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

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

YouTube Videos Of My Photography - New

A little sunrise photo adventure above Donner Lake in Truckee, California. It's been a few years since I've shot one of my photo adventures. 

And here's a little recent YouTube Short of an icy Donner Lake shoreline.

I'm a bit out of practice but I hope to start shooting more of these "behind the scenes" videos of my photography sessions soon. Thanks for looking and I hope you are all having a great day!

-Scott Thompson

This Morning's Sunrise Shoot At Donner Lake

I had a morning photoshoot scheduled today with Coach Martin of MVB Coaching. Martin trains athletes for marathons, cross country skiing and more. His beginner cross country ski lessons helped me get going with the sport right away. (He also does online consultations and training if you're interested...)

Last night, I looked at the Skyfire app and it was forecasting a great sunrise with lots of color. So a change in the plans was made and we decided to meet up even earlier, in the dark, and head out for about a 30 minute trek to a great view spot at Donner Lake, here in Truckee, California.

The forecast was correct! We ended up with some beautiful photos with a colorful sky and stunning scenery behind the action. Here are a few of my favorites from this morning:

Shot with a Canon 5DS R and a 24-105mm lens. A flash unit on the camera was used. No lens filters or tripod. The photo above was ISO 1000, aperture f/4.0, and 1/200 of a second. The photo below was ISO 640, aperture 7.1, and also 1/200 of a second. A decent amount of work was done to the RAW images in Photoshop in order to balance everything out.

Once we were done shooting images at the peak sunrise color, Martin found this wood chair and took a quick break. Gotta stop and smell the roses, even when you're a competitive athlete.

I thought I'd share a screenshot of the Skyfire app. As you can see, Friday morning was in the orange which means "GO SHOOT!" It's the best sunrise/sunset forecast app I've ever used. A dollar a week for the subscription adds up but for me, it's totally worth having.

Yes, that is frost on my beanie, it was chilly out. Tons of fun, good exercise, and some great photos too.

Thanks for looking and I hope you are all having a photogenic day. Cheers to the weekend!

Scott Thompson
Scott Shots Photography
www.ScottShotsPhoto.com

Now Exhibiting At The Genoa Gallery!

I'm happy to announce that I am now selling prints at The Genoa Gallery ( http://thegenoagallery.com )

The gallery has a nice variety of artists, a list of them can be found on their website. I have both canvas prints at the gallery, as well as smaller unframed print. 

Below are some images that I have recently shot of Genoa, Nevada. These will soon be available as prints in the gallery. 

"Sunrise Over Genoa 1" - Sunrise photograph of fall colors and Genoa, Nevada.

"Rainbow Over Genoa, Nevada 3" - Photograph of a vibrant rainbow over fall foliage in the town of Genoa, Nevada.

"Cattle In Nevada 1" - Panoramic photograph of grazing cattle in Genoa, Nevada.

"Genoa, Nevada In Autumn 1" - Early morning photograph of fall colors in Genoa, Nevada.

And here are some photos of the gallery. 

If you find yourself exploring the beautiful little town of Genoa, Nevada, please do stop by this new gallery and tell them I sent you! Thank you!

Scott Thompson

www.ScottShotsPhoto.com

 

New Rainbow Bridge Sunrise Photograph - And A Behind The Scenes Video

A few days ago, I got out to one of my favorite "go-to" spots for sunrise photography. It's a fairly easy spot to get to when I don't have a lot of time to spend hiking or driving further. Rainbow Bridge above Donner Lake and Truckee, California has provided many cool photos for me over the years. Although I was hoping for more explosive sunrise colors that were also higher in the sky, I really can't complain as the vibrant pinks were beautiful looking.

"Sunrise at Rainbow Bridge 4"

Photographed with a Canon 5DS R and a 16-35mm lens set at 28mm. A graduated neutral density filter was used on the lens in order to darken the sky above the bridge a bit. The ISO was 400, the aperture was f11, and it was a 30 second exposure. The scene actually looked darker to the naked eye but the long exposure helped lighten the scene and also bring out more color to the lights of Truckee and Hwy 80 in the background. The RAW image was worked on in Photoshop's Camera RAW feature where I lightened the shadow areas quite a bit.

