Reflections Assignment Winner Philip Kuntz

Congratulations to Philip Kuntz for his winning photo in the Reflections Assignment.

Photographer: Philip Kuntz

“This photo was taken in October, 2012 on my 5th trip to Banff. The Canadian Rockies is my favorite destination and Banff had received its first snowfall of the winter that night so the fresh snow enhanced the autumn beauty. The morning was very cloudy, not promising much color or much of a view of the peaks in the area.

“There were several other photographers already in the best spots to capture iconic Mt. Rundle, which is generally the primary target. It too was shrouded in mists and clouds. These Sundance peaks are generally bypassed in favor of the more impressive and rugged Mt. Rundle, but with those viewpoints already taken, I walked the shore looking for the best opportunity to photograph the Sundance peaks. I found this sweet perspective as the sun arrived. Earlier these twin peaks had been concealed by thick clouds and I was pleased to see the clouds part for a short time and allow this view, and the nice reflections. The low bank of fog was a nice atmospheric addition as well. I still tried to get some shots of Mt. Rundle, but the clouds wouldn’t relax their grip. I think I had the best perspective this morning.  What a grand way to start a day!

“This was my first trip using my new Nikon D800, with a Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 lens. I shoot RAW, then I convert the files in Nikon Capture NX 2 software to TIFF files. I open the TIFF’s in Aperture for further processing.  I am a big fan of Nik Software’s products, particularly Dfine, Color Efex Pro and Viveza. After fine tuning with Aperture I convert to jpeg. Many people think my images are HDR’s, but they aren’t. I’m still working on perfecting my single exposure shots.  The settings for this photo were f/20, 2 sec at ISO 100 and the lens was at 24 mm.”

For every Assignment, the OP editors will select a winning image at the conclusion o the entry period. The winner will be featured on the OP home page and in a blog article about how the photograph was taken. To get your photos into the running all you have to do is submit them.