Canon EOS 5D Mark 3 | Canon EF17-40 F4 L | 1/5 sec f/16 iso 50
This started out as a practice shot before adding a filter to slow down the shutter to get a milky smooth water effect. The camera was on a tripod and I continued to shoot the same scene with filters attached. I tend to make a number of exposures of 1 and 2 stops under and over just in case there are issue I don't see when checking at the time.
When I got home and looked at the images on my computer screen I felt that this shot, with the way the light fell on the waves, was much better than the shots with milky smooth water. However, the sky to the left had completely blown highlights. Using layers and a layer mask in Photoshop I was able to blend in the sky from one of the other shots and so was able to make this picture. I hope you like it.
The "luck" I made was in taking this "practice" shot and enough other exposures to know I have the whole dynamic range covered. This is something I often incorporat into my Landscape photography workflow (well, most of the time, sometimes I get lazy) and it has helped me on a many occasions.
