This Morning's Icy Donner Lake Sunrise

I try to bring my camera with me most places, even when I plan on just leaving it in the car. I really didn't have any plans to shoot this morning when I headed out to meet up with some friends for coffee. But wouldn't you know..... Sunrise ended up being a nice one so I pulled over along Donner Lake and shot this cool scene along the shoreline of Donner Lake, here in Truckee, California.

"Donner Lake Sunrise 56" (Available as prints on my website)

Shot with a Canon R5 Mark II and a 24-105mm lens, set at 24mm. The shutter speed was 1/100 of a second since it was a handheld shot, no tripod. The lens aperture was f/22, nice and small in order to get the best depth of field possible and to try to get the foreground and background in focus. And an ISO of 8,000, a high ISO was needed and a healthy amount of noise reduction was needed in post processing.

No selfies or video clips. This was a quick shoot, a few photos were shot, then I jumped back in my car and headed to my destination. But I'm happy with the unexpected shot that I got!

Thank you for looking and I hope you all have a great day, and weekend!

Scott Thompson
Scott Shots Photography
www.TruckeeTahoePhotos.com

Lake Tahoe Surface Reflection Abstracts

Although it was an incredibly beautiful day yesterday, fishing on Lake Tahoe, I was struggling to find any super photogenic scenes to shoot that would make nice large prints. But at one point, the light breeze created an interesting look to the surface, and I saw some potential for some fun abstract reflection shots. I posted a wider angle view as well, so you can see where these reflections came from. And I posted a photo of the fishing rod I was using, just because I want to brag about how beautiful and incredible of a time I had out there!

Abstract prints aren't my best sellers even though they are some of my favorite photos. What do you think? Do you like these Lake Tahoe surface abstracts? And can you picture seeing them on your wall?

Shot with a Canon R5 MarkII and a Canon 100-500mm lens. The ISO was 1600, the lens aperture was f/20, and the shutter speed was 1/1000. Handheld. The abstract image were flipped upside down in editing, I shot with that in mind as I thought it would be a better look.

Here's a wide angle view of the scene, below.

Yummy! The mackinaw we caught was delicious!

Thanks for looking, and I hope you have a great day!

Scott Thompson
Scott Shots Photography
www.TruckeeTahoePhotos.com

Oh, and I'm posting this room mock-up so you can image how the image would look printed big on a wall. We have a gallery here in Truckee that sells tons of large abstract paintings. I like the abstracts they exhibit, so here's my attempt at the look.

Fannette Island "Abstract" Photo

After shooting yesterday's sunrise at Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe... I hopped in the car and started heading to my buddy's house to meet up for some fishing fun. But on my way out of Emerald Bay, I looked over and saw the early morning sunlight reflecting brightly off of the water, creating a silhouette of Fannette Island. It looked incredibly cool, so I decided to turn around and see if I could capture the scene. I'm glad I did because I kind of love this shot! I don't know if it's a true abstract, but it definitely has an abstracty feel to it. And even though it looks like a black and white photo, it's actually a color shot! It's one of the only digital photos I've ever taken that I decided needed zero adjustments to it. This is a straight-out-of-the-camera photo.

Shot with the Canon R5 MarkII and a 24-105mm L lens, set at 105m. The ISO was 100, the lens aperture was f/22, and the shutter speed was 1/500 of a second. Handheld, no filters were used.

I personally think that this one would make a very cool large print in the right location. What do you think? (If you agree and are interested... Prints can be ordered HERE.)

Thank you for looking and I hope you have a great day!

Scott Thompson
Scott Shots Photography
www.TruckeeTahoePhotos.com

This Morning's Emerald Bay Sunrise

I got the invite to go fishing on a friend's boat at 9am, on Lake Tahoe today. Sweet! But I had time to kill in the morning, so I decided to wake up early and drive to Emerald Bay first. The sunrise forecast wasn't looking great, but you miss all the shots you don't take. So I took the risk and was rewarded with this beautiful scene!

Shot with a Canon R5 MarkII and a 24-105mm lens, set at 24mm. The ISO was 400, the lens aperture was f/8, and the shutter speed was 1.3 seconds. A tripod and two a graduated neutral density filter were used.

And in case your wondering... No fish were caught while fishing. 😞
It was very windy out, we almost didn't launch the boat, and we didn't stay out very long. Oh well, it was still fun to get out on the water.

Thank you for looking, and I hope you have a great day!

Scott Thompson
Scott Shots Photography
www.TruckeeTahoePhotos.com

Snowy Downtown Truckee, California. Shot 2-16-25

It was a beautiful morning out in Downtown Truckee, California today. Finally, we have been getting some snow again. And it was actually cold dry snow, not wet sloppy snow. This made for some very nice photogenic scenes around town. I took quite a few photos, but these two were my favorite. I also shot a little video clip of our Commercial Row in Downtown. This little strip of town has a lot of history to it.

Both photos were shot with a Canon R5 Mark II and a 24-105mm lens. Handheld, no tripod.

As always, prints and photo products of these images are available on my website www.TruckeeTahoePhotos.com. Thanks for looking and I hope you are all having a great day!

Scott Thompson
Scott Shots Photography
www.TruckeeTahoePhotos.com

This Morning's Cool Shot

It was another chilly morning, here in Truckee, California. The snow forecasts lately have been very wrong. We've gotten a little hear and there, but nowhere near the amounts that were predicted. The temperature forecasts have been more accurate, and that means more icicle weather!

I took a little walk across the street to Donner Lake, to see what I could see this morning. This little stream was running pretty hard, splashing, and creating some beautiful icicles. Many photos were shot, but this one caught my eye. I loved the cool tones of the ice in the shadows contrasting with the warm tones of the sunlight on the rock. What do you think? It's not a big dynamic landscape scene, but I really like these little looks at nature being beautiful on a smaller scale.

"Icicles 5"

The cluster of icicles can be seen on the far right.

Cold but happy photographer!

Yes, I'm always trying to sell more prints... which are available for ordering on my website HERE.

Thank you for looking and I hope you are all having a great weekend!

Scott Thompson
Scott Shots Photography
www.TruckeeTahoePhotos.com