“Light Shafts” captured on the Blue Ridge Parkway!
I came around the corner and hoping I would find beams of light peering through the trees!.. I got my wish! Here is the result of my time with the Shafts!d
Location: Sleepy Gap, Milepost 397.3 on the Blue Ridge Parkway
Camera: Canon 60D
Lens: EF 70-200 f/4 L IS USM
Focal Length: 70
ISO: 125
Shutter: 1/80
Aperture: f7.1
Filters: none
Exposure: Manual
How I Got This Shot: It was a foggy morning but only in pocketed sections of the parkway. I went up to catch the sunrise and was a little disappointed in the sunrise as it was just to cloudy and foggy where I was positioned. As I started down the mountain I noticed the sun was starting to break through. I quickly thought of the possibility of my favorite morning scene – Light Shafts! As I turned the corner near Sleepy Gap, there they were, just beaming through around the bend. I pulled in to the overlook space. Spent a few minutes moving around to find just the right spot, and shot a few.
I used one of my favorite lens’s, the 70-200 f4 IS USM from Canon. It is super sharp and I knew it would have no problem finding the shafts of light. So little was done to this other then standard camera RAW adjustments upon uploading the LR5. In fact, I tried a few other things in a plugin I like to use, but I was disappointed with the results and went back to my RAW file and started over with the original and just gently nudged the sliders in the basic panel such as my highlights and shadows, a bit of clarity but not too much as this will case it to look unnatural and it will loose it’s softness. I also added a bit of contrast. No worries about my noise as I shot at ISO125.
For More Information
- Additional photographs by Deborah Scannell Photography
- Categories where this photo is found: Editor's Picks, Blue Ridge Parkway