The Salmon river is one of the most remarkable rivers I have seen. Water has always been hard for me to capture, and this river proved to be no different. In this post I’ll talk about how I addressed the movement, contrast, and transparency of the Salmon River.

In my last post I talked about the power of my camera and this image proved to be no different. However, this image felt to be equal parts skill and technical ability of the device. It took many different shots, angles, and setting adjustments to produce an image that still needed a bit of touching up. The river was vibrant, active, and constantly reflecting into my eye. Seriously, I thought I would need to apply a tint to my lens. But when I found this nice little shady spot in the corner of a bend, I was finally able to get a shot I was happy with. What made it click was getting away from attempting to capture everything, but rather focusing on a particular aspect of the scene. For this shot, I chose the place where the water meets the land. Once there, I was able to adjust my iso and shutter speed to capture the right amount of light, while letting the camera do the focusing. This approach produced an image full of color and a variety of lighting facets.

The bright green trees and the crystal clear water made for something stunning. The bottom of the riverbed stood out to me, mostly because I wasn’t able to see it through the camera. Beyond that, the foliage around the shot was exiting and calming at the same time; the tall old trees and the long standing rocks made one aware of the time used to carve this river and produce a sustainable forest. The depth of this image impressed me; the furthest object in focus was hundreds of yards from the lens.

I am eager to work with water more; be it the ocean, a river, or a lake, I am interested to see what kind of results different aspects of water are hiding.

Thank you for reading! -Ben