My Hot Shot – The River at Coteau-du-Lac

There are times when I go out for a shoot with specific expectations, and don’t get the shot I wanted because there’s bad light, wrong weather conditions or something messing up the composition. There are times when I pre-visualize a shot, things line up perfectly and I get exactly the shot I wanted. And then, there are times when I go out, not expecting to get a single good shot, and end up getting a killer image.

This was such a time. And these images are the most surprising and satisfying.

During my fall vacation, I took a morning to do some “scouting” of areas south-west of Montreal, along the water. I was hoping to find new and interesting locations to do some landscape photography, while staying relatively close to my house in Ile Bizard. The Google Maps satellite view promised some interesting spots along the water in Vaudreuil-Dorion, Pointe-des-Cascades, Les Cèdres, and Coteau-du-Lac…

With a bright blue sky and plenty of sun, I had no expectations of doing any photography that morning, particularly since the compositions would all be facing east, south-east, or south – directly into the bright morning sun. When I arrived at the Coteau-du-Lac National Historic Site, a few clouds started to form towards the south… I kept my fingers crossed. There are only a few interesting compositions to be had here – but these compositions are absolultely spectacular. I took a number of shots during 90 minutes, but the persisting bright sun washed out the images, and left me with nothing inspiring.

… except that the clouds kept on coming. After about 2 hours, there was now a solid cloud cover in the south-east sky. My shots were improving. But with colorless water and solid grey skies, there was really no color to be seen. The images left me feeling rather uninspired. Yes, it’s possible that a B&W image would have worked, but I’m really more of a color photography type of guy…

So I decided to pull out my Singh-Ray Gold-N-Blue Polarizer… Rather than removing reflections, this polarizer adds gold and blue reflections on wet surfaces. Combined with a 3-stop GND filter to darken the still-bright cloudy sky, and a 4-stop neutral density filter to slow the exposure to 6 seconds, this is exactly what I needed to punch up the image. Truth be told, my jaw dropped when I looked through the viewfinder. This was the shot I had not dare to hope for.

Always be prepared to get a shot. With just a bit of luck or serendipity, you may just end up with a winner.

This framed image will be available as a limited edition, archival quality print, and can be purchased at the Gemst Gallery in Montreal. If you’re interested in having your own print of this image, please contact me.

Image specs:

• Canon EOS 5D MkII
• Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM lens at 23mm
• f/16, 6 seconds, ISO 100
• Filters (all Singh-Ray): Gold-N-Blue Polarizer, 3-stop hard GND, 4-stop neutral density
• Gitzo GT3541LS tripod with RRS BH-55 ballhead, cable release

For the record, this image has <em>very </em> little Photoshop work done to it. The image was really created in-camera, with proper use of filters and photography techniques.

Hope you enjoy,

Rob

Posted by Rob under Filters,Fine Art Prints,Hot Shots,Landscapes,Quebec | Comments (8)