All posts by G Dan Mitchell

G Dan Mitchell, photographer and visual opportunist focusing on the Pacific coast, the Sierra Nevada, redwood forests, California oak/grasslands, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography and more. Posting daily photographs since 2005, along with articles, reviews, news, and ideas.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Wetland Dawn, Trees

July 11, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Trees and dawn sky reflected in the surface of a wetlands pond, Sacramento Valley

Some people speak and write a lot about the role of careful planning followed by slow and methodical work in landscape photography. Sometimes that certainly does pay off, but I find that far more often it is about acting on hunches, making good guesses about conditions and locations, and being ready and prepared to take advantage of pure, dumb luck when it comes to you. This photograph is a case in point.

There is no way that I could actually plan such a photograph — the best I could do (and I certainly do this) is to carry around some ideas about clouds reflecting in water and about silhouettes of trees, and then be ready to recognize the opportunity and act when something similar actually appears. But to take credit for dawn clouds whose curve mirrors that of a grove of trees, reflected in a seasonal pond on a morning that just happened to produce a bit of ground fog and beautiful colors would be both egotistical and a lie!

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Equipment, Fujifilm, Reviews, Tests

A Small Test: Fujifilm X-Pro2 Mirrorless and Active Subjects

July 10, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

I want to share the results of a little informal test I did today using my Fujifilm X-Pro2 (B&H | Adorama) mirrorless interchangeable lens camera and a Fujifilm zoom lens to photograph an active subject. First, here is an unremarkable photograph, aside from the fact that I would probably not have used my previous mirrorless camera to photograph this subject.

Fujifilm X-Pro2, ISO 400, f/8, 50-140mm lens at 140mm, handheld

Read on to find out why I photographed this and what I learned from it.

Background

I first used a mirrorless digital camera way back before the 21st century began — before there were DSLRs there were a number of early digital cameras, and my first was an Apple QuickTake! I used several others from a range of manufacturers before I acquired my first DSLR in about 2003.

As a group, mirrorless cameras have had some problems. One of the most glaring has long been slow autofocus (AF) speeds. Those very early cameras were often just plain awful in this regard, but they got better over the years.

Until recently I used a Fujifilm X-