citizenlouie's photostream  

It's where my reflection photos are taken place, but by the entrance people just threw their junk here. Disgusting.

Not exactly Moon River here, but these driftwoods got my attention because of the lighting. This was on the shore from "Reflection of the Trees in San Luis Reservoir" series. The lighting was from behind me 30-45 degree (to my left) I think, which is the ideal lighting. No need for post-processing but still did it to give that Kodachrome look and increased contrast. It is also a lot warmer in look. The original has an almost Portra 160 fleshy tone to it, which is kind of beautiful in its own way, but I know it's due to mid-day sun light.... This is more like one hour before sunset look.

Used Kodachrome 25 Lightroom preset. This was shot with Hoya Moose's filter for warm tone and polarizing effect.

Tighter composition than the version 2, just as an alternative (it's always safer to shoot everything slightly different, just in case). My personal favorites of this series are version 2a/b, but this one comes pretty close. The driftwood in the foreground made me ponder about my DoF choice a bit.

When I saw this scene that led me to pull over and grab my cameras (digital first then film at the last minute), I thought this to myself, "This is my Siesta Lake." Obviously, the only way I could pull it off as a knock-off/tribute to Ansel Adam's Yosemite masterpiece is actually know how to tame the scene.... The lighting was fiendish as mentioned before. This scene probably will get a reshot some time in the future, and hopefully the lighting would be slightly better (though it has to be in Winter, because of the softer sun light, the lack of foliage and water level). Tripod job. f/5.6.

I used a gray card for custom white balance, but it simply turned the scene into standard blue sky, exactly NOT what I want. It was sunset yellow and should be captured that way. The surface of the water was champagne color. The scene was so breathtaking that prompted me to pull it over from the highway.

I also shot the scene on film at the very last minutes. I was reluctant to do so because the lighting was simply too difficult and they'll just be frames wasted (and I was shooting slide film, Ektachrome E100G). I don't remember which angle I shot the film version from. Anyways, let's hope they turn out okay.

Enough grumbling and about this scene. The light caused me much trouble, so I had to wait for a few more hours, to get even lighting. Even then the reflection on the lake may not be the way it was. And by the time I shot this frame, the sparkling on the water was gone.... It was a very specific angle the sun was shining on the scene that made me stop for it in the first place, so I resorted to post-processing and get the result we see here.

Since the WB was all screwed up, I am more liberal at applying post-processing than I typically do, and the result is this more cinematic experience (instead of my typical realism). The very last frame of this series, I got it close without help of post-processing (see comment below). The green glare on top is a memento of the fiendishly difficult lighting.... I am sure someone who is better at Photoshop could probably take that one out, but I will just leave it there (I tried Lightroom's adjustment brush already, but it probably requires masking and more powerful tool).

The process is based off Kodachrome 25 preset I think. I applied film grains to it.

Despite I used a gray card, but the lighting was just not in my favor, so only trick to do is convert it into B&W. It was a silhoutte shot to begin with so it doesn't matter that much.

I like this particular framing because it has that opening to the right, which is a big relief to the clustered foreground to the left. Later on when I was about to finish my work here, a guy came back through that route on a little inflatable boat with a big fish in his hand. It is a pretty serene place.

Meant to be seen in largest format, so please right-click on the photo and select "Original" (1900x1069 version)