On Tuesday, there was smoke to the air and a little bit of clouds in the sky so after dinner, I grabbed my gear and headed down to Donner Lake, here in Truckee, California. I was running late so I went to an easy but great spot for photographing a sunset. The video of the making of the sunset can be seen below.

Here are three different techniques for shooting the same sunset.

I'm curious, which one do you like best?

click on the images to view larger
#1

This first image was shot using an underwater housing with the Canon 5DS R and a 24-105mm lens, set at 24mm. The underwater housing was dipped into the lake and the lens was right on the surface, picking up really cool reflections of the sunset. The ISO was 400, the shutter speed was nice and fast at 1/400 second, which led to an aperture of f4.

This second image was shot on a tripod with the 16-35mm lens, set at 16mm. A graduated neutral density filter used on the front of the lens. It was a 30-second long exposure, which created a smooth look to the surface of the lake. A little bit of the small crashing waves can be seen in the shot. The ISO was 50 and the aperture was f13.

This last image was shot with similar techniques to #2 but it was only 2-second exposure, long enough to smear the surface of the water a bit, but quick enough to still pick up more texture to the waves and lake's surface. The ISO was 500 and the aperture was f14.

So there you have it, 3 different looks to the same sunset. I like them all but I can't decide which one I like best. Please let me know your favorite!

A dtube video of the making of these photos can be seen HERE.