New Image: "Shards of Light"

I finally got around to photographing the stacked ice shards on the shore of Lake Superior, after admiring other photographers' images for years. Admittedly, this was a pretty quick stop halfway through a drive as we headed north a few weekends ago, but what a way to stop and stretch your legs! The small parking log at the south end of Brighton Beach put me within meters of the ice, and I had my cleats at hand to make the descent to the beach quite easy. I intended to go down for a few minutes, although upon my return to the car, was informed that my quick stop had extended over half an hour. Can't say I was surprised! Below I am seen being drawn towards the light. 

Trying to make compositions of the ice reminded me of shooting a dense forest scene... There is so much going on, and it is absolutely stunning yet chaotic and resistant to most of my compositional attempts. These few shards, however, standing up and receiving the late afternoon light, eventually caught my eye.

Shards of LightLake Superior ice accumulates along the shoreline, making beautiful stacks of ice shard. For more on this image, see my blog.

Technical Information

The subtle movement of the ice shards made focus stacking difficult, so this is a single exposure, and I was comfortable with some layers of the ice going out of focus. The image was exposed to the right while being careful not to blow out the highlights, and shot at 252mm with the Canon EF 70-300 f4-5.6L IS USM lens mounted on my 5D Mark IV and Gitzo tripod. I used an ISO of 160, shutter speed of 1/60 sec and f/11 aperture. 

Enjoy My Blog and My Images? Help Me Spread the Word!

If you like my work, please share with others! Selling pictures is great, but the real fulfillment for me is in sharing images with anyone who appreciates them. If you use Instagram or Facebook, please consider following me there:

Instagram Page (@ernesto_ruiz_photography)

Facebook Page