Photo of the Month: September 2009
September Photo of the Month: Sunset over South Lake, Eastern Sierra Nevada, CA
This months photo was taken at South Lake in the Eastern Sierra Nevada. It was shot at sunset on Sept 26, 2006. I had been up Bishop Creek to shoot the few fall aspens that were changing. The trees really weren’t all that great, so I changed my focus to the nice cumulus clouds in the sky.
As it got closer to sunset, I decided to run up to South Lake hoping for some nice color in the clouds. I wasn’t disapointed. At first the color in the clouds wasn’t that hot. But as the sunset continued, the colors began to pop nicely. It helped that the lake was calm and reflected the colors beautifully on the water.
I used a 1 stop graduated nuetral density filter to help hold back the sky. One stop wasn’t really enough, but it’s all I had at the time. Composition was a little tough where I was standing. There wasn’t anything intresting in the foreground and I didn’t have time to find something. So I focused on getting the clouds, mountains and their reflections spaced evenly in the scene and then let Mother Nature take care of the rest.
Post processing on this image was tricky. I was torn between the peaks being lighter or darker. I finally decided on dark enough to help make the cloud colors pop, but light enough to keep a little detail in there.
Prints of this image can be purchased at 25% off the regular price
through the end of August 2009.
Purchase Sunset over South Lake
Wow!
Beautiful shot, Steven! Very nicely done.
Thanks Guys.