| It’s one thing to take a beautiful sunset picture, which I took many of later when we slowed down, but it’s another thing to do it moving close to 70 mph across open water.
I was shooting the sunset as my friends and I headed back to the marina after a great afternoon on Navajo Lake. When you’re shooting a sunset, or sunrise, you’re usually using a shutter and aperture combination that is much faster, due to the light. I saw a unique opportunity to try to create a motion blur with the boat’s wake, as well as the shallow waves on the lake.
When you slow down the shutter speed, you have to close down the aperture to get the same exposure. I dropped the ISO down to 100 to absorb the least amount of light I could, increased my aperture to 22, which also gives amazing depth of field, and then slowed the shutter down.
It’s amazingly difficult to hand-hold a shot when you’re shooting anything less than 1 over your focal length. I tried some at 1/8th and some at 1/15th, but for this particular shot I was at 1/10th. When I’m shooting that slow without a tripod I hold my elbows very tight into my chest, take a deep breath, exhale and shoot.
This shot came out pretty sharp, with the boat detail but a little blurry on the horizon. It’s not the best framing of a shot I’ve ever done, but it is a great memory and a shot of my friend’s boat that he will love.
|
