Surprise! It's foggy!
believe it or not, we haven't had a day like this one in quite a while
so I'm very excited to be out here
I'm also excited because even though this is not a dry land
for some reason there are barely any lakes around here
so I was very excited when I found this pond last night
just looking for new places on google maps
and of course, I had to come here and check it out
so that's not something that you see every day
I bet that on a regular day, without the fog, it looks pretty ugly
but today, to my eyes, this is the most beautiful lake in the world right now
I've been trying to capture that pillar, I guess
while still showing some of the background
and I'm playing with the shore
maybe showing more and less
and I think I got a couple of good images
I'm gonna keep trying because every angle is different, but pretty cool
so there's this beautiful island in the middle of the pond
what a pond, it has a little bit of everything
and that island is quite beautiful, but it is too foggy to make an image of just that island
because it wouldn't be too clear
it wouldn't be a very good image in my opinion
I think it would be much better if we add something else
even if it's just a little tiny element that can serve as an anchor
something to look at, at first
when you first look at the image
"okay, I see that, what else?"
if we don't show anything else, even though the image might be beautiful
it might not be interesting enough
so what I'm gonna do is use a couple of buoys that are in this pond / lake
and play with that
and the island in the background
and the other shore of the lake that is showing up now
because this fog is clearing up a little bit
so I'm gonna be playing with those elements and see what I can come up with
so a good way to tell if your image has a strong enough reference
is by asking your camera, more specifically the autofocus of your camera
my video camera was just having a lot of trouble
trying to focus on the trees on the other shore
because they are too far into the fog
but when I added that buoy to the frame
I was able to actually lock focus on that buoy
and the camera didn't struggle anymore
so maybe that's a clue that we can use:
if the camera is struggling to see anything in the scene
anything that is clear enough, strong enough, sharp enough
then someone looking at the image will struggle as well
including you in the future
now, let's not confuse that with thinking that everything
in the frame has to be sharp, clear, and strong
nothing farther from the truth
and it's almost the opposite of what I try to do with my images
where I try to add, to create, some mystery
take for example this scene: the pillar is back there in the background, very far away
it's not clear at all so if I were to zoom in to 200mm
and try to make an image of just the pillar
that wouldn't be a very good image
instead, what we can do is to use the shore that is closer to us
thus is going to be much stronger, it's going to be darker in the frame
and use it as a leading line to that pillar
in that case, the pillar itself doesn't need to be that clear
it doesn't need to show all the details
actually, the fewer details the better because we create some mystery
but the shore gives the viewer
whoever is looking at the image, something to hold on to
a guide to how to read this image
how to look at it
this line is going to help you, it's yelling: "please, look here, look at this spot"
the viewer is not going to be lost anymore
they might not have a clear idea of what they are looking at
but that doesn't matter, because they can use their imagination to fill those gaps
what matters is that we keep them engaged with the image
I think this is going to be a beautiful image, so I'm just trying different things
and see which one works better
from here, the shore makes a straight line, from bottom to top of the frame towards the pillar
if I move forward or backwards, the shore makes a more curved... diagonal line
so I'm just trying to play with those two things
I like them both, so that might be a decision I will take later
but yeah, it's beautiful here
there's this pretty cool... I think it's an old, dead tree there on that island
there is a stork nest on top of it
and it's gone now, but there was a stork right there a few seconds ago
it looks very, very cool
but it has that problem that I've been mentioning this whole morning
it's just too far into the fog, it's not clear, it's not going to make for a good image
I still took a shot or two of the stork
I'm going to try to play with it in lightroom
maybe with some dehazing to make it a little bit more clear
but I don't think it's going to be a great image
this is just one of those times... well, most of the times are like this
where something looks very cool to your eyes, but it just doesn't work
for an image, at least
it is time to go back to the wide angle
this is a very good view from here of that tiny island
but yeah, it requires a wider angle point of view
you can still see the nest of the stork from here
I think you can see it there in the frame... up there
so I'm still gonna try to make an image of that
but first I'm gonna do this
so, actually, I was able to fit the tree with the nest on top in the frame
I'm just lacking the stork
now, I don't know if it's gonna make a big difference because it's kind of far away
so I don't know if the stork would be very visible
but it could be like a little... what's the name?
