Dawn at the Lake Photo

Photographer’s Note

Dawn at the Tres Chimbadas oxbow lake, a short walk from Posada Amazonas near the confluence of the Madre de Dios and Tambopata rivers in Peru.

The lake is home to a family of giant river otters, piranhas (we caught a few), turtles, hoatzin, rufescent tiger heron, purple gallinule, sunbittern, sungrebe, osprey and black-collared hawk.

At the time, I was trying to get to grips with exposure (I still am) and messing around with exposure compensation. The idea was that I would take a shot with no compensation and then one with what I thought was an appropriate compensation based on the lighting situation. But in fact this is the shot with no compensation - I didn't think it needed any.

Mid-tones darkened slightly in PP (so exposure wasn't perfect!). Otherwise untouched.

sleon has marked this note useful

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sleon (9352) 2005-09-14 4:24

Hi Martin
Welcome to TE! This has a lovely atmosphere. The colours in the sky are really effective and the reflections are beautiful. Shame that some parts are rather dark, but lighting in this type of scene is always a bit tricky; in any case the sky and water is perfectly exposed. I'm not normally a fan of centrally placed horizons but here it would have been difficult to decide between the water and the sky!
Regards, Susanna

sotirios (1685) 2005-09-14 4:42 [Comment]

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aferrao (1074) 2005-09-14 8:40

First of all welcome to TE, Martin!
I like this photo, the atmosphere is good. I guess it could be better with a litle more sharp, but ok!
Greatings, Artur.

Cos (1562) 2005-09-15 4:40

Hi Martin
Welcome to TE - I look forward to seeing lots more of your work here!
I like the way you have captured the mist in the middle ground and the reflections in the water are beautiful. Exposing a scene like this is never easy, using a graduated neutral density filter can help balance things out. In this shot, I think the sky and the water compliment each other very well and the band of mist in the middle ground also lightens things up to give a nice compo over all.
Regards, Sarah