Go Play Outside! 😎
See It: If you find yourself in the beautiful Salem or Bend, Oregon areas with a high-clearance vehicle and five hours to invest, take a drive into the tree-studded Willamette (“Will-AM-it”) National Forest to serene Detroit Lake. Take a printed map, as road signs are few in National Forests. Just north of the resort town of Detroit, off of Oregon Route 22 (North Santiam Highway), take French Creek Road SE north into the mountains north of the lake. About 4 miles in, keep to the left as French Creek Road SE becomes NF-2223. At about 6 miles, bear right to stay on NF-2223. At 8 miles, keep left to switch to NF-520. Stay straight at 6.5 miles to remain on NF-520. At 11.5 miles, bear left to turn onto NF-525. Finally, at about 12 miles, turn right onto the side road heading up to the antenna towers and park on the right, about 500 feet up the road. To this spot, it’s about an hour and a half drive from Salem and 2 hours from Bend.
From your parking spot, walk southeast through the few trees along the road to the clearing overlooking Detroit Lake. You will see the lake below, 10,495′ high Mount Jefferson to the east and 7,795′ Mount Washington and the Three Sisters (9,177′, 10,085′, and 10,358′) to the south southeast. Head northeast up the hill to a larger clearing and see a broader swath of the lake, as well as the town of Detroit at the northwest end of the lake. More about Detroit Lake, Mount Jefferson, Mount Washington, Three Sisters
Shoot It: This image was captured with a Canon 7D DSLR (crop factor 1.6), Canon EF24-70mm f/2.8 lens at 27mm and f/8, 1/30 sec, and ISO200, with mirror-lockup enabled and 2 second shutter delay, on a tripod, on August 19, 2017 at 6:24 AM. Basic adjustments and spot removal in Photoshop Lightroom.
Improve It: Why do you think I used a tripod, mirror-lockup, and 2 second delay for this image? What problems are you having with your photographs? Let me know at Inquiries@GibsonOutdoorPhoto.com and I will share some tips to overcome these issues in a future blog post.
Go Play Outside! 😎
-Scott