like an easter egg
if you pay attention to the image, you might realize eventually about the stork
and it just makes everything much better
I mean, if you don't see the stork, well, it's still a good image
so fingers crossed that the stork comes back soon
maybe it flew away because it saw me
in that case, it's never gonna come back
one can only hope
so, this is interesting
this is an old door, an old big gate here in the middle of nowhere
I guess it used to be the entrance to the path I just took
but right now, it's just here, abandoned
looks pretty cool but yeah, no image to be made here
this is pretty busy, it's all overgrown
I almost made another good image
I really like the trees at the other side of the pond on the other shore
but as I said, I want to add something else because it's still pretty foggy
and the trees are not clear at all
so I saw a few ducks a little bit farther away, I approached them
but I completely forgot to change the lens
I was using the wide-angle lens so I wasn't able to get the ducks close enough to me
so I don't think those images are going to work
but yeah, at least I tried, I guess
I found this pretty cool tree here
that's a duck
it looks pretty cool, but it doesn't work by itself
so even though...
it could work!
if I used more of the shore, because it has a cool shape
but the right angle would be from further down
and that would mean that I have to include the trees in the background
so it doesn't really work
but what I can do, is to play with that tree and the other one that you can see here
in the background
that's another duck
and I think that would make for a more interesting, more compelling image
I've been walking around the pond
of course, to check it out, but also to kill some time
while I wait for the stork to come back
but I don't think it will ever do
at least as long as I'm here
the storks back at the train station are pretty shy
so I can only imagine that this one, living on an island by itself
is going to be even more shy
it probably doesn't like that I am here
but what a place, so beautiful in the fog
I had my doubts this morning, I almost didn't come
because, you know, on google maps it looked like just a pond
but it's beautiful, and I'm glad that I came
god, this is horrible, it's terrible, it's worse than a dad joke
but I have to say it
this is the MBP
or the most beautiful pond
you can go ahead and unfollow me
I won't blame you
so I was revisiting this spot because it got foggier
oh! the three ducks I tried to photograph earlier, they are here!
and now, I have the right lens
I have to move very slow, and be very quiet
but I'm gonna try to move the video camera so you see it too
that didn't work as I was hoping it would
they were just too far, I would have loved them to be a little bit closer
more on the bottom of the frame, so they could be darker
again, maybe I can play with that in lightroom
and maybe add some contrast just to the ducks
and maybe make them a little bit darker
I do like the composition, I do like the...
the trail that they leave on the water, so it might work
it's just that I was visualizing something something different
a moment I'm always looking forward to on very foggy days like today
is when the sun finally breaks through the fog as it's doing right now
because it makes for very dramatic scenes and it can make for very dramatic images
I just made one here, very simple, of the pond
the sun is still very bright
but unlike clear days, foggy days like today allow us to actually play with it
because we can darken... we can play with the exposure
and darken the whole landscape a little bit
and to actually show the shape of the sun, the sphere
I think it looks pretty cool
that's what I tried to do here, it's probably not going to work
because there is nothing really of interest, besides the pond
but you get my point, this is a good moment to make very dramatic images
and videos... you see, I look very dramatic, I can play with the sun
to see the sun also usually means that the fog is finally clearing up
and it's going away, and it is definitely doing it here right
now
this one still doesn't work
it's still too foggy or I don't know, I don't know if it's a good image at all
and that's maybe why I don't like it
but yeah, I'm gonna keep going
just head back to the car, because I've been here for quite a while
quite a few hours just at this spot
I just didn't think this pond could offer so many photography opportunities
but I had a blast here, I had a lot of fun
I hope you enjoyed the video, I hope you liked the images I made as well
and before letting you go, I just have to thank someone
that's right, today I want to say a huge thank you to Eric Muhr
who is a very talented photographer from oregon
and who has amazing photographs from some of my favorite landscapes in the world
you should definitely check his work out following the links in the description down below
Eric is a great supporter of this channel, he's part of our patreon community
and just a reminder that we get together once a week for a live stream
where we talk all things photography
the highlights are totally blown out
it's something that I try to use in my photography as well
the sky is totally blown out, and the beach is a little bit blown out as well
as you can see in the original
so if you want to join us over there
you're going to find the link in the description down below as well
and that's all for today
thank you so much for watching again, and see you in the next one!