Sunset, Lake Michigan, Lake Michigan Shores Roadside Park near Charlevoix Michigan. iPhone photo.

A lot of photographers miss some great pictures while they are fiddling around with their fancy cameras and tripods. There is a lesson to be learned.

I was with two other photographers in Northern Michigan scouting locations in preparation for one of my upcoming photography workshops. It was a cloudy, gray sky kind of day. As we were driving along the shoreline of Lake Michigan the light started change and in a matter of a couple of minutes it went from gray to beautiful. We pulled over at one of my favorite locations just as the light hit its peak but it was starting to fade just as quickly as it appeared.

You don’t want to miss a great shot in rapidly changing light so my first shot was with my iPhone. I didn’t want to missing the great light while getting a camera out of my backpack.

With one iPhone shot in the can (photo above), I pulled my camera out of the backpack, set the ISO to 400 to get a respectable shutter speed and did one hand held shot. Now I have two shots in the can. The light is still changing quickly.

Adobe Bridge, DSLR photos, Lake Michigan sunset.

I set up my tripod, changed the ISO to 100 for cleaner images (and much slower shutter speeds in the changing light) and went to work. As you can see from the screen capture above from Adobe Bridge (which doesn’t include all of the photos I took that evening), I took quite a few photos. My first hand held shot at ISO 400 was f/4.5 and 1/30 second. My second photo which was on the tripod was at ISO 100, f/11, 1/2 second. By the time we wrapped up my shutter speeds were as long as 30 seconds.

Camera gear at Sunset, Lake Michigan, Lake Michigan Shores Roadside Park near Charlevoix Michigan.

In the middle of this photo opportunity I stopped long enough to grab my iPhone and take a picture of my tripod mounted camera silhouetted against the fading light.

Sunset, Lake Michigan, Lake Michigan Shores Roadside Park near Charlevoix Michigan

I ended up with a number of photos that I like, including the two quick shots at the beginning before setting up my tripod. In the photo above the light had faded enough that the shutter speed was 30 seconds. The aperture was f/16 to have enough near to far depth of field to keep the foreground and background sharp.

We were fortunate. The light changed quickly but remained quite nice. It doesn’t always happen that way.

Sometimes you don’t know how long the nice light will linger. When you aren’t sure, grab a fast shot with your phone first, then a hand held shot with your fancy camera, and then set up your tripod if the good light lasts.

Northern Lights over Lake Michigan. Lake Michigan Shores Roadside Park near Charlevoix Michigan

At the same roadside park during one of my photo workshops, we all took Northern Lights photos like this, along with the night sky and the Milky Way.

Links

Take the Picture Now! Part One

Nature Photography Books: The Three Essentials. If you only read three nature photography books, put these on your “must read” list.

My Favorite Introduction to Landscape Photography. If you only read one book on landscape photography, this should be it. This is my favorite to recommend to new landscape photographers.

The Best “How To” Nature Photography Books

Looking for a great photography workshop? Are you ready to take your photography to the next level? Check out my total immersion photography workshops at JimDoty.com  .