Date Taken: 10/20/2016
Location: Bass Lake, Moses Cone Memorial Park at Milepost 294 on the Blue Ridge Parkway

Camera: Sony A7
Lens: sel70300
Focal Length: 70mm
ISO: 100
Shutter: 1/8″
Aperture: f11
Filters: None
Exposure: Aperture
How I Got This Shot: It was a beautiful day and near peak color all over the Boone area. Got off the Parkway and ran down to Bass Lake to check it out (about 5:00 PM). Water was smooth so there were some nice reflections. Used a tripod.

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Location: Bass Lake Moses H. Cone Memorial Park, Milepost 294 on the Blue Ridge Parkway near Blowing Rock.
A crisp autumn morning at Bass Lake, Moses H. Cone Memorial Park. Captured 10/6/2013

Camera: Nikon D7100
Lens: Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8
Focal Length: 16mm
ISO: 200
Shutter: 1/20
Aperture: f/16
Filters: Marumi Super DHG Circular Polarizer 77mm
Exposure: Manual
How I Got This Shot: I did my best to compose this scene so that it is balanced. Our eye is drawn to whatever is brightest in a scene (or darkest, if your photo is mostly bright!). In this case, the brightest area of the photo is the radiant sunrise. That is made the left side of the scene very heavy. Think of it like a scale. Something needs to be put on the right side to bring the scene into balance. Here, I’ve used the the island to do just that.

I think it is also helpful that the treetops on the island broke up the treeline running along the lake shore. The idea is that the eye will look at the bright, misty sunrise first, then follow the gradual ascent of treetops to the right until it dead stops on the island interrupting the line.

Everything else about this photo are just basics. If you want calm water and a sky like this, be there when the sun rises. No amount of Photoshop or filters will turn a midday shot into this. You have to do the hard work of getting up early and setting up just as the sun crest the treeline.

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Location: Bass Lake, Moses H. Cone Memorial Park, Milepost 294
The sun illuminates the rising mist from the surface of Bass Lake.

Camera: Nikon D7100
Lens: Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8
Focal Length: 16mm
ISO: 200
Shutter: 1/10
Aperture: f/16
Filters: None
Exposure: Manual
How I Got This Shot: One “secret” about shooting into the sun is to use your LCD display rather than the viewfinder. This allows you to explore various compositions at your leisure without the nasty side effect or blindness.

The sun was extremely low in the sky. This photo was captured just as it had crest the treeline. To get the sharp spikey bits on the sun, use a relatively small aperture. Here, I used f/16. Experiment to see how aperture affects the spikey bits. By the way, this effect can be recreated with other light sources.

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Date Taken: 05/15/2016
Location: Bass Lake, Moses Cone Memorial Park near Blowing Rock, North Carolina.

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Date Taken: 08/14/2015
Location: Bass Lake at Moses Cone Memorial Park at Milepost 294

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Location: This photo was taken at Bass Lake on the Moses H. Cone property on October 17, 2013.
I call this orangely beautiful.

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Date Taken: 01/19/2014
Location: Bass Lake Moses H. Cone Memorial Park MP294
Starry night over a mostly frozen Bass Lake near Blowing Rock, NC.

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Location: Bass Lake, Milepost 294

It was a glorious sunset at Bass Lake. I was pretty much the only one there, which is rare. If you look closely, you can see Flat Top Manor hiding in the shadows high above the lake.

Camera: Nikon D7100
Lens: Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8
Focal Length: 11mm
ISO: 100
Shutter: .5 sec
Aperture: 16
Filters: Marumi Super DHG Circular Polarizer 77mm
Exposure: Manual
How I Got This Shot: If you want a smooth lake surface, try early morning or late evening. It was difficult to find a pleasing composition because the Water Lilies that Bass Lake is known for really break up the beautiful, smooth water, and that’s not what I wanted. I chose a spot with the fewest amount of Water Lilies while still having Flat Top Manor in the shot. I used my Marumi to intensify the reflections. The biggest problem I had was waiting for a moment when there wasn’t a dozen ducks gliding by. At this shutter speed, they wouldn’t have been sharp and I didn’t want them in the photo. So I waited for the perfect moment and hit the shutter release button.

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Date Taken: 09/19/2014
Location: Bass Lake

It was a glorious sunrise at Bass Lake!

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Date Taken: 01/19/2014
Location: Bass Lake Moses H. Cone Memorial Park MP294
The Cone Manor cast in an eerie yellow moon on a starry night.

Camera: Canon 6D
Lens: Rokinon 14mm f/2.8
Focal Length: 14mm
ISO: 6400
Shutter: 30 seconds
Aperture: 2.8
Filters: None
Exposure: Manual
How I Got This Shot: Use your live view to find a star, magnify, then manually focus. Use the longest shutter speed you can without capturing the movement of the stars. Many use the 500 rule, in which you divide 500 by the focal length you’re shooting at. In my case, I could have used 35 seconds for shutter speed, but I would have had to use bulb mode, and I didn’t have my cable release handy. Bump up your ISO to brighten the image to your liking. A fast, wide lens such as this 14mm f/2.8 helps a lot with this type of photography.

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