Crater Lake

Submitted by admin on Fri, 08/06/2010 - 1:21am
in
Crater Lake
Photographer Name: 
Ajit Gokhale
Camera: 
Sony DSLR A350 (14.2 MP)
Category: 
Landscape
Prize Level: 
Honorable Mention
Image Caption: 
Crater Lake 1 The weather in the last two weeks of June at Crater Lake is iffy. I could rain or snow and all the trails are not open yet. However it can also provide usual lighting conditions. I waited for two hours, 7 to 9 pm, for the best evening light. The sky was mostly cloudy and the sun hidden. Finally after 900PM the sun briefly came out and lit the clouds. I like the colors in the sky and the water but also the "god beams" in the distance. The snowbank provides a nice contrast in the foreground. Being there in the presence of this stunning lake and the beautiful scenery made it a meditative and calming experience.
Lens: 
Sony lens DT 16-105 (not the kit lens)
Technique: 
Three shots at different exposures were made in Aperture priority, RAW format, at F16 to maximize depth of field. The focal length was 26mm (equivalent to 39mm in 35mm format). A Singh Ray warming polarizer was used. A Slick Carbon Fiber tripod with an Acratech ballhead was used. Image editing was done on my wide gamut 24 inch HP monitor that can rotate from landscape to portrait mode. The monitor is calibrated with X-rite’s i1Display 2. I did not use any image editing software other than the HDR Expose to process this image. The RAW images were input to HDR Expose and the following controls were used: Brightness/Contrast, Veiling Glare, Shadow/Highlight, Sharpening and Saturation. In the Veiling Glare I used the tree trunks on the right (the darkest portion) to set the base point. Most other controls were set by visual feel of the image and the histogram. I slightly increased the saturation of this image to make it more pleasing to the eye. I have used other HDR software but HDR Expose gives me more natural colors, avoiding the unnatural "HDR look" from other HDR software. Unlike other HDR software I do not have to process the RAW images first in Camera Raw, saving me time.