USA 2023 #5 - Sunset over Crater Lake
Here's another picture of Crater Lake from my trip to the USA in summer 2023, showing Crater Lake with the setting sun and the crater rim in the background and a small wall from the viewpoint in the foreground. I particularly like the flare stars and the lens flare around the sun, as well as the wide 'sun path' on the water. The beautiful aperture stars, which are also clearly visible here, are created by using a small aperture when photographing a point light source, in this case f/16. As the aperture blades are not perfectly circular, the characteristic aperture stars are created when the light is diffracted by them, depending on the number of aperture blades. With an even number of blades, the number of rays is the same as that of the blades, but with an odd number, it is twice as large.¹
At 593 metres deep, Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the USA and the seventh deepest in the world. It forms the centrepiece of the only national park in Oregon and was formed around 7,700 years ago by the collapse of the volcano 'Mount Mazama' during an eruption. The entire park covers an area of 741 square kilometres and is open all year round. In winter and spring, however, some roads and utilities are closed due to snowfall.²
¹ https://www.didaktikonline.physik.uni-muenchen.de/Bildraetsel/loesung2.html (23/08/2024)
² https://www.visit-usa.at/oregon-crater-lake-nationalpark/ (17/10/2023)