Hanging Lake, Glenwood Springs, Colorado

Hanging Lake is a clear turquoise lake with a waterfall that spills into it that is only about a mile walk from the car park – unfortunately that mile is all uphill and sometimes pretty steep. Not so good if you have heavy camera equipment with you! However, the lake is an impressive sight after the uphill climb and worth the effort. See the attached link for further information: http://www.visitglenwood.com/hanging-lake

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To photograph the waterfall I wanted to use a slower shutter speed to blur/smooth out the water. I didn’t have tripod with me as I had decided to leave it in the UK. My Canon 24-105mm L lens was on the body (which is my go-to lens) it has its own internal stabilizer system which means I can hand hold it at lower shutter speeds.  The slowest I got was 1/5th which is fine on the wider end of the lens but a little wobbly nearer the telephoto end. I did shoot some images with a faster shutter but I generally prefer the blurred water.

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There’s a good review of the 24-105mm here: http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-EF-24-105mm-f-4-L-IS-USM-Lens-Review.aspx

Just off the main path to Hanging Lake there was also ‘Spouting Rock’ where icy water from snow-melt forces its way through a narrow hole in the rock, producing a waterfall of cold water which you can stand behind and take more photographs. Once behind the falls you really are shooting from a cave to open daylight so exposure was becoming a bit of a juggling act.

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My Partners G5’s LCD screen had failed so she was struggling to photograph behind the falls, we had to go old skool with me passing meter readings to her. As the G5 is a compact camera, the aperture doesn’t directly match a DSLR’s so we ended up with some blown images.

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