Delta Lake State Park
I mentioned in my ‘…as the sun goes down‘ post, before the sun was in its best position I ran around the water’s edge grabbing long exposure images. Sadly, I realized when I went to process those images that my 10-stop ND filter has a small scratch on it. This creates a very visible sun spot when shooting into the sun.
Sadly, as I researched getting a replacement it appears I bet on the wrong horse. I bought a set of square ND filters with a holder capable of installing a circular polarizer from Vu Filters. I have been very happy with the results. Because I use a micro four thirds system with smaller lenses I did not need big filters and Vu had a 75mm wide system that would be great for all my lenses. Doing a little research, it appears Benro bought out Vu and incorporated the filters into their own line. Hopefully, I can get a replacement without having to switch do a different system.
Luckily, for you I was able to salvage one image from my ruined long exposure fun. I found a grouping of rocks at the edge of the water to use as foreground interest for the color show happening at the horizon. With the clouds partially obscuring the sun combined with 10-stops of light filtering I captured a 30 second exposure. This long exposure smoothed out what little waves were undulating on the water and created a glass-like look reflecting the colors in the sky.
I did minor tweaking to the image in Lightroom sticking with a few adjustments to highlights and shadows. I then processed it in Luminar to enhance the colors, mainly to bring out the blues and brighten the oranges. Add a subtle vignette and the image is ready for display…
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Color on Glass
Olympus E-M1 Mark II, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 30s, 12mm, f/11, ISO 100
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