I shot this back in 2007, and have been trying to get it again ever since. Shot on a Nikon D200, I think I had the 18-200 lens. (I need to verify that one...) I went to shoot the fireworks from the Small World area (I "shoot" fireworks, but also shoot time as a pyrotechnician...). After fireworks, I loiter around and let the crowds slip by so my people in the crowds shot ratio goes down. I like to shoot the castle trying to get as much reflection in the image as possible. You can *almost* get the whole castle if you cheat a tripod over the fence on the right side (facing the castle). The two problems I have is that 1) the luminescence of the light as a reflection is not as bright as the source, and 2) there's usually movement on the water so the reflection looks soft. This night, I brought along a graduated neutral density filter to knock about 2 stops off of the castle. I did some test shots and liked the results. Then a magic moment happened: No wind. Nada. And the ducks were nowhere around. The water was absolutely still. Results: I had my daughter along as a helper and decided to do a "quick" shot of her at the wishing well. All of the light outside of the well is from the castle. I think the white balance was set to daylight. 20 second exposure - she held v-e-r-y still indeed. Love the look with her being warm and the area around looking cool. It helps that she has a scarf on.
There is a certain elegence captured in the photo of the castle. ; very nice. Great contrast in the second photo. ; Thanks for sharing.
