This shot was taken on a tripod. The lens was shut down to f/16 to get as much depth of field as possible as well as the sense of dimension that comes with that. I focused on the hyper-focal distance, which on the 50mm at f/16 is 525.8 cm. I have used a laser range finder to find an object at the right distance to prefocus or I will pace off the distance or I will use the markings on the lens.
The shot was composed to align with the edges of the stream going into the lake in order to provide the visual clues of dimension. I think the contrast between the highly textured plants and the smoothness of the lake offer clues as well.
I processed the image with Color Efex using the Polarization, Dark Contrasts, Bring out Detail, Balance Warmth and Darken-Lighten Center Filters. I use the Bring Out Details filter to balance the light by bring out detail that is otherwise hidden in the shadows. This is similar to what HDR processing will do (as well HDR will recover highlights or the bright spots) but under the conditions I didn’t need to do that level processing. The Dark Contrast filter needs to be used sparingly. It can mess up clouds, but it does soften the brightness of colours. I used the Balance Warmth to cut the blue hue.
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