Lake In The Clouds I

Lake In The Clouds I: Leaning Cedars

Last week I spent a few hours in wet clouds on an Adirondack Lake. It was the kind of weather where I could not always identify raindrops, but I was always wet from the mist. There were some pleasant, muted spring colors, but I decided to concentrate on the forms and layers created by the islands, trees and clouds, so I am posting some black and whites this week.

The landscape was dominated by gray shades, so I am interested in hearing if you find enough interest in these subdued light images with no whites. I kind of liked the effect of the clouds creating sort of a giant softbox that gently illuminated the scene. In this one, I lined up two shoreline white cedars that tipped over and continued to grow long enough to form gracefully-curving trunks hanging over the water. Does this "rule" breaking composition work for you?

Canon 5DII
Canon 24-105
1/25 sec. @ f/11; ISO 640
Hand-held* from canoe
Converted to B&W in CS5

Please see the larger version.

* Note on slow shutter speed, hand-held shots. My off-tripod shots are seldom what most people think of as hand-held. As a former rifle instructor, I seldom shoot in the "off-hand position" without some sort of support to steady the camera. I typically rest my camera, arms or elbows on something to steady the shot, even in a canoe or kayak. Shooting like this, using breathing control and other steadying techniques, wide-angle shots at speeds under 1/30 second -- especially with image stabilization -- can produce surprisingly good results. (Not so sure how well this would work for people who use caffeine.)