Sunset: Coquille, Oregon

Canon 30D, 17-40 f/4L,  ISO: 100, aperture: f/6.3, shutter: 1/60 second, exposure bias: +0.7 step, filter: 2 step soft edge graduated neutral density, tripod: yes, post: PS2

It’s not unusual for the waters of the Coquille River to flood into the adjacent agricultural lands.  The farmers and ranchers expect it so have time to move animals and equipment to higher ground.  Those flooded pastures provide nice photo ops.  For shots like this I typically use a split neutral density to reduce the contrast between the sky and foreground.  Lightroom has a similar filter that can be applied in post, but you’ll get better results by getting the exposure ‘right’ in the camera.  Besides a couple of split NDs the only other filter I carry is a polarizer.