Fine Art Portfolio | Long Exposure Lake A long exposure not only flattens and smooths the water, it also can create interesting shapes. In this case, the trees made nice curved shapes on the water. Long exposures also tends to add calm and tranquility by smoothing the rough edges. This image seems to capture the drama between the smooth lake and rugged sky.
The Back Story What a beautiful end to a nice day on the lake! Just enough light remained to cast shadows on the lake. The air was calm but small waves persisted on the lake. A long exposure would hopefully smooth the water. Long exposures can be really fun to capture. From the dock, I experimented with different 30 sec exposures while waiting for the best shadow. With everything dialed into the camera, the calm wait for the best composition was quite pleasant. As the sun quickly sank late in the day, the strength of the light made very dramatic changes in the reflections off the water. Before I called it a night, I captured several long exposures.
Details…
| Event | A Day on the Lake |
| Location | Lake Cadillac |
| Date/Time | 5/31/2010 8:20 pm Local Time |
| Weather | Partly Cloudy | 65°F | Light Winds |
| Method | Amble out to the dock before sunset, setup tripod, and wait. |
| Gear | Nikon D300 with 12-24mm lens, tripod |
