Moreau Lake State Park in upstate New York was the site of some recent photo ops just last week. I stayed with a friend overnight, which allowed me to practice some night photography using the forest as my backdrop.
I broke out my neutral density filter at the beach (for more on how to use these, see my post), which smoothed the water and turned the people (and ducks) swimming into “ghosts.”
On a second trip to the beach I took off my weathered flip flops and waded in the water. It reminded me of when I used to come here as a kid and go swimming. Nowadays, just a quick dip up to my ankles is plenty. For the photo below, I used my 17-40 at 17mm to take in the whole scene.
At night, I played around with light painting (with a flashlight) and star trails by pointing my camera straight up to the sky. The photo below and the one at the top of this page are two of my favorites from this trip.
There is no shortage of dogs taking strolls with their humans. I grabbed the shot below of a stranger’s dog.
Oscar, my friend’s dog, is no stranger to my camera, and thus is a skilled poser. I took a bunch of shots of him when the lighting was just perfect coming through the trees. A little fill flash helped illuminate his adorable face, and f/1.4 helped make that irresistible bokeh. This one’s my favorite.
Oscar and his mom share a tight bond, as evidenced in the photo below.
All in all, it was a very enjoyable time!
Tools I used to create the photos this post: Canon EOS 6D, Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM, Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM, Manfrotto 190XDB Tripod, Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM, Canon Speedlite 270 EX (replaced by Canon Speedlite 270 EX II), Canon EF 135mm f/2L USM, Manfrotto 496RC2 Ball Head, B+W 77mm Circular Polarizer Slim Filter, B+W 77mm ND 3.0, Adobe Photoshop CS6
