Golden Hour

Golden light – an October sunset in Wisconsin. I had this shot pictured in my mind before I left the house. I knew where I was going, where I was going to stand and how I was going to frame the shot. I had the location scouted a couple days earlier and waited for the right sunset. Taking this approach, when you are able, saves precious time when trying to catch the 5-10 minutes of perfect light.

That being said, all the prep in the world can’t prepare you for everything and can’t ensure a mistake-free shoot. I accidentally shot this photo at ISO 1000. I had taken some indoor shots earlier in the day and had forgotten to turn the ISO back. It didn’t turn out horrible, but it wasn’t printable. I had to do a lot of noise reduction in photoshop to get it to this point.

No matter what you do, mistakes will happen. This tells you that mistakes are a part of life and if you don’t learn from them, you are missing a chance to become a better photographer. Embrace your mistakes and you will benefit from them – another viewfinder lesson.

Canon EOS 5D
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM