Mosquitoes swarm relentlessly around us as we walk the short distance through a forested area to the Yampa River behind our campsite. We are covered in bug repellant. Still the mosquitos buzzing around our heads are an unpleasant distraction. We go down a steep bank with the aid of a rope tied to a tree, getting onto a sandbar in the river. We are shooting sunset photographs at this location our first evening in Echo Park.
As usual, when shooting in a canyon, the late day light illuminates only a portion of the canyon wall.
The light on the far canyon wall reflects into the river with just a sliver at the edge of the sandbar.
The top edge of the cliff side to the right of Steamboat Rock gets only a small wedge of late day sunset light.
I make a number of shots, capturing the sunset highlights and the reflections in the river.
To smooth the ripples in the river, I use a seven stop neutral density filter and a long exposure.
Each time I change the composition, I acquire a shot with a 3 stop soft graduated neutral density filter to balance the foreground and sky exposure, then add the seven stop ND for a long exposure.
I like the way the long exposure shows the motion of the river current in the photo above. By the time these last two images are made, the golden hour light is gone, so we call it a day. We venture once again through the mosquito infested woods back to our campsite.
We are looking forward to a sunrise shoot tomorrow.
Until then,
Ken
