Return to Lake Wheeler Park

I wanted to visit one of the nearby lakes on Sunday, both to photograph and squeeze in a trail walk if I could. I was torn between going to Lake Benson in Garner or Lake Wheeler south of Raleigh. I chose Lake Wheeler, and afterward, I wish I had gone to Benson. 

Being a weekend day, it was crowded in the park, plus the trail I was hoping to use for my dead-ended at a point well before where I remember it stopping the last time I was there, which was September 2023. I remembered that in 2023, the lake water level was extremely low, which enabled me to walk along a nice chunk of shoreland on which I hopped onto from the trail. But the water level was normal or higher on Sunday, and that whole shoreline I was able to walk previously was under water.  

So the walk was a brief one, and the variety of shots was among my most disappointing in my scores of photo shoots over the years. Nevertheless, given that this blog IS supposed to be -- for the most part, anyway -- a chronicle of my shoots, I feel obligated to present something from the effort. 

 I liked the photo leading off the post, even though it's not in the realm of being anything close to stunning. It just helps introduce a calming effect. 

For the non-wooded portion of the shoot, which I handled first, I used a circular polarizing filter on my lens hoping to get better transparency and less glare on the water as well a slightly richer blue color in the water and sky. I switched to a UV filter (which I otherwise always use to protect the real lens glass behind it) for the shots along the wooded trail.

In addition to the filters, I returned to using spot metering for my shots and set my aperture priority to f/11.3 instead of the f/8 I had been using. f/11.3 gives me a longer range of field that is in sharp focus in landscape shots. 

To view a full gallery of images from this shoot (although there aren't many more beyond what I included here), follow the link in this sentence. 

For the shots above and first four below, I was at the far end of one of the piers looking back to shore. 

The overlook above, positioned right on the shoreline, is a popular spot for fishermen and women to do their thing. There are two people on the overlook; one just right of center and another partially obscured sitting on the wooden frame on the far left. Because he was partially obscured, I moved to the right and went to full zoon (300mm) on the lens to grab the photo below.  

Above and below:  When the sun hits the water with a sooty bottom, as in the shots above and below, you can get rewarded with this striking color variance. I actually had to tone down the saturation on the above photo, it was so strong on the original unedited version. 

Above: I wished I'd had more color in this shot of what appears to be a pool of pine cones, but ... I boosted the orange just a very tiny bit. Conversely, I again had to lower saturation on the shot below of a water vessel of some kind. 

Above: You have to look real hard at the center of this photo, which I wouldn't even bother posting if I were intent on presenting only good things or my best. I didn't see this goose until the last moment, and it was headed into some brush that would have put it out of camera range, so I turned, auto-focused and tripped the shutter. It lacks the sharpness I strive for, but I present it as a reminder that every shooter has misses along the hits.

Above and below: One of the interesting encounters on the trail walk were these new homes built in the woods. There's enough forest that I can't believe the residents of these swellings have much of a view of the lake. But on the other hand, it would be a very short jaunt for them to hop on the trail I was on and head to the water beyond the trailhead. The two kayaks (I think) afixed to a tree in the second photo below was on the property of the home below.