The lack of direct sunlight did not stop me from grabbing my gear and heading out. With overcast skies you have a natural softbox of light with few harsh shadows. In order to give my photos some color, I’ll set my white balance to Cloudy, Picture Control to Vivid and anytime I am near water or shooting plants, then the Marumi CPOL goes on the glass.
I am shooting at a location that I had visited early in the spring, which is an undisturbed swamp nestled in on an old stagecoach road. I set up for this Image using the Nikon 24-120mm, it was raining out so changing from the 24-70mm was done quickly. The 24-70 did not have the reach I needed and when I’m out, I try to keep a long lens in the bag.
I spent some time figuring how to compose this Image and how the eye would travel thru the picture. As luck would have it, my tripod with camera, ended up directly behind a three inch tree. My shot was blocked. Undeterred, I extend the tripod legs and put the tripod in the water and then I twisted myself around the tree and began taking shots a different appertures and shutter speeds.
In the digital darkroom, I added some glow to the white water lilies and to the top of the lilly pads, I also sharpened the image with ProKit creative sharpener @ luminence 3 setting.
