Scott Shots Photography Blog. Follow the adventures of Truckee / Tahoe, CA photographer Scott Thompson. Photographs, locations, advice, how to's, QandA's
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.
It's been a while since we've gotten any fresh snow here in Truckee, California. We have a little in the forecast and I'm hoping to get some new winter wonderland shots soon... However, when the weather conditions are cold and dry like they have been lately, we can often get some really cool patterns in the ice on the surface of local lakes.
Yesterday, I had some time in the morning to take a little walk along the shore of Donner Lake. These angular patterns were all along the shoreline. I was digging it, so I shot it! Simple yet kind of wild looking. What do you think? Do you like this look?
I went out for a short stroll with the camera and some turmeric tea this morning. The camera was almost left at home... But I'm glad I decided to grab it at the last minute, because of this cool scene! There was a thin layer of ice on Donner Lake here in Truckee, California. But in this small area, the ice had broken up and piled up, creating sharp looking, jagged pieces of ice that looked rather photogenic to me. So I set down the hot tea and went to work getting some cool photos!
Shot with the Canon 5DR R and a 16-35mm lens, set at 16mm. The camera's ISO was 200, the shutter speed was 1/200 of a second, and the lens aperture was f/16. Shot handheld, no tripod or lens filters.
Instead of shooting a quick selfie as I often do, I decided to make a short video...
Thanks for looking, and I hope you all have a cool day too!!!
It was foggy yesterday morning here at Donner Lake in Truckee, California. But after a while, it started to clear up so I grabbed my camera and walked across the street to see if I could get any cool photos of the lake with a bit of the fog on it. When I got to the shoreline, I noticed something even cooler...
There was a bit of ice, but it wasn't your normal frozen surface. There was wild unusual triangular patterns all over it. The fog was nice, but I spent most of my time shooting icy abstracts instead.
These were all shot with the Canon 5DS R, which is a 50.6 megapixel DSLR. If desired, I could print these up huge. I kind of think these first three images would look very nice on a big wall somewhere...
These next two wider angle photos of the ice aren't bad either. I just like those first three a bit better.
And here's what I originally had in mind. The lake's surface was very still, the early morning sun made the color of the boulders look very warm, and the fog brought it all together to make a very calming serene shot.
Another beautiful morning in Truckee!!! I hope you are all haveing a great weekend too.
I was lucky to get out again recently on the cross-country skis for a little exercise at Donner Lake, here in Truckee, California. While out, I decided to ski over to Coldstream Pond, to see what I could see. There were some interesting cracks in the ice that that had frozen back over. I really liked the look of this scene on the pond. I know what I think it looks like, but what do you think it looks like???
Shot with the Canon 5DS R and a 24-105mm lens. The ISO was 160, the lens aperture was f/18, and it was a fast 1/200 of a second exposure. When I shoot handheld, I like to have a nice fast shutter speed, it helps the image be a lot sharper and look better as a big print.
Here's a look at the whole frozen pond. I'm not sure if the ice was thick enough to walk on, but I certainly wasn't going to find out...
Thanks for looking and I hope you are all having a great day!
There was a break in a big snowstorm recently. It had been dumping all day, a decent amount of snow piled up fast. I took the opportunity to make some tea, grab the camera, and walk across the street to Donner Lake in order to enjoy a little outdoor time.
When I got to the lake, I was surprised and pleased to see these cone shaped snow covered rocks! The cone look made them a bit unique compared to most snow covered rocks. Also, the lake was coated with a slushy slurpy layer of snow. The whole scene looked kind of surreal so I fired off many photos and even waited around until sunset, with hopes for a fiery colorful sky.
Sunset did not fire off quite like I had hoped, but there was still a bit of warmth to the clouds. It was beautiful out!
These were all shot with the Canon 5DS R and a 24-105mm lens. All handheld, no tripod or lens filters. The camera settings varied but the shutter was always 1/200 of a second. I like using a fast shutter speed when shooting handheld in order to ensure that the image will be nice and sharp if I print it up big.
The image above was looking to the east, the image below was looking to the west toward Donner Summit.