The making of this photo can be seen on a recent dtube video:





 As always, fine art prints of this image are available through my website. Canvas prints, prints on metal, and photo gift items.

Thank you for looking, reading, and watching!

-Scott Thompson

New San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge Photos

I recently was in San Francisco for an event and the next morning, I shot these Golden Gate Bridge photos. The first two are at sunrise, the third one was a little bit later but still in the early morning. A video from that photo adventure can be seen at the bottom of the blog, here are the photos:

"Golden Gate Bridge Sunrise 8" - Photograph of San Francisco and the famous Golden Gate Bridge at sunrise.

"Golden Gate Bridge Sunrise 11" - Photograph of San Francisco and the famous Golden Gate Bridge at sunrise.

"Golden Gate Bridge 6" - Photograph of San Francisco's famous Golden Gate Bridge shot in the early morning.

 These photos and more San Francisco Bay area photos are available on my website as large fine art prints or to license, download, and use as stock photography. Click "add to cart" for pricing info:  San Francisco Photos.

-Scott Thompson

The Amazing Fly Geyser - Photography Slideshow

Bucket-list item, check! I never thought I'd actually be lucky enough to shoot this incredible sight but last week, I did! The famous man made Fly Geyser. It's tough to shoot because it sits on protected private property in Nevada near the town of Gerlach. But I was incredibly lucky that a good friend was able to get us access. Tony Spiker of Spiker Photography got the green light when he approached the property owners with a fundraising project. I'll post a link to his project when he has everything ready to go. 

Fly Geyser was amazing to shoot. I can't believe how many different looks it can have in less than a 24 hour period. The tufa part of the geyser is made up of different minerals and the vibrant colors are due to the thermophilic algae on it. The colors shine through on daylight, sunset, sunrise, and night shots. A little extra light on the geyser from flashlights and/or camera flashes can really bring out the color in difficult lighting conditions. The spraying water and steam are constant which made for some great long exposures.  It was so much fun to shoot!

More information about the geyser can be found on it's Wikipedia page: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fly_Geyser

Please enjoy this Fly Geyser slideshow below. A full screen slideshow can be viewed by CLICKING HERE.  These images are available to purchase as large fine art prints, printed by me personally, through my website and through Tahoe area art galleries. 

-Scott Thompson

2012 Great Reno Balloon Race Dawn Patrol Photos

"Dawn Patrol 15" - Photograph of a glowing hot air balloon flying for the Dawn Patrol at the 2012 Great Reno Balloon Race. Photographed from a hot air balloon.

"Dawn Patrol 6" - Photograph of the
Dawn Patrol hot air balloons at the
2012 Great Reno Balloon Race.
Photographed from a hot air balloon.

I recently had the incredible experience of photographing the 2012 Great Reno Balloon Race Dawn Patrol from a hot air balloon. It was one of those moments in my life where I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming, well, the 2:30 am alarm clock buzz may have contributed to that feeling.  

It's a long story how I scored the spot in the balloon but it has to do with the Dawn Patrol team using one of my images I got of them last year for a poster they were signing and selling for charity. I was actually supposed to fly during media day a couple days earlier but the high winds made it unsafe to fly. So my pilot asked if I wanted to try again for Dawn Patrol,  "Of course!"

The low light and moving balloon were a huge challenge for photography but I was able to pull it off. Please enjoy this slide show of images below and let me know what you think in the comments. Thank you.

-Scott Thompson

2012 Great Reno Balloon Race Gallery - Images by Scott Thompson

All of the Great Reno Balloon Race images above are available as large fine art prints, photo gift items, and to license and download right now. Click on an individual image for more info.

New Memorial Point, Lake Tahoe Photos

This morning I woke up at 3:45 am and drove to Memorial Point on the North East shore of Lake Tahoe. Memorial Point is a great place to photograph boulders. There is plenty of easy free parking and there are stairs and trails down to the lake from the parking lot. Getting to the lake in the dark to set up for a sunrise shot is not a problem as long as you have a flashlight. 

I knew the full moon would be setting in the West right around sunrise so it was a good opportunity for some interesting photos. Unfortunately the moon set behind the mountains and clouds right before the sky turned pink but I'm still fortunate to have captured some pretty cool moments at the lake:

"Full Moon over Lake Tahoe 7" - These snow covered boulders and full moon were photographed in the early morning near Memorial Point, Lake Tahoe. 

