Picture of the week

Dreamland

One of my favorite photographic locations along the shores of Lake Tahoe, locally known as Bonsai Rock. I timed my visit to this spot for a day forecasted for calm weather and light clouds.  As a result, I was fortunate to get some good lighting and smooth water to work with for maximizing the quality of this composition.  Fall is one of my favorite times for visiting the Tahoe basin.  The weather is mild with temperatures in the 70's during the day, and the crowds are signficantly diminished. This time of year is locally known as "indian summer".  In addition for photography, you have the fall colors out in many different pockets of the region, and kokanee salmon running up Taylor Creek on the south shore.  This attracts wildlife such as black bears, bald eagles, and coyotes that come to the creeks edge to also feed on these delicious fish.  The image of the bear shown to the right is a large female, known to the locals at Theodora.

To better balance the exposure and smooth out the light ripples in the water for the Bonsai Rock image, a graduated neutral density filter was utilized with a deliberately slow shutter speed. This particular image was captured after sunset, taking advantage of some of the reflected lighting from the light clouds above in order to further soften the composition.  Settings for this particular image are: ISO 200,  f/13, and 10 seconds for the exposure time.  It was shot with my Canon 5D mark III and EF 17-40mm f/4 L lens at 27mm.

All content and images are property of Stephen Fischer Photography, copyright 2014.  Last updated: 10/12/2014   ()