Serenity Over the Cooper

Any thoughts or comments are greatly appreciated!

So after I had just finished taking low light, sunset shots of the bridge from the marsh (not fun...TONS of mosquitos!) a very nice person who is also in the medical field started talking to me and invited me to return and capture the bridge from the vantage point of his condo balcony. I took him up on his offer this week and got this shot. I'm most interested in how people think this vantage point compares to the other one (look through my night/low light folder...I posted 3 from this vantage point and the previous 5 or so were from the marsh). Any thoughts or comments are appreciated!

I like this angle best. The ones from the marsh are lovely but this is much more interesting (at least for me).

 

Glad you didn't get eaten alive while in the marsh.

 

 

Great Image I love the Mood!

I think this is a terrific shot, I especially like the position and pattern of the light on the archways (I don't know what else to call them). Did you plan for this lighting? If so, I'd say you nailed it. Also, the color is very nice. Well worth the effort...

Bob--Yes, I have been working on this shot and the lighting for months now. I go out about 15 minutes before the sun goes down and leave about 45 minutes to an hour after it's gone. Even then, the best shot are generally my last ones. I like that time because you can get a good mix of natural and artificial light. I have found that there is a window of only a few minutes when your exposure will come out correctly in regards to the natural and artificial light. I honestly don't think it's possible to look at a scene and pick the exact moment. I think the only way is my method--start shooting when you know it's too early and don't stop until you know it's too late. Another tip I got from my mentor was keep shooting until all color is gone--you'd be surprised how many of my best shots were taken as the "one last click" before I left a sunset! Those multiple minute exposures allow the camera to see color that we can't see. I believe this shot was about 30 seconds but taken at ISO 400. I turned up the ISO for 2 reasons: 1) I wanted to get more frames shot so was willing to make that compromise in return for having more room for error and miscalculation (I like to shoot a variety of compositions, with a variety of filters, in a variety of positions, all with bracketing...so, keeping moving and getting a decent number of shots instrumental to my success). The second reason is when I was shooting longer exposures (a minute or so) the clouds were moving so much that I didn't really care for their effect. So, I sped up the ISO to decrease my shutter speed and make the clouds more distinct. Thanks for your comments!