"Tahoe Boulders at Sunrise 17"- These boulders were photographed at sunrise near Memorial Point, Lake Tahoe.

Here's a slide show with a few more photos from this morning's Lake Tahoe shoot. Click the full screen icon for the best viewing experience:

Memorial Point, Lake Tahoe - Images by Scott Thompson

The photos above are all available as large and small fine art prints, gift items, and to license and use as stock photography right now. Click on an image for more info.

New Bottle Photos Added to the Website.

"Beauty at the Bottom: Tequila Sunrise 8"

Surprise surprise, I'm back at it again. I created more "Beauty at the Bottom" photos over the weekend. The bottles were piling up so it was time to recycle them into photographic works of art. (More about how this series was created can be found in this post)

Failed attempt at a Sunrise shot.

One of the ideas I've had with this series was to get an actual sunrise shot though a tequila bottle for the Tequila Sunrise photos. After a major failure up on Donner Summit in freezing windy conditions with no color during the sunrise, I came up with an alternative idea. I decided to bring up a sunrise photo I had shot in the past on my computer and use that to light up the bottle. Here's a photo of the set up:

Beauty at the Bottom photo set up with Casa Noble tequila bottle.

And here is the finished bottle photo paired up with the sunrise photo that were used to light up the bottle:

"Beauty at the Bottom: Tequila Sunrise 9" 

"Donner Lake Sunrise 4"

Also, I have shot through many types of alcohol bottles in the past, but this was the first time I shot through a gin bottle:

"Beauty at the Bottom: Gin 1" - This is a photograph of a gin bottle, shot right down inside the mouth of the bottle.

And here's a fun new one of the inside of a red wine bottle:

"Beauty at the Bottom: Red Wine 7" - This is a photograph of a red wine bottle bottle, shot right down inside the mouth of the bottle.

More new photos from the "Beauty at the Bottom" series can be found on my web site's Bottle Photos Page. You can enjoy a slide show there. Images can also be purchased on the site as large fine art prints, gift items, and as stock photography. Cheers!

-Scott Thompson

Boulders on Lake Tahoe, new photos from my kayak near Speedboat Beach.

"Kayak on a Tahoe Boulder 2" - Scott Thompson's tandem kayak parked on a boulder near Speedboat Beach, Lake Tahoe. Two stand up paddle boarders can be seen in the distance.

I love shooting photos of Lake Tahoe from my kayak. One of the best areas for this is the Speedboat Beach area in North Lake Tahoe, near the California and Nevada boarder. The boulders and beauty there provide for some incredibly peaceful moments as well as stunning photos.

You can access Speedboat Beach with a car. There is a small amount of public parking and a path to a small public beach. But dragging a kayak down the path and stairs can be a big challenge, and on high lake level years like this year, there really isn't much of a public beach. I find the easiest way to access the area is to park and launch at the Kings Beach boat launch and paddle for about 10-15 minutes to Speedboat beach. 

You can't miss the boulders, they're everywhere, some more photogenic than others.  I tend to get there before sunrise and my small headlamp is plenty strong enough to locate a good spot to catch the colors of the sunrise. From the kayak, I shoot sunrises handheld with no tripod so a high ISO is a must, usually around 800 with a wide aperture. A good camera like my Canon 5D MarkII can handle high ISOs decently, but I also tend to use a bit of Photoshop's noise reduction to clean the images up a touch. 

"Tahoe Boulders at Sunrise 7" - These orange, black, and grey boulders were photographed at sunrise from a kayak near Speedboat Beach, Lake Tahoe. A light amount of flash was used to get a good exposure of the boulders. 

I have previously written a bit of a "how to" on kayak photography so I won't go into too many details on that. You can find that post here: My Kayak, What a Great Photography Tool. 

The colors and shapes of the boulders out near Speedboat beach can really vary. But I love the bright orange colors on this boulder pile. Although some of the boulders along the shore can be photographed by foot, a kayak or boat is always required to get out to this pile. The oranges and blues go so nicely together:

"Boulders on Lake Tahoe 18" - These orange, black, and grey boulders were photographed in the early morning near Speedboat Beach, Lake Tahoe.

