Visiting Lake Tahoe in northern California is a special event. The elevation provides a deep blue sky, the water is among the clearest in the world, and the environment is pristine. Emerald Bay, on the southwest corner of the lake and pictured here, is one of the most popular destinations because it embodies all of these qualities in a small bay.
I don’t get to visit Lake Tahoe very often, and when I do, I try to get to this area at dawn to see the sun rapidly light up the lake, the bay, and the surrounding hills. You have only a few minutes to find your best spot and make photos as the light comes up. Even during high season, there are surprisingly few (but not zero) photographers joining you for this experience.
On this day, I arrived in the dark and tried several locations for pre-dawn exposures. I wasn’t excited by what I saw, but worked my way carefully across the granite boulders and steep hillsides, ending up behind this cascade just above Lower Eagle Falls. By then the sun was up, and I saw my chances of getting a special image diminishing. But I liked being behind this cascade with the sun over the lake and the bay and hurried to capture the scene before the light went flat.
While I usually opt for a long exposure to smooth the water, I liked how the sun played off the cascade here and went for a short exposure instead. The f/20 aperture wasn’t small enough to get a tight sunstar but was necessary to bring some light to the cascade. This was my favorite of several tries, framed nicely with the spruce trees on either side and the bay, lake, and sun well centered.
