Panning for Gold

I watched the dappled gold light of sunset on the choppy water for some time wondering how I could capture the feel and texture there.

With shutter too fast I got a frozen ice look, too slow and it was a mushy blur.
With aperture too wide there was no depth to the image, too small and there was not enough light.
With ISO too high the image was full of noise, too low and I could not stop down enough.

It seemed that light and my vision had conspired against me until I notice something about the surface of the water.

I simply panned my camera with the speed of the rippling golden wavelets and it all came together.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Panning for Gold' 1/160s f/5 ISO640 155mm