Tranquil turmoil - Lakes of Fusine, Tarvisio, Friuli, Italy

A "well after sunset" view of the upper lake of Fusine Valromana next

to Tarvisio in Friuli, Italy, with Mount Mangart in the background. I

love the contrast made here by the stormy sky against the perfectly

still waters of the lake.

Taken about 45 minutes after sunset a couple of days ago, this is

stitched from six vertical takes.

Your C&C are as always highly appreciated, thanks in advance for your

time.

Techie: Eos 50D, Tokina ATX-Pro 12-24 f4, GND 8x, tripod. 30" @ f11

for each frame

I am probably going to favor the earlier posts with less contrast. My guess is that they were taken earlier and required less exposure time. Still, I wanted to comment on this effort. At 45 minutes after sunset and a 30 second exposure for each frame, there must be some stitching challenges within the moving clouds. The swirling clouds create a turmoil, as you put it. The effect is very visual. Considering each frame is at 30 seconds and there are six frames puts this total exposure time at over 3 minutes. From the first frame to the last, the light would change, it seems, quite a bit. Regardless, you have pulled it off. The contrast will appeal to many, but it is difficult for my eyes to get past the blocked shadows on the left and right. Still, what could you possibly do about it. A longer bracketed exposure for those shadows would be out of the question at these exposure lengths. My attempt would be to go filterless and blend multiples, 12 frames in total. Without the filter, your sky exposures would be considerably less, but the shadows would still require about a minute, so overall would still be pushing the time total to about 7 or 8 minutes. Sorry for the lengthy comment, but when I see these challenges, I begin to think about solutions. Right now I don't think I could offer a solution, other than using a wider aperture. At F5.6, you might get your total time reduced to half as much, but I am not sure you could achieve this wonderful DOF. Beyond all of my yada yada, you have presented a noble effort and I commend your achievement!

great job