See It: Spending multiple days in the same place (preparing for the August 21, 2017 total solar eclipse) gives one the luxury of seeing some of the moods of the location, moods that change throughout the day, moods that change from day to day. I got up early this day to capture some sunrise shots and was treated to this beautiful view of another early-riser racing to his or her favorite fishing hole on Lake Detroit, within the Willamette (“Will-AM-it”) National Forest.
To visit this spot, high above Lake Detroit, you’ll want about 5 hours available to travel from Salem or Bend, Oregon and a high clearance vehicle to get you there and back. Be sure to bring 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.
Shoot It: This image was captured with a Canon 7D DSLR (crop factor 1.6), Canon EF-L 70-200mm f/2.8 lens at 200mm and f/4.5, 1/400 sec, and ISO400, on a tripod, on August 19, 2017 at 6:39 AM. Basic adjustments and distraction removal using Photoshop Lightroom.
Improve It: What do you like about the composition of this image? What if I captured the image a minute or two earlier? A minute or two later? 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