Beautiful Moraine Lake
The stunning beauty of Moraine Lake, in Banff National Park, Canada…
This place is just so stunning. I can try and write up a bunch of superlatives to describe how gorgeous it is, but they would all fall short. Just go. You will not regret it.
Flow
A long exposure taken on a trip to Banff National Park, Canada…
I absolutely love to shoot moving water. It’s one of my favorite subjects. Whether it’s a river, a stream or a waterfall, I love all of them. The sense of motion you can capture with a slightly long exposure just adds so much to the photograph. This one I captured in Johnston Canyon, in Banff National Park, in Canada. It was mid-afternoon and we were just hiking in the canyon, but I kept stopping every few yards for another shot. But the river running through there is just gorgeous. Can you blame me for stopping so much? And though I prefer to edit in color, I am continuing to explore creating monochromes, because sometimes they just really work for me, like in this image.
Moraine Lake
The dramatic beauty of Moraine Lake in the Canadian Rockies…
It’s just hard to think of a place more beautiful than Moraine Lake.
When we visited the Canadian Rockies, I spent two sunsets in a row here at Moraine Lake. It’s just so beautiful that even though my first sunset was gorgeous and I loved my photos, I wanted to return just to see and shoot it some more. It’s that gorgeous. You just sort of stand there in awe at the incredible natural beauty. I don’t often get the chance to shoot landscapes, and rarely do I get to see ones that are this stunning. It’s a real treat. If you are anywhere near it, please go see it.
Beautiful Moraine Lake
Moraine Lake in western Canada, at sunset…..
Ah, the Canadian Rockies - so gorgeous there!
I love Canada, having been lucky enough to visit many times. My favorite part of course is western Canada, and the town of Banff (and the National Park it sits in). It’s just a landscape paradise that is incredibly beautiful and inspiring. When we visited, I took as many photos as possible, just because I wanted to soak up as much as I could and be able to revisit it in my library again and again. This is one of many from Moraine Lake, which may just be the prettiest part of the whole area. I spent two sunsets here in a row, and both were just off the charts amazing.
Sunset Over Lake Louise
Sunset at Lake Louise, in Banff National Park - a stunning part of the Canadian Rockies.
Ah, the beauty of Lake Louise! I have a serious thing for landscapes, but sadly I rarely get to photograph them since I am most often in cities. So when given the chance, I jump at it. This was taken during our trip to Banff National Park in Canada about a year ago. I still have a lot of photos to edit from the trip. I'm excited just thinking about them all!
The endless beauty of Moraine Lake
A really long exposure from Moraine Lake in the Canadian Rockies...
We spent some time here last summer, and it was amazing.
This glacially-fed lake outside of Banff in the Canadian Rockies is just magnificent. Those are the real colors, by the way. All the minerals in the lake make it just so amazingly blue. We arrived so that I could shoot the sunset here, and in this photo I went with my 10-stop filter to get a really long exposure. That's why the clouds are streaking across the sky - I kept the shutter open a long time (I can't remember the exposure time, but it was something like 3 minutes).
Taking really long exposures is one of my favorite shooting techniques. It works really well at sunset over a beautiful landscape, but works just as well with cityscapes, too. I did some in London back in January, and particularly when there is a river in the scene, the water just gets so smooth. In this photo the wind was moving the water a bit - and there was a few canoes out on the lake, too - but all that disappears when you have the shutter open that long.
Canoes at rest
Waiting on sunset at Moraine Lake...
Another shot from Moraine Lake!
There's just so much you can shoot at Moraine Lake and it's pretty much all amazing. After shooting a TON up on top of the big rock pile at the edge of the lake (which gives you a beautiful view), I clambered back down and wandered over here to shoot the canoes. All the colors and reflections in the still water are impossible to pass up!
Below Moraine Lake
A stream exits Moraine Lake under a sunset sky...
I could wander around the shores of Moraine Lake for DAYS. It's just so gorgeous there, and you really can't take a bad photo of the place. After shooting the wide shots from the rocks up above the lake, I made my way back down and saw this stream that was exiting the lake. I clambered over a fence, balanced on some wet rocks and fired away. Photography is EASY there. :-)
Afternoon at Moraine Lake
Golden afternoon light sparkles on Moraine Lake in the Canadian Rockies...
This place is gorgeous any time of day!
On my trip to Banff, I made it a point to get to Moraine Lake for at least one sunset (I ended up getting there for 2 sunsets, yay!). On one of those visits, I was wandering around quite a bit prior to the actual sunset getting started. This is part of my routine for finding a good composition, plus I like to look around and I always wonder if the view is better somewhere else. Yeah, I'm never done looking, basically. When I came across this view, I had to stop and fire a few - then again, I could say that about every view I had there, it's all just so amazing!
A hike through Johnston Canyon
A trio of waterfall photos from the amazing Johnston Canyon, outside of Banff, Canada...
A must see spot when you are in Banff!
As you have heard me say before, Banff is magical. That entire area is a dream for photography and nature lovers. Everything is beautiful, and it's all pretty close too. Johnston Canyon is about a 30 minute drive from the town of Banff, and well worth every minute.
