Just returned from holidays on Lake Pend Oreille Idaho. My dad and his wife live on the lake in the summer. It is very scenic and relaxing but I have found it a challenging subject to get good dramatic photos of. There are two reasons.
The lake is surrounded by hills and mountains and as such golden hour is not very golden. The light is eclipsed by the mountains before it has a chance to sink through the atmosphere and eliminate the lake, shore or mountains.
The second reason is sociological as the best time is very close to the dinner hour. Of course the primary purpose of the visit is to spend time with family.
Normally we visit in August which is drier but also has had the attendant problem of forest fire smoke some years. We opted for June this to avoid it. This meant we has a little rain but also made for better clouds for photographing. I brought my Fuji G617 6x17 camera and a variety of film (Velvia 100, Portra 400, Portra 160, and Ilford B and W).
I managed to get out two evenings and shot in two directions, east to capture the light of the setting sun. I then raced to the other side of the peninsula to shoot towards the west as the sun set behind Schweitzer Mountain. The results were pretty good on the Velvia I shot towards the west.
For the Velvia I metered the brightest sky and set it for zone VII or VIII and let the shadows fall where they would. This left the mountain in front with no shadow detail falling in Zone III.
I scanned the negative and color corrected with ColorPerfect and made minimal adjustments to the gamma and let it figure the white balance.
The first evening saw the sequence below as I waited for the best light for the first photo and then captured as the sun set towards blue hour. I was just past peak color in the first photo.
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| Day 1 West Facing towards Schweitzer Mountain (peak color) Velvia 100 |
The second (below) looks better as the red highlights are not so garish I think.
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| Day 1 West Facing towards Schweitzer Mountain (just past peak color) Velvia 100 |
The more subtle tones moving towards blue hour in the next two are really nice. Also the water smooths out better as the shutter speed lengthens in the dying light.
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| Day 1 West Facing towards Schweitzer Mountain (blue hour 1) Velvia 100 |
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| Day 1 West Facing towards Schweitzer Mountain (blue hour 2) Velvia 100 |
The next photos were on the first day as well though facing east off Hawkins point and were taken before the above 4. Here the problem of getting good light on the mountains is shown. It is a very narrow period of time as the sun sets. The clouds complicate it. In the next two the first shows some light on the distant mountains the Monarchs while the second shows some warm light on Fisher's Point on the right.
In truth this is not a good place to photograph from. It is close to where I was staying but for this direction and camera getting closer to the Monarchs by moving to the road to Hope would make them bigger and more dramatic. Again here though Velvia brings off some amazing color.
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| Day 1 East Facing towards the Monarch Mountains Velvia 100 |
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| Day 1 East Facing towards the Monarch Mountains Velvia 100 |
The next photos are Porta and show the more muted colors. They were also taken on a different day so the clouds and light are not quite the same. I don't like them quite as much.
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| Day 2 East Facing towards the Monarch Mountains Portra 160 |
Below again good light on the distant Monarch Mountains but too far away to be effective.
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| Day 2 East Facing towards the Monarch Mountains Portra 160 |
These next two are day 2 west facing in Portra 400 and are my favorites from the Portra batch.
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| Day 2 West Facing towards Fisherman's Island Portra 160 |
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| Day 2 West Facing towards Schweitzer Mountain Portra 160 |
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