Western Lake Sunrise

Western Lake is a small lake in South Walton County, Florida.  It is very near where my wife and I stay when we visit the beach.  It is a location I can quickly reach in the morning and always seems to have nice atmosphere on a humid early summer morning.  Clouds and/or fog seem to be the norm.

I make it part of my morning routine to visit here on several mornings in hope of getting a nice sunrise or two.

This last trip I made 3 or 4 visits during my stay and I got a chance to see some nice clouds, some soft light and the like.  I had my Sony NEX6 with its 24-75 kit lens, the tiny Rokinon 8mm fisheye, and my small Sirui 025X carbon fiber tripod.  This is my work/I am not really photographing photography kit.  Very small and compact.  Easy to slip in the backpack or computer bag.


It gives me plenty of photography capability and takes very little space.

Here are a few samples of what it did at Western Lake.  It is a mixture of both wide angle and slight telephoto from the pancake kit lens.  Then also a fisheye shot where you can take it all in.

The 24mm wide angle view is a great feature from a kit lens.  Especially considering that almost all other "kit" lenses start at 28mm.  That extra 4mm makes a BIG difference.  However the 5mm you give up on the long end is not missed at all.  Sony really nailed it with this lens-tiny, compact, great range.  Here is a wide view of sunrise over Western Lake.  It take in plenty of the sky and lets me feel I am able to do this sunrise justice.

The longer shot of the pines is one of my standard images at Western Lake.  This small stand of pines leading out to the dunes makes a nice reflection.  I can shoot it wide, but I like just a little bit of zoom to make the trees a bit bigger.  The kit lens does it well.

Finally the fisheye (image up top).  Put the horizon in the middle and you get an ultrawide view you do not have to correct at all.  The hardest part about this shot-not getting your feet in it!

This little camera kit gives me the versatility to get a variety of images on what really is a small lake.  Very different views in a small area from a small kit.

It makes for a happy photographer.