Getting in close on the colorful boulders can also provide some fun abstract photos:

"Tahoe Boulder Abstract 1" - This abstract images is a photograph of a boulder near Speedboat Beach, Lake Tahoe. 

The lake level can really vary year to year and can really change the look of the area. With this year's high waters, I have been able to get into some areas and get photos that I could not last year. Bonsai Rock is a famous spot on Lake Tahoe for photography but I found this little bonsai like pine tree (below) near Speedboat Beach. I don't think the boulder made an "island" for it last year but I could be wrong. 

"Bonsai Tree on Lake Tahoe Boulder 2" - This little pine tree on a island boulder was photographed near Speedboat Beach, Lake Tahoe.

Don't just stop at Speedboat Beach and call it a day. If you keep on paddling along the shore a bit, you actually cross the California / Nevada boarder. No, you can't actually tell this from the water but here's a Google maps view.  There are some really cool boulders out there but they are on a point so the waters can be a little rougher, especially later in the morning when more motor boats pass close by. A higher shutter speed will be necessary for handheld shots there. Here's one from that area:

"Boulders on Lake Tahoe 24" - These boulders were photographed in the morning near Speedboat Beach, Lake Tahoe.

Those are some of my favorites from my recent trip out to Speedboat Beach. But please enjoy this slide show below of many photographs from that area. Thank you!

-Scott Thompson

Speedboat Beach Area Boulders - Images by Scott Thompson

The Boulders on Lake Tahoe images above are available for purchase as large fine art prints, gift items, and as stock photography. Please click on an image for purchasing information.

New Lake Tahoe Photo Gallery added.

Yesterday I added a new photo gallery to my website. Well, actually I divided one gallery up into two galleries. I had a Lake Tahoe Sunsets and Sunrises gallery. Now I have a Lake Tahoe Sunsets Gallery and a separate Lake Tahoe Sunrises gallery. This is because I was getting too many images in the original gallery, a good problem to have. I've been out shooting even more Tahoe and Truckee sunrises lately, although it has been tough as the sunrise happens pretty early this time of year.  Please view the photos below for a few favorites. 

Here's a couple links to the new galleries:

Lake Tahoe Sunrise pictures

Lake Tahoe Sunset pictures

And here are some new Lake Tahoe sunrise photos and Tahoe fishing photos I've added to my website recently:

"Sunrise Fishing on Lake Tahoe 2" - This trolling fishing pole was photographed at sunrise on Lake Tahoe.  One of the motivating factors for getting up so early lately has been fishing. I have a good buddy with a fishing boat and I often get the invite. As you can see, fishing and photography go very nicely together. 

"Tahoe Fishing Boat at Sunrise" - This silhouette of a fishing boat and fishing poles was photographed at sunrise on Lake Tahoe.  The boat is my fishing buddy's boat and I have spent many hours fishing and taking pictures of Tahoe from it. The fishing boat was loaded with gear and coolers, and the silhouette worked great to hide it all. 

"Tahoe Sailboats at Sunrise" - These silhouettes of sailboats were photographed at sunrise on Lake Tahoe.  I captured this one from the dock, right as we were about to head out fishing for the day. 

"Sunrise at Lake Tahoe 7" - This sunrise was photographed from a boat on Lake Tahoe.  As we were heading out of the buoy zone, the boat was moving slow so I was able to capture a few photos of a fiery but near cloudless sunrise. 

"Sunrise at Lake Tahoe 6" - This sunrise was photographed from a boat on Lake Tahoe.   Taken at about the same time as the photo above, I zoomed out to the widest angle my 24-105 mm lens could go. I like this one a lot for the simple and abstract feel to it. 

I've previously written a bit of a "how to" when it comes to photography from a small fishing boat on Tahoe. You can view the post here:  Fishing and Photography on Lake Tahoe  If you have any technical questions about the subject, please feel free to ask in the comments area below. Thank you!

-Scott Thompson

The images above are available at Fine Art Prints, Gift Items, and as Stock Photography. Please click on an image to view it larger and for purchasing info. All of the Scott Shot's Tahoe area photographs can be found in the Lake Tahoe and Truckee Areas gallery collection.