On the way to the Devil’s Ice Box
Rock Bridge Memorial State Park boardwalk to the Devil's Ice Box, Columbia, Mo. | Canon 5D Mark II and 24-70mm f/2.8L lens @ 34mm; exposed 1/2 second @ f/16, ISO 400.
I took an excursion–albeit brief–to Rock Bridge Memorial State Park in the early evening hours tonight. A sudden thunderstorm that passed through Columbia this afternoon had left the colors saturated, and the boardwalk to the Devil’s Ice Box (an extensive cave in the park) was slippery. As I turned back to see the way I came–taking a cue from Dewitt Jones’ sappy, but helpful mantra “Look around, Dewitt”–I saw the sun bursting through the tree canopy. Normally, for a scene like this, I wouldn’t worry about stopping down beyond f/9, possibly f/11, but for maximum sunburst without risk of image deterioration due to diffraction, I chose f/16. I prefer to avoid a lens’s minimum aperture–you can test the theory yourself, and you will find that your lens becomes less sharp, not more-so, at its smallest aperture.
Beautiful!