Today was another day on the water. This was a lake I’d never been to, much larger the one where I usually hang out. I brought along my camera, hoping to find something to photograph.
There were tons of little black ducks at the lake and along the shore. When spoke, they took off, literally running across the water while they flew just above it’s surface. I really wanted a picture of these little guys. I affixed the telephoto lens to my camera, selected shutter priority, set a fast shutter speed, and walked down to the shore. Unfortunately, the ducks had all fled from the boat launch, and weren’t coming back.
So I set out across the lake on my kayak, hoping the ducks would still be there when I got back.
I didn’t take my NEX with me on the paddle. I’m a little nervous about losing it over the side of the boat. Instead, I took my Canon Powershot.
By the time I got back to the boat launch, the sun had set. It was far too dark to get a photograph of flying ducks. Not to mention, with all the boats coming in for the night, the ducks were no where near the shore.
Across the water, the St Louis skyline was visible, the lights coming on. My telephoto lens was still on the camera, so I walked over to the water’s edge, found an object to steady the camera on, and decreased the shutter speed. I was pleased with the results, but it was getting darker, so I went back to the car for the tripod.
It was darker now, requiring a longer exposure. 30 seconds, the longest exposure possible, yielded beautiful results. I was very happy with this low light photo.
I want to go back and get those ducks.
Here’s the skyline:
Photo #11: Twilight Skyline
Tech Details:
Equipment: Sony NEX-5R, 55-210mm telephoto lens, tripod.
Image: 30 second exposure, f/25, ISO-100.
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