Cool fall colours in Kelowna and a polarizer.

Blair Pond, going north on Clifton Road.  October 21, 2025.  Polarizer filter used.

Fall colours, sunshine, and a quiet reflective pond was exactly what I was looking for.  Blair Pond turned out to be the perfect spot for my mission - to photograph the beauty of the season while getting an attractive reflection.  The water body is small enough that you can walk around it in 15 minutes and large enough to be a significant part of a photo.  

To enhance the images further, I was using a polarizer filter.  I have talked about polarizers in other blogs and will do so again tomorrow with some other great photos I recently captured.  But today's images were about my discovery.

I have never visited Blair Pond Park before, although I have been by it a few times.  It was on this particular journey that I decided to stop - what beautiful colours there were!  Vibrant reds, yellows, and oranges, and a water body without diminishing wave action as well.  Another bonus was that I could shoot at an angle to the sun and, in doing so, get the most out of my polarizer.  

Polarizers are somewhat finicky in that they don't always affect images coming into the camera in the same way.  You need a lot of open blue sky, and it is always better if the background has sunlight on it.  You have to be at an angle to the sun; preferably with it to your back, but not directly behind you.  My preference is to have the sun at the 4, 5, 7, or 8 o'clock position relative to the direction of my lens.  In this case, it at was about 4 o'clock.  

Polarizers also work better when the sun is high enough to create significantly blue skies.  Dusk and dawn are favourite times for shooting, but not with a polarizer.  The exception to this is if you want to get rid of glare reflecting off surfaces.  The time of day is highly variable, as I shot this around 11:00 am.  Since it is fall, the sun is at a lower angle in the sky here in British Columbia.  During summer, I would prefer earlier times, such as between 9 and 10 in the morning.  In winter, you can shoot within a few hours of noon to get the greatest effect.

Unfortunately, my time was limited, so I left the scene prematurely.  However, there will be another day, hopefully soon.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com

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