I'm sure there are some questions raised here, like, "What's up with the title of this photo?" And, "What am I seeing in this image?" All logical questions to ask!
I captured this image while on a three-day photography backpack trip to the Grouse Ridge and Crooked Lakes area, located in California's Tahoe National Forest. It was taken at night, at 1:15 AM, to be specific. Thus the title.
To my naked eye, the scene was pretty darn dark. I could make out the silhouette of the lake, and I could see the stars, of course. But when looking through my camera viewfinder, things were pretty much black.
I started my process by pulling way back to a wide landscape angle and left the camera open to capture light for several minutes. I then used the small digital LCD screen to "see what was out there." What surprised me was the cloud formation. I had not noticed it, as it was just every so slightly visible to my eyes. Once I found it, I saw it was moving fast.
I changed the camera to a portrait position to better capture the cloud formation, along with its reflection on the lake. It took a couple shots to get it right in terms of composition and exposure. A few minutes later, the clouds were gone.
So, what you are seeing in this photo is the lake, sky, stars and clouds at night. The light, and shadows on the rocks, were from the moonlight, which was coming from low on the horizon. As for the clouds, they look surreal because they were moving fast and became blurred with the long exposure. This is an effect you are more used to seeing in photos of waterfalls or rushing water, where the long exposure blurs the water. In this case, it's the clouds being blurred, for a similar effect.
I hope you like it as much as I do!
As a side note, I got so cold out there taking these photos that, once back in my sleeping bag, I never did warm back up, until the sun rose in the morning! Yet another reason I will remember this photo!
~ Rob
Keywords:
tahoe, national forest, crooked lake, crooked lakes, grouse ridge, lake, night, nighttime, stars, cloud, still, reflection, water, pine, trees, rock, granite, sky, dark, light
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