Forest tranquility from the lake

It is said not to shoot with your camera right towards the sun…

This picture (please click for the full screen version of the picture!) was shot during a holiday in Austria when we visited Schloss Neuschwanstein just north of the border in Germany in August 2014.

When we visited the castle of Neuschwanstein and walked towards the nearby lake, we saw that there was an opportunity to rent rowing boats. How romantic is that! Because the weather was perfect that afternoon and I wanted to capture that happy moment. They sometimes say you should not shoot directly towards the sun because there is some fable that the sensor of the camera can get ruined. Well, this might be true for most point and shoot camera’s, this does not have an effect on DSLR (except when shooting in live mode). As a result of the very short moment the actual sensor is exposed to the direct sunlight with DSLR’s, this does not hurt the sensor. It might hurt your eyes though when looking through the viewfinder, so be careful! And sometimes it is just worth the risk for minor damage of the camera (use the product!) to be able to get the shot that you want!

So, at this moment I wanted to capture the nice weather, the tranquility of being on the lake and the great nature around the lake. I therefore used my wide angle lens to capture most of the surrounding. Having most light coming in directly in the lens, I had to use a very low ISO, a medium F-number and a rather short exposure. In addition, a UV filter had been placed in front of the lens to filter most of the shine in the water. With Lightroom, I bumped the shadows a tiny bit up and the brights have been lowered.
In my eyes, this picture has captured a very peaceful, natural, romantic but most of all an impulsive moment!

Camera settings:

Location