We arrived to Visalia (driving down from San Diego) a few hours before sunset. The evening appeared to turn enchanting with colors and clouds. So I got busy looking for nearby places to catch a good sunset. A photograph on flickr popped depicting Lake Kaweah. It looked alright with some boats etc. I though why not, it was just 30min away.

I was surprised to see the Lake with so many houseboads floating around. It turns out its a boarding village and support recreational activities, I was happy to see the colorful roofs of the boat houses and the interesting array they were organized. Next thing was to look for a proper spot to get the perspective right. Too close and I loose the array while too far and I get too many elements like the parked cars and the road itself leading to the lake that I did not want in the frame.

The key is to get he frame right rather than cropping it extensively in post. Anyways I took shots from a few spots but the water showed too much motion. But the risk of slowing the shutter was getting not so sharp boats. But it was worth it. I love this perspective, the setting sun, the glowing water, the steady houseboats, the three arrays of boats and the small parked cars giving a sense of scale to the photograph. I used a variable ND (Tiffen) at a low setting (3 stops down equivalent).

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Please don’t post any graphics or awards. I just want to know what you think and highly appreciate any inputs to improve my photographs. Thank you for your favorites and comments!

via Flickr http://flic.kr/p/wiS83F