Blaze of Color

This is Camden Hills State Park. We weren't expecting any clouds that evening, so we were very happy to see these. I took this shot as the sun touched the horizon. I wanted to capture the light shining through the leaves, the soft color in the sky, and the flare from the sun. This is one of those shots you have to do a little planning for.

I used a 3 stop GND filter to reduce the dynamic range as much as possible - but it was necessary to use bracketed exposures as well. I knew I would need to combine at least two shots in Photoshop. I also shot with a very small aperture in order to produce the flare you see here. I always use a tripod - to keep the camera steady for a longer exposure, and also because I want to be sure that bracketed shots line up as perfectly as possible. The air was very still that evening, too - so I didn't have to worry about moving branches or leaves.

I have a few more photos in the works. As I said, we didn't get too many shots from this trip, but we did find some beautiful places to visit next time!