Okay, this was weird... I found this hole below with a little feather floating in it. I have no idea how it formed, or if the feather had something to do with the snow not sticking there. But it looked very interesting and was very photo worthy.
As you can see above, the snow on the surface of the lake was more of a slushy slurpee and not frozen solid. I tried going out with the camera again this morning for a sunrise shoot, but the slush had melted and the scene was no longer really photo-worthy in my opinion (see the photo below).
It was a fun photoshoot yesterday! I spent a lot of time out there walking up and down the shoreline. I shot many different compositions, but these were my favorites.
Oh! And earlier in the day, while running errands, I saw this Tesla Cybertruck in the wild! I've seen one driving around town before, but this was the first time seeing it in a snowstorm. I've been told Teslas handle the snow fairly well with their all wheel drive. This one had cables on the rear tires, so it was probably driving like a tank, no slipping and sliding.
Thanks for looking and I hope you all had a great weekend too!
I waited until after lunch to get out there in hopes that it would warm up a touch. It did. It was about 22°F when I headed out. I was incredibly excited as it was my first day back on the cross-country skis since last winter. I also tossed the camera in my backpack, just in case I saw anything "cool".
I did see something very cool! The shallow water in the area below had frozen overnight, and frost had built up on it. It was a great look and as soon as I saw it, I knew I had to capture it.
These were both shot with the Canon 5DS R and a 24-105mm lens. They were also both handheld shots, no tripod or lens filters.
I was loving the look and feeling creative, so I decided to get a little video too.
Here's a couple more cell phone photos to show you the shoreline a bit more. They aren't for printing big like the photos above, but it gives a nice "behind the scenes" look.
Yup! A happy photographer once again! A good afternoon on the skis, and some good keeper photos as well.
Thanks for looking, and I hope you all had a great day too!
I went on a little icicle hunt today at an unnamed creek that feeds into Donner Creek, up above Donner Lake here in Truckee, California. Success! I found some ice along the creek, it was looking beautiful, and I ended up with some keeper photos that are now up on my website.
There was about 1-2 feet of snow in the area. This is a very low amount of snow for that spot during this time of year. Last year, there was probably 10 feet of snow there mid-December and the creek would have been buried, with no visible ice. It was fairly easy to walk along the creek and get some "cool" photos of the ice.
These were all shot with the Canon 5DS R and a 24-105mm lens. They were also all shot with a lens aperture of f/22. This is a small aperture that creates a good depth of field, where the foreground is in focus, and the background is in focus. Well... actually, these were macro type shots so even at f/22, the ice that was further back was still a little out of focus. The ISO and shutter speed varied, but they were all somewhat long exposures that required the camera to be on a tripod. This helped give a bit of a smear look to the moving creek water. Frozen water mixed with water in motion is a look I like.
I do like all of these, but I couldn't decide which one I liked best. The photos are numbered, please let me know which one you like best (if you even like them at all...). Thank you!
1
2
3
4
5
6
Thank you for looking and I hope you all had a great day.
Quill dog and I got out for a nice big walk recently where Alder Creek flows into Prosser Reservoir, here in Truckee, California. Snowshoes were needed, I also brought my camera and tripod in hopes of having some icy abstract photo fun. Success! I found some interesting ice and little scenes that made for some nice shots. A video of the adventure is above, the "keeper" photos are below.
All of these were taken with the Canon 5DS R and a 24-105mm lens. A tripod was used so I could use a somewhat long exposure, about an 1/8 to 1/2 of second. The ISO was 50 for all of them and the lens aperture was nice and small at f/22. A polarizing filter was used on some of the photos in order to allow me to use a longer exposure than the shots without the filter.
At one spot, I saw that the water was moving in a circle, like a little whirlpool or eddy, and I knew that it might make for a cool look with a longer exposure. Yup! I like the little circular smears that the little bubbles in the swirling water made.
I'll admit, I increased the contrast quite a bit when editing these next two. But I love how the ice was looking spikey, and getting the blacks a bit darker made the ice stand out a bit more.
Thanks for looking and I hope you are all having a cool day!
