colin Southern]

So lovely, Colin! I can see why the opportunities for this kind of image are probably more plentiful than one might imagine, especially if they live near the water. But now it's time for a really dumb question (as opposed to waiting for this evening to go out and find out for myself ). When you say "keep" the shutter speed around 1/4 second, do you mean keep it from being too fast, or keep it from being too slow? Told'ya it was dumb but just had to ask.

Hi Lon,

Thanks for the kind words. The shutterspeed for this kind of shot has to be in a certain range ... if the shutter is open for longer (at a narrower aperture) then the ripples are smoothed out too much (which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it does change the look to something I didn't like as much), and if it's too short, it tends to freeze other "abberations" of the water that I don't like either. So in practice, 1/4 sec tends to be long enough for the high-frequency "small stuff" to disappear, whilst short enough for the ripples not to be averaged out.

Truth be known, that shoot was the first one in years where I put the camera in Tv (shutter priority) mode.