Evan Thomas Creek

I went out late last week for a morning photo excursion with Ivan Willert. Among the places we visited was Evan Thomas Creek in Kananaskis Country. Flow in the creek was diminishing as much of the snow in the mountains has melted and we’re past the peak of the spring runoff.

The light was very good early in the morning. The sun was still low in the sky and you can see the sunlight reflected in the shallow water flowing over the rocks. I took a few exposures at different shutter speeds and decided on this one as my favourite. The soft look of the water flowing over the rocks was achieved by using a relatively low shutter speed. I used a circular polarizing filter to reduce the glare on the water’s surface, making the creek bed clearly visible.  I chose the lowest ISO setting I could (50) and with the camera in the aperture priority mode, I adjusted the aperture (f8.0) to get the shutter speed I wanted (3/10th sec.). I know from prior experience that this speed would produce the most desirable effect.

Of course “most desirable” is in the eye of the beholder and this look is one that I find very appealing. In my next blog, I’ll show and describe some photographs of fountains taken in Rome during our vacation in June. Those pictures will feature water flow taken at very fast shutter speeds, producing some very extraordinary effects.