Sunset at Gray Lodge

Gallery: LandscapePosted December 5, 2013338 views8 comments

The Sacramento Valley in California hosts thousands and thousands of ducks, geese, and sandhill cranes in the winter months. Gray Lodge is my favorite, but mostly because of the landscape. I took this at sunset last night. In the midground you can see some of the ducks. One challenge is that you must take all photos from your vehicle, as that is like a photo blind.

Canon 5d,M3, IS0 1600, f/5.6, 100 mm, 1/1000 sec. I had the ISO set high because I was also taking birds in flight and all photos were hand held. Maybe I should try a bean bag for this situation.

Thanks in advance for any comments and critiques.

Comments

8 comments

Comment posted by David Chauvin on December 5, 2013 at 4:47 AM

I like this a lot, Kathy. It has that classic "sitting in a blind" feel. It never ceases to amaze me how well a vehicle works for getting close to many species. This might sound really nit picky, but there is one stalk of grass in the fg that has caught some color that could be eliminated.

Registered on August 5, 2004, 1007 Posts, 5595 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Seaver on December 5, 2013 at 11:03 AM

I sure like the soft colors and all of the planes of depth throughout the image. This does a fine job of showing off a late fall/winter sunset in an interesting location.

Registered on January 23, 2011, 1103 Posts, 17270 Comments

Comment posted by Preston Birdwell on December 5, 2013 at 12:14 PM

This has a nice, peaceful feel to it. I like the warm tones. It looks a little soft sharpness-wise to me, but that could just be old eyes. I like the layers of varied textures.

--P

Registered on November 1, 2003, 471 Posts, 5188 Comments

Comment posted by Tony Kuyper on December 5, 2013 at 12:43 PM

Very nice layers and color. Also some nice cool-warm contrast. It's a very engaging image.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 364 Posts, 22328 Comments

Comment posted by Jared Warren on December 5, 2013 at 5:41 PM

I too like the layers that guide the eye from front to back. Nice warm tones.

Registered on May 11, 2012, 84 Posts, 931 Comments

Comment posted by Phil Pogledich on December 6, 2013 at 5:07 PM

This is real nice, Kathy. I'd debated commenting a couple nights ago when I first saw it but was a bit rushed at the time. It looks a lot like the wetlands at the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area, about 10 minutes from my home. A beautiful place but difficult to photograph effectively.

Registered on August 24, 2009, 123 Posts, 3099 Comments

Comment posted by keith mitchell on December 7, 2013 at 4:00 AM

Kathy I use my car a lot for getting up close to Snipe/Owls ect and find it works very well, that looks like a great place to be and your image has captured it beautifully.

Keith.

Registered on July 12, 2008, 127 Posts, 1735 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Metternich on December 9, 2013 at 3:46 AM

The lots of layering here works great! Nice shot.

Registered on June 19, 2009, 276 Posts, 6240 Comments