Trees, Frozen Lake, & Sunset Photo

Photographer’s Note

Trees, Frozen Lake, & Sunset

Wild Rice Lake
North of Duluth, Minnesota

It has been a cold November week up here in Duluth.
Temperatures have ranged from 5º to 30º F (-15º to -1º C). Cold enough to freeze most of the lakes. This is a detail of Wild Race Lake (a few minutes from my house). The shot is of the shore of a small island across the water.

If anybody has some links on camera care and/or photography in the cold .. I would love them.

xavshot, Vasa, sothy81, vmf-214, danos, parbo, pablominto, riclopes, gunbud, Flavia, Charo, josepmarin, jwmunro has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

mesutilgim (36232) 2008-11-24 12:28

Hi John,
Great scene, very well captured. Good pov and nice compo with perfect light management. Nice warm colors and perfect graphism.
TFS and best regards
MESUT ILGIM

delic (6735) 2008-11-24 12:45

Never been as far up as Duluth even though I lived in Mpls in 2001-2002. Gorgeous color behind the tree silhouettes in this one. We owe it to the tight composition. Regards,
Hakan
PS: Your camera should be fine in cold. Just put it in two plastic bags before bringing it back into room temps. Keep a spare battery in your pocket or buy a remote battery pack if there is one available for 5D.

fserajian (4451) 2008-11-24 13:09 [Comment]

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xavshot (61841) 2008-11-24 13:27

Bonsoir John
excellentes couleurs et beaux reflets dans cette eau glacée. Malgré les couleurs chaudes, je ressent bien la sensation de froid et je ne n'échangerai pas ma place du moment, c'est à dire au chaud, devant l'ordinateur ;o)
Xavier

danyy (67924) 2008-11-24 14:02

bonjour john,

des couleurs absolument magiques qui de plus sont reflètées de manière bien efficace dans les eaux calmes. Une photo très reposante qui nous communie avec la photo
amitié, daniel

Vasa (4798) 2008-11-25 14:21

Hi John, friend,

after all your experience in landscapes you have to bee en impressionist painter. You should be. You know everything about subject, composition, system of colors. Your soul is born for that. This picture above illustrates what I am saying. All compliments and so glad to see you.

Friendly your

Branko

batalay (20680) 2008-11-25 17:38

H John,

It looks frigid, but with such lovely warm hues. The camera that the astronauts took to the moon was a Hasselblad. I wonder if there would not be some literature provided by them, or indeed any google search.

An artistic (maybe) inviting view. I think I would rather stay in my car, however.

Warm regards,

Bulent

CMJC (3056) 2008-11-26 0:03

belle ambiance mais glaciale en effet!
je crois que j'aurais recadré en carré avec moins d'eau car c'est elle qui me donne froid!

darek1978 (11097) 2008-11-26 9:35

Hell John,
Amazing colours and incredible light. Beautiful composition with the shadows. I really like this reflections on the water.
Well done!
Darek

sothy81 (8490) 2008-11-26 11:14

HI JOhn, its been a while that I have not commented on your pictures. Here you got a very nice one. I like the colors of the sunset. I like the foreground water and its colors. Well done. Sothy

vmf-214 (1620) 2008-11-26 19:37

Hi John,

Great capture and very good winter scene, The lighting is perfect and just enough light left give a nice reflection on the water. Like the trees agnist the fading light well done John.

Regards
Jason.

Atousa (3434) 2008-11-27 1:24

Salam John,

The colours are really eye catching n attractive..a lovely atmosphere n very good light management..very well captured..thank you.
Regards, A

jrj (34779) 2008-11-28 3:12

Even with the cold weather an almost warm setting with the red and warm colors of the late day here John. Fine silhouetted work by the river.
I looked into your home page - got a good impression of a well organized site with good use of format and a flash coming up in an acceptable time. Good luck with responses there....

danos (31610) 2008-11-28 4:24

Hello John,
Oh my God these temperatures are rare in Anthens.Today we have about 16-18º C.Excellent presantation of this sunset colors on the sky,as the reflection on the water.The black silhouettes of the trees contrasted perfect on this orange sky.Be careful with your expensive equipment!!

Have a nice day,danos

angela926 (1882) 2008-11-29 18:29

Hello John,
Absolutely beautiful colors,nice silhouettes and good composition.
TFS
Angela

gracious (20017) 2008-11-29 18:59

Hello John,
Such beautiful colour in this wonderful sunset over the Wild Race Lake!
the reflection on the frozen lake is nice too!
I loved the bare tress silhouette against the lovely sky colour!
many thanks for the sharing
cheers
Tony

parbo (10936) 2008-11-29 19:23

Hello John,

This matted reddish water surface giving enough clues how the weather is cold there, wow!

