It is officially autumn, my favorite time of year! Last Thursday was a beautiful day (about 65°F) and it got me excited to get back out with my camera. I almost totally hibernated this summer and cannot wait to get back out. I have been looking for a new location for sunrise and sunset so I thought I would give
Manasquan Reservoir in Howell Township a try. I checked out a couple apps I use to check the location of the rising and setting sun, then stop at the reservoir on my way home from work on Thursday to scout locations.
Scouting Locations
Georgia Tavern Road
Thursday afternoon I got to the reservoir about an hour or so before sunset with no camera other than my smartphone. I had a couple spots I wanted to check out and wanted to have my compositions ready to go so that when the time came, I pretty much just had to set up my camera. I even brought my compass with me so that I could see exactly where the sun would rise and set. The first, obvious, composition was from the walkway alongside the road where there is a nice rocky slope down to the water and many dead trees coming out of the water. This is to the east so it is an obvious sunrise image but I thought it might make for a good sunset, too. I found a couple interesting compositions, took some reference shots with my phone and headed back to the parking lot.
Chestnut Point
Chestnut Point is parking lot and a trail head on Georgia Tavern Road, not far from the Environmental Center. When I got to my car I noticed the trail going into the woods and caught a glimpse of the water thru the trees. Could there be a shot somewhere? There was only one way to find out. I entered the trail and saw a small trail leading right to the water. It looks as though this part is underwater when the reservoir is full as it is quite muddy and slick. Scattered about the mud are pools of water in various sizes. When I got thru the trees my eyes widened and I immediately thought, "This is it!" I found my sunrise! The smartphone came out, grabbed a few reference shots and had to run because I still had another spot to check out before it started getting dark.
Visitor Center
My last stop was at the Visitor Center on Windeler Road and a small bridge a short walk from the parking lot. I have shot here many times before, always during the day. Honestly, by the time I got here I had already made up my mind to shoot at Chestnut Point so, while I did scout to area I wasn't very thorough. This would be a good spot if the weather conditions are terrific and I will definitely give it a try some day but it wasn't going to be this time.
Sunset on Friday
I consulted Clear Outside (app and website - more at the end of this post) and was disappointed to see very little cloud cover projected but, on the plus side, they were all high clouds. If you have been following me for any length of time you will know that I love clouds in my landscape images, especially sunset. There is a difference in clouds - low, medium and high - and their impact on sunrise and sunset. I will cover that in a different post but, suffice it to say, I like a good amount of high clouds.
I decided to start the evening on Georgia Tavern Road and end at Chestnut Point because I thought that was where the magic was going to happen. While I got some nice images from the road, the best spot was down at water level.
Sunrise on Saturday
I decided to concentrate on shooting at Chestnut Point for sunrise and knew exactly what the composition was going to be. HA! I ended up with a few shots that weren't even on the radar. This was also an unusual sunrise shoot for me because I had company - I had invited my son to come with me. Typically, landscape photography - for me - is a solo event. I do go out with others occasionally and when I do it is usually other photographers, or my wife. When I am with others I always feel as though I have to be sociable but when shooting landscapes, it is just me, the camera and the landscape. One reason I invited my son, other than I thought it would be nice and he would enjoy it, is that he is perfectly content to silently soak in what nature has to offer. There is no need for "chit chat". I'm glad he came with me because I think the silhouette of him looking out over the reservoir may be the best image of the day.
The Apps & Websites
I have been using a variety of apps and websites over the years only to delete the majority of them. One that I have kept and rely on is Exsate Golden Hour, an app I reviewed here in 2017 -
http://joevalenciaphotography.blogspot.com/2017/05/app-review-exsate-golden-hour.html
so I won't get into it here.
Suncalc & Mooncalc
These are two new apps for me and ones that I highly recommend. There are also web-based versions -
SunCalc.org and
MoonCalc.org. Using SunCalc I was able to determine exactly where the sun will rise and where it will be at any given time, this was invaluable for my planning. I highly recommend checking out their web-based apps and then downloading for your phone.
Clear Outside
Clear Outside is the app I spoke of earlier and one that also has a web-based counterpart. Clear Outside will give you sunrise and sunset times as well as forecasted weather conditions for your location. The part of the app I find particularly helpful is the section on clouds. It gives you "Total Clouds", "Low Clouds", "Medium Clouds" and "High Clouds" as a percentage of the sky covered. Some of the other useful bits of information are precipitation, wind speed/direction, frost chance and fog. This is an excellent tool to consult before planning a sunrise or sunset shoot. The app allows you to set a "Home" location as-well-as other locations you might frequent. You can, at any time, use "Current" to get the conditions and forecast for where you are.
The Images
- Smartphone Reference Shot: I was immediately drawn to this clump of overturned trees and roots. I decided this was a "must shoot" for a sunrise and grabbed a quick smartphone reference shot.
- Sunset - Chestnut Point #1: This is the same clump of trees from the smartphone shot but I decided to include the rest of the tree as a leading line. This started out as the second of four images for a focus stack but decided to use it as it was.
- Sunset - Chestnut Point #2: This is the same basic composition as the "Smartphone Reference Shot". I do like this composition but no longer think it is the strongest to be had at this location.
- Sunset - Chestnut Point #3: I like the strong vertical lines of the dead trees standing against the waning light.
- Sunrise - Chestnut Point #1: I'm not sure if this is a little too busy. I like the tree with it's roots in the air and think it might be nice with a better sky.
- Sunrise - Chestnut Point #2: I started playing around with this image and thought, "What would it look like in black & white?" The image here is a quick black & white using Lightroom on the web. I like the moodiness of it.
- Silhouette: My son had been shooting a video while I searched for a composition, when he was done I told him to look out over the water so I could capture this image. I think this might be the best image of the two days.
Next Time
The next time I go, and the will be more than one "next time", I am definitely going to spend more time at Chestnut Point and down at water's edge but I also think Georgia Tavern Road holds more potential - maybe a bit further up from where I was. There is a wildlife blind about a mile and a half (or so) up the trail at the north end of the reservoir. I have never been to that part of the trail, will have to check it out because I think that may afford me some great views.
Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed the images and that you are encouraged to go out and shoot some of your own.
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