Fish Lake Reflection

I'm finding the recent "theme based" posts contagious. I was shooting the same dead calm inland lakes of Michigan's UP as Kerry posted, and thought I should add my contribution to the mix. This is Fish Lake an hour or so after sunrise, early October, 2008 - (near Munising)

Really nice capture, Brian. I'd like to jump on this train myself but I've never had the opportunity to visit the UP. Someday, maybe.....(sigh)

Great view. How do you guys get the wind to cooperate like that. Lovely reflection and great color.

Great reflections of the clouds and trees. I can rarely find a calm day in the fall.

Nice shot, Brian. I really like how the cloud reflections fill up the foreground.

I've never been to Fish Lake before (though I know where it is). Do you particularly like that spot for Hiawatha N.F. lake shooting or is there another lake that's your favorite?

Guys, re calm fall days...in my experience in the UP it's very common to have calm conditions early in the morning. Things vary by lake of course (e.g. the larger the lake the more likely it is to be impacted by wind), but most of them tend to be glass-like in the AM. Unless you have a rare calm day (they happen, but not often), getting afternoon/evening calm is very difficult.

Thanks for the comments. They are much appreciated. Kerry, I'm still looking for the perfect inland lake, but there are a lot of options heading down H13 from Munising. I've photographed at Fish Lake, Thornton Lake, Pete's Lake and a couple others in the area I stumbled into while scouting. I agree about the calm mornings. The lakes in this area are in hollows with surrounding hills keeping out slight breezes, but you do need the weather to cooperate. I'm still looking for a lake with better foreground options, but the area is very marshy along the edges with a lot of boot-sucking mud.

Brian

Brian, I don't think there's a perfect option, but some are definitely better than others, IMO. My personal favorite is Halfmoon Lake...tough to get to, but a tremendous combination of birches and maples. It's a good sized lake, however, and it's really a better afternoon than morning shoot...so good reflections are almost always a problem. One reason I like it, however, is that there's a road that cuts through a wonderful birch forest leading down to the lake, which provides lots of shooting possibilities. Beyond that, I've shot at Council, Red Jack, Thornton, Swan, Pete's, Cherry, Grassy, Moccasin, Otter, Big Island and probably one or two other lakes. I agree--foregrounds are a problem much of the time, which often puts a premium on using the reflections for that purpose. Some of these lakes have a decent variety of lily pads and/or reeds to use for added FG interest.

Kerry, thanks for adding to my list of lakes to visit in the area! I'm already marking my UP map for next year.
By 'perfect lake' I'm referring to the situation, not the location (weather, timing of the color, light, etc). One other reason Fish Lake is on my list is because of the birch stand pictured here. It is an evening light location, and I missed the best light by a few minutes on this day, as the shadows were already creeping up the trees. I did get a pretty calm evening, but not as still as in the morning. Thanks again,

Brian

Conditions don't get much better than this, Brian. Excellent lighting, perfect reflection, and great fall colors!