Evening Kayaking

[another view]

I recently spent a week on Lake Superior at the Apostle Islands. This shot came from something I worked on last time I was there a couple of years ago - attach a tripod mounted camera to the kayak and shoot with long-ish shutter speeds. Instead of paddling while doing this, I tried rocking the boat back and forth (while not in it) to blur the sides for the 1/4 sec exposure. This kept the horizon fairly sharp in the middle and made the effect stronger at the edges.

Coolpix 5000 with wide lens adapter (about 19mm). Only Photoshop work was cloning out a couple of distracting elements on the boat - like the tips of the tripod legs that I didn't realize were in the shot!

[GB1]

Very interesting shot. I like the symmetry in the center and the lack of it on the sides. Smart idea, and although it is slightly soft in the center, it seems to be sharp overall.

I'll have to try this sometime by poking my camera out of my sunroof, maybe at night. But I doubt I can get the center subject as well as U did here.

- gb

[Todd Patten]

I absolutely love this shot. Your method was VERY inventive -- there's no way on earth I would have thought of it myself! It gives more of a fog effect for me. The colors are brilliant, the area surrounding the kayak is downright silky.

The only thing that may be slightly off for me is that the horizon on the right is at a strong angle. If there were anyway you could minimize this effect, I think you have a winner. I don't know how a photo gets into "featured photo" but I would nominate this one in a heartbeat.

I need to get myself a kayak. We're on the lake every weekend and it looks like a fun toy to have.

[mtbbrian]

I really like this one Steve!
Great use of color, the water and the kayak are almost monochromatic, the red from the paddles stands out well against them. That said, you have a lot of good compositional elements going on here. Color of course. Tension from the paddles. I like the angle of the horizion too!
Looks like your trip was FUN!
Brian

[another view]

Thanks, everybody! You know, sometimes you are your own best and worst critic.

It is just a little soft - the kayak itself - because the tripod wasn't really solid (looped under bungee cords). I initially wanted a long exposure but the rocking idea came after a few frames. I took the time to line everything up when I was getting ready to shoot, but the tripod probably moved a little while shooting so the sharp point on the horizon (the axis) got moved over a little. It was a great trip - 12 rolls of film coming back next week, brace yourselves!