As the name implies, it's a canyon with a gorgeous river running through it. You hike a trail alongside the river for about 1.5 hours or so (I can't remember exactly, but it's uphill and you stop every 20 feet for a photo!) until you reach the large waterfall at the top.
This was my 3rd visit there in my lifetime, and I would go again today if I could. There is an interesting view at every turn as you wind your way up the trail through the canyon, following this beautiful river the entire time. Stop and take photos, sit and have a snack, and just enjoy this incredible location.
Moraine Lake is gorgeous!
Moraine Lake in Banff National Park is just off-the-charts gorgeous. It's a place I would gladly return to again and again. I was lucky enough while there to get 2 beautiful sunsets...
This just in - Moraine Lake is beautiful! ;-)
Moraine Lake is shot SO often and I have seen millions of amazing photos from there. It's just an incredibly gorgeous place. During our 7 nights in nearby Banff, we spent 2 of them here so I could shoot the sunset. It didn't disappoint. I had great light and obviously amazing scenery. All I had to do was point the camera in the right direction!
Peyto Lake, finally
A destination that has been on my list for years, and I finally made it!
I've been wanting to visit this lake for years!
This is one of those things that you see online and say to yourself "I have to go there someday". That someday happened recently for me, and I'm glad that it did. Peyto Lake is about an hour and a half north of Banff, Canada which for me was a no-brainer. That's pretty close considering I was coming from Texas!
So I spent a day out on a photo tour with my daughter. What I was surprised to find is that the viewing deck that I took this photo from is only about a 10 minute hike from the parking lot. For some reason I assumed that a view like this required some serious work, but thankfully it didn't. You literally pull off the highway into the parking area and hike for 10 minutes. Then you fire away like mad and celebrate the fact that you made it here after all these years!
By the way, doesn't the lake look like a wolf's head?
The grandeur of Moraine Lake
Here's a super long exposure (3:20) of Moraine Lake at sunset...such fun and such interesting results.
Wow, what a place! I already want to go back!
I absolutely loved it here at Moraine Lake outside of Banff, in the Canadian Rockies. It's about an hour from Banff and worth every minute of your time, believe me. This place is just incredibly gorgeous, even if you don't care about taking photos. Just look at it!
This photo is my favorite from this trip, thus far. I had climbed up to the top of the rock pile that sits at the end of the lake, and had been taking some HDR brackets before I decided to go for a long exposure. I used my MeFoto Roadtrip tripod, and my Vu Filters 10 stop filter. Although I usually shoot in Aperture mode, for these long exposures I use Manual.
Once in Manual Mode, I choose Bulb and then make sure I have my remote trigger attached to the camera. I use it to depress the shutter, and lock it in place until the time is reached. It's a bit of experimentation trying to find the right exposure time and f/stop for these shots. I moved it around a little until I got something that looked good. It's fun to experiment with these, especially with the 10 stop filter since you can get such long exposures.
Sony A7II, f/16, ISO 100, 16-35mm wide angle lens, 200 seconds
Sunset at Moraine Lake
The first of many photos I will be sharing of Moraine Lake, this one taken during a lovely sunset...
Although I am still on the road, I am trying to find time to edit some of the many shots I took at Moraine Lake. It's an incredibly beautiful spot!
I may go on record and say Moraine Lake is the most beautiful spot I have ever seen, and I have seen a lot. It's just so breathtaking. During our time in Banff, we spent two evenings here while I was firing away. I have a lot of shots to get to but wanted to start with this one.
Sunset was pretty stellar on that evening and I was atop the large rock pile at the end of the lake. There's an easy trail you can walk on to get to the top, and numerous points where you can set up and start shooting. I wandered all over looking for multiple vantage points and found plenty.
I will be sharing a LOT more photos from this spot, not just because I have them, but because this place really got into my soul in a way. I have been here before but this was the first time I have really photographed Moraine Lake. I hope to return someday and do it all again.
This photo is a 3 exposure HDR built using Aurora HDR by Macphun (learn how right here) and then some adjustments were made in Luminar using some of my presets (you can find those here).
iPhone fun at Moraine Lake
How about a group of iPhone shots from Canada? I was here at Moraine Lake last Friday night, and the sunset was INCREDIBLE!
A stunning sunset at an incredible location!
We are in the midst of a lengthy family roadtrip, and spent last week in Banff, Canada. It's a beautiful little mountain town with an incredible amount of beautiful scenery to photograph nearby. One of the best spots is Moraine Lake, which is less than an hour away by car.
We spent last Friday night there, with me standing on a large pile of rocks firing brackets into the sunset. It was pretty awesome, I will admit it. Most of the visit to Banff was under clear, blue skies and somewhat colorless sunsets, but this one lit up nicely and I was a very happy guy!
These are just a few of the iPhone shots I took, while also firing like crazy with my Sony camera. I haven't had any time to slow down and process my Sony shots, so I thought I would share a few iPhone shots for a change. These were all taken in the ProHDR app (it blends two exposures to make the HDR) and then some minor adjustments were made in Snapseed. Enjoy!