I made this colorful windswept sunset photograph while exploring a remote region in northern Quebec. While driving along the shore, I noticed two land masses off in the distance and imagined a photograph using them as an anchor with the sky accentuated. It was windy and both the water and clouds were moving; I decided a long exposure would smooth the water and make an interesting pattern with the clouds. It was not quite sunset and there was still quite a bit of light.
To obtain a long exposure I added two neutral density filters, a graduated neutral density filter and stopped down to f51. The combination gave me an 81 second exposure. The combination of the filters in front of the lens deepened the saturation considerably, I worried too much!
The more challenging issue with this photograph was the dirt on my Hasselblad camera’s digital sensor that becomes terribly obvious at extremely small apertures such as f51. I had been working in sandy and windy conditions for a while and I do not risk damaging a camera back by cleaning it in the field or mid-trip. I once accidently put a deep scratch into the glass cover that sits in front of the camera’s sensor; Hasselblad took a month and $1,000 to repair it. I play it safe and remove all dust spots in Photoshop.
