T3 Imagery

By The Dawn’s Early Light

Believe it or not, I didn’t get around to downloading this image from the camera until about a week after my trip.  When Heather and I were out at Whitefish Dunes at dawn, we brought my old 40D as a second camera in case Heather wanted to shoot.  As the sun came up through the mist over Lake Michigan, I set up the 40D on my gigantic studio tripod (I don’t have a lightweight 2nd tripod) and tried for a sunrise shot.  Since I only shot a few shots on the 40D, I forgot there were pictures on that compact flash card.  Imagine my surprise when I downloaded this picture!

Technically, this was a big challenge.  Shooting directly into the sun brings out the worst in a lens since lens flare can occur.   I also had to contend with heavy fog that hadn’t quite burned off – which you can see along the tree line.  To deal with the wild dynamic range differences between the sun and the shadowed tree line, I used a 3-stop graduated neutral density filter.  I also shot three images bracketed at +2, 0, and -2 EV so they could be combined as an HDR.

Vital Stats: Canon 40D w/Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8  ISO 100, f/16, .6 sec. +/- 2 stops