I like reddish-pink tones all over frame with amazing silhouettes of naked trees. Wonderful, congratulations. Have a nice weekend.

Friendly Regards,

Ertugrul

Nicou (43773) 2008-11-30 0:57

Hello,

quelle couleur, c'est un vrai rêve cette image, ce relfet sur l'eau cette ambiance, ces branche qui de détachent dans un merveilleux cielé, superbe.

Bravo et amitié

Nicou

pablominto (39884) 2008-11-30 5:07

Hello John,

An amazing atmosphere!
Some November days can be fantastic, presenting a colour palette never seen other times of year...
The mood is well captured, the simplicity of composition is appealing!

Greetings,
Pablo -

plimrn (19558) 2008-11-30 6:30

John, Hakan's tip about the warm battery is good. This article pretty well covers everything else. You may have read this article from Outdoor Photographer; although it doesn't really focus on camera care, but since it is from Minnesota, I thought you might enjoy it.

As to the picture, it's all been said already. I especially liked the comment about the soul of an impressionist painter. I've never seen a reflection in ice before, but that is probably because I've mostly seen it covered with snow. I love the delicate detail of the tree branches against that wonderful color gradient. Hope transitions are going well
HLJ, Pat

riclopes (32845) 2008-12-01 2:11

Olá John, I envy the close to Nature of the place where you live. This is another marvellous setting at the end of the day. The tones on the water, the graphism of the trees against the red sky, the dark stripe in the middle separating the two in a nice balance...a wonderful photo.
take care,
ricardo

[2]

gunbud (27523) 2008-12-02 17:18

Hi John,
Stunning shot, great idea to use the thin ice to catch the setting sun.
Rich texture and lines in the red ice.
It is rare you get ice without some snow to cloud its clarity. In bright sun this must have an beautiful silver blue hue.
Carry a cleaning cloth to wipe the lens because you can get condensation in the cold.
Regards, Tom

molla (6873) 2008-12-03 12:11

hej John ;
we haven't had that cold yet, so I kind of envy you especially the Ice as on of my passions (outside looking through the camera) is Ice skating on lakes and natural ice. the colors a wintry and very attractive.
Anders Mohlin

Flavia (10202) 2008-12-04 14:37

Hi John,

Such an amazing picture. Love the tight framing on the trees and their reflections. The colors are amazing as well.

Regards,

Flavia

Charo (31651) 2008-12-08 11:38

Hello John,
This fantastic sky red color imtenso. Bella composition with the silhouettes of leafless trees and reflected in the water. Excellent atmosphere.
Best regards,
Charo

stego (22322) 2008-12-09 15:57

Hi John,
I wonder how I would cope with so cold weather, but you clearly are taking good profit of the beauty of the nature near your new home to produce amazingly beautiful photos like this one. Those colours, the subdued light, the silhouettes of the naked trees and the reflections inspire a magical, wonderful and very peaceful atmosphere, with a bit of melancholia perhaps.
It's intriguing to notice the contrast induced by those warm colours with the coldness of the reality. As a matter of fact, it reminds me much an African or Indian sunset. I went seeing my Dominican sunrises to see if the colours matched, but it turns out that some of them look colder than this wintry image.
Regards, José.

Angshu (33235) 2008-12-10 0:43

Hello John
The colours are awesome & on it the silhouette of the trees look great. We can see frost on the lake surface, that's why the reflections on the lake take a very different dimension...it's cold already & this was still in November.
Take Care
Best Regards
Angshu

Silvio1953 (40711) 2008-12-10 6:26

Ciao John, beautiful sunset composition with fascinating refleùctions and fantastic colors, very well done, ciao Silvio

josepmarin (33573) 2008-12-17 9:53

Hi John,
Spectacular sunset scene, with a few amazing tones in the sky and a strong contrast with the silhouettes of the trees in cross-light.
The reflections on the frozen water of the lake complete a very beautiful and elegant composition. I like it.
Best regards,
Josep

kotul (220) 2008-12-30 1:23 [Comment]

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jwmunro (6728) 2009-06-29 15:18

Hello John -

Wow! This is a wonderful image. The colors are over the top in my book as is the composition. Well done!

Can't give you any links about the cold, but from what I have read keep the battery warm and avoid moisture (condensation). Let the camera and bag cool or warm naturally and do not open the bag as soon as you get in the field or in the house.

Thank you for sharing.

John