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California Central Valley

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 22:37:44 +0100

I went up to Mount Shasta to do a bit of shooting after the first snows there (may post an image later). On the way back home I pulled off Route 5 to catch this amazing sunset reflected in the flooded rice field. That's rice stubble you see sticking up in the water there?
You may ask, rice in California? Yep.

Technorati

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 18:50:42 +0100

pgmk97vayh

September Full Moon

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 04:33:43 +0100

The moon is actually full tomorrow, September 4th. In most cases, I like the moonrise the day before the full moon. The day before, the moon rises at a time when there is nice sunset light still going on. Tomorrow, it will be much darker and later when the full moon rises.
September, October, and sometimes November are really good months to photograph the moonrise. This one would have been more dramatic with some clouds going on. We had them last night, but tonight, nothing at all. Maybe next month.

Color-Accurate Monitors

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 23:50:47 +0100

If you want accurate color, the first thing you do is color calibrate your monitor, right? Actually, it's probably better to think about what monitor you buy first. Can it display the whole color space you are working with? But how do you find that out?

Fortunately, Rich Seiling of West Coast Imaging has published a list of monitors they have tested and the results.
http://tinyurl.com/bwk3c4

I would also recommend his blog in general. http://craftingphotographs.com/

Of course, this only matters if you are preparing your image for printing.

If you are going to show your work on the Web, then you need to get used to the idea that people are going to look at it with 1992 Costco clearance monitors that have never been calibrated. Brace yourself for all those questions like, "why are all the faces blue?"

:-)

Fog Along the Pacific

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 04:34:03 +0100

I ran into a good heavy fog overhead after a hike along the Pacific coast. There was no chance for any kind of sunset, but the light was nice and diffuse about an hour before. The whole scene just screamed of black & white: the sky was grey, the ocean was a palate of silvers. Everything was set up for mono.
Of all the images I took, this one jumped out at me. I realize it is hard to see in this small thumbnail, but after shooting the fisherman casting for a while, I re-set myself for a shot of the waves bursting on the cliffs. And then, completely unplanned, the fisherman walked into my picture and started talking to a swimmer passing by in the opposite direction.
Nice symmetry and some really nice lighting from the sun breaking through the fog.

Searching for Good Light

Sun, 26 Jul 2009 23:06:21 +0100

Searching for good light in the summer months can be difficult. Summer's harsh direct sunlight brings extreme contrast situations that cameras do not handle well. Your bright spots "blow out" to featureless white and your shadows drop to featureless black.

Shooting around sunrise and sunset are good options but even that can be difficult. Sunrise is around 5:30 am and sunset is around 8:30 pm. It takes some planning, especially around when to sleep and what to do with the long hours in between.

I went out shooting last night in the valley of the San Benito River near Pinnacles National Monument. The light was quite harsh during the day and there was not a cloud in the sky to diffuse it. I chose this area because of the fact that there is a lot of agricultural activity in the Salinas Valley to the west. This means a lot of dust and dirt in the sky. Perhaps not the prettiest thing to see during the day but a great diffuser towards evening. The result is a relatively long sunset with great golden light.

Weather Watching

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 18:01:55 +0100

The weather forecast for the San Francisco Bay area is scattered rain and thunderstorms for the next few days. This weather pattern is really unusual weather for here at this time of year, so what is a photographer to do? Actually, it is a great opportunity for some amazing sunrises and sunsets. The most spectacular displays come when you can catch a sunrise or sunset coming in beneath a good cloud cover. I am always looking for a storm edge or a break in a storm.

So, how do you take advantage of these conditions? First, take a look at the weather. What direction is the storm system coming from? When is it predicted to hit the area? Next, think about where do you want to be when it comes through your area. Sorry but, an empty field with a great sunset is pretty boring. You need to think in terms of composition. What else will be going on in your image? Finally, you need to look at the times and locations of sunrise or sunset. Then, you can assemble all of the pieces.

Last Tuesday, I took a ride over to the coast to look for good locations. The sunset is at approximately 8:30pm at this time of year. The storms were unpredictable since they were just a series of small systems coming through at intervals, not a big front.

I spent about an hour scouting a series of locations along the coast before I settled on Pescadero State Park. There I stopped. It did not look promising. The sky was very clear and the horizon was a sharp as a knife. The sharp horizon meant that we would be able to see the sun all the way to sunset rather than what usually happens around here; the sun just disappears into a fog bank while still well above the horizon. The clear sky was not good. No clouds means no backdrop to catch the red and orange light from the setting sun and a much less interesting image.

It was still an hour and a half before sunset so I waited and scouted around. Before long I noticed a fantastic set of clouds forming to the south. After a while it became clear that the clouds were coming up in my direction. This looked very promising: The clouds at lower levels were round and dark while the clouds at higher levels were wispy and a very bright white.

I set up to shoot south along the coast with a point of rocks projecting out and the cloud formations in the background. Nice idea, but that is not how it turned out at all. The clouds moved much more quickly than I expected and were fully overhead by the time sunset arrived. The sunset was in a small clear window off to the northwest with a huge canvas of cloud cover to project color on. The result was a spectacularly colorful sunset. I had to change my angle and composition several times as the conditions changed.

The moral of the story: plan as much as you can and then be ready to throw your plan out the window and react quickly to the conditions you actually find.

Spring Yosemite Trip

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 19:45:34 +0100

I just got back from a quick trip to Yosemite National Park. This is an amazing time to go: there are blooming dogwoods, roaring waterfalls, snow in the high country and even the occasional redbud. The best part was a chance to shoot Yosemite Falls by the light of the full moon and catch the moonbow (See "Yosemite" image tab).

The moonbow is interesting to shoot because:

You can't see the moonbow with the naked eye. Only a long camera exposure can pick it up.
Because you can't see it, you can't be absolutely sure when it is present.
Exposure is by dead reckoning as you are doing bulb exposures of around 4 to 6 minutes. Believe your histogram.

April and May are the best months to capture the moonbow. The best times are the night of the full moon and they day before. I took the image you see from a meadow in Yosemite Valley. The next night I ran into at least four people hiking up to the base of Upper Yosemite Falls to catch it there. I also heard from several people that the moonbow was so intense at the Lower Yosemite Falls that it was clearly visible to the naked eye.

On my last morning, I took off on the trail to Vernal and Nevada Falls. I was just wandering to see what I would see and had no intention of hiking far. Before I knew it, I was climbing through the spray at Vernal Fall. I expected it to be too cold but the day warmed up quickly and the spray was refreshing. The chance to photograph the roaring fall and the intense rainbows was just too much to pass up. The "Emerald Pools" are anything but right now. They are raging white water rather than the placid emerald pools you might see in October.

Photography Blog

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 19:47:01 +0100

I will post blogs from time to time as I go out on photography trips. Expect more activity from me in September through March. The summer months tend to have harsh light and fewer good photographic opportunities. The exception is right here in the San Francisco Bay area where overcast and foggy conditions can be interesting in the summer.

To me, photography is all about light. I do the vast majority of my work an hour before and after sunset and sunrise. I am usually packing up and going home by 9:00 am. The very best and most interesting light comes in November and February, particularly when there is a storm front moving in or out of the area.