Colorado has had an amazing run off this year, the snow just keeps melting, and the rivers keep flowing. The Poudre River near my house has been at flood stage for weeks, and is finally starting to recede. This meant there were photo ops that were unique with the big whitewater.
The narrows of the Poudre are Class 5 (very difficult and dangerous) and at this level no one is paddling this drop. My friend Patrick has paddled the narrows frequently, and was game to check out the rapids at this level. Like most paddlers, he is looking forward to running this stretch of river once the water goes down.
He jumped out to a boulder with his boat for a photo. We shot at twilight to get a slow shutter speed for the right effect in the water. Too slow and the current turns to featureless silky ‘cotton’, too fast and the water doesn’t match the contemplative feel of the shot. To add some separation and punch up the colors I used an Elinchrom Quadra at full power to add a little light on Patrick. The light was placed to his right.
Tech: Nikon D3, 70-200mm lens, ISO 100, F22 at 1/5 of a second. Elinchrom Quadra with standard reflector used, full power, triggered using a Skyport wireless transmitter.