I am starting to get really excited about Glacier National Park this year! After finishing up with the groups I almost always stay in the park for some time to continue to target my favorite areas, again. Even though it is certainly not backcountry, Swift Current has always been one of my favorite spots, due to its photographic potential, the amazing light that happens here frequently and because I accidentally got one of my best selling images from here about 10 years ago, as an amateur, not knowing much about what I was doing.
You likely cannot tell here but this particular morning I was getting lambasted with at least 70 mph gusts of wind that were actually picking up the water from the lake behind me and hitting me with a shower of immense spray. Not only that, but the winds were so strong the gusts would actually almost pick me up and nearly knock me to the ground. One good thing about these radical types of conditions is that almost always you are all alone attempting to shoot in them! To combat the winds I simply parked the side of my Suburban right behind me, to create as big a barrier/shield as possible and then I shot at ISO 400/800 for most of the attempts. I knew I wanted at least one softer water shot so I used my body as a shield and just kept shooting not knowing if any of the attempts would work. Almost all my images turned out blurry, but luckily I was able to pull off a few sharp ones when the light was getting good (I don't know how).
Techie stuff:
Canon 5D Mark2
Canon 14mm L2
400 ISO
f/5.6
2 shots bracketed consecutively at 1/8th second (sky) and 0.5 (water)
Straight linear gradient blend in PS CS6 with a little dynamic range touch up using my innovative "Blend If - for Dynamic Range" technique.
The shot could have been easily captured in one image for dynamic range, but I needed a longer shutter speed for the water which blew out slightly in the sky.
As always, most accurately viewed on a calibrated monitor and viewed on Safari, Firefox or Chrome.
Thank you for comments, suggestions or just looking!
Very nice, Mark! I'm a bit surprised at the f/5.6. When I saw that, I assumed you had focus stacked a few images (as I know you've done in the past), but then I saw it was only two images taken for exposure bracketing... no focus stacking?
Matt Tilghman wrote:
Very nice, Mark! I'm a bit surprised at the f/5.6. When I saw that, I assumed you had focus stacked a few images (as I know you've done in the past), but then I saw it was only two images taken for exposure bracketing... no focus stacking?
Hi Matt. Thank you for your compliment. Good question here.
After rigorous testing I have found that f/5.6 is the sharpest f/stop for the 14 mm L2 (and nearly every other f/2.8 lens). It also gives quite a bit of DOF being on the extreme far end of ultra wides. So, no focus stacking was required. I simply focused on the closest sharp thing (the land mass on the left) and went to town. Moreover, in 70 mph gusts I was never going to be able to focus stack. Truth is, I was lucky enough to pull off a single shot. All others in this lengthy series were blurry.
I forgot to mention that this is sunset. It is almost always shot at sunrise (because the sun comes up right in the middle of the horizon at certain times of year) but I just wanted to change up a bit and try something different.
Mark, I like this image very much. With both the water and clouds being blurred just the right amount, it gives a very dynamic impression of being right in a middle. Colors are beautiful.
It's another awesome image from you. That cloud in the upper centre is, in one way, a jewel in the sky that really takes the image to another level. On the other hand, if it hadn't been there, I feel the image would have been a lot more peaceful and contemplative. Just posting my thoughts.
A lot of classic photography locations only really have a few good shots in em. That is NOT the case with Glacier National Park. There are LOTS of amazing shots to be made there. This shot proves that. I can't wait to go back to GNP!
Thom Hogan recently (last few months) had a comment on his page talking about how one of his colleagues mentioned that you cannot get a good shot looking downstream. I immediately posted one of my shots looking out over a falls and down the stream to show that was a false idea. This shot of yours also soundly disproves that theory.
Very nice shot Mark. The most amazing shots come when mother nature is at her "worst".a
To combat the winds I simply parked the side of my Suburban right behind me, to create as big a barrier/shield as possible and then I shot at ISO 400/800 for most of the attempts. I knew I wanted at least one softer water shot so I used my body as a shield and just kept shooting not knowing if any of the attempts would work. Almost all my images turned out blurry, but luckily I was able to pull off a few sharp ones when the light was getting good (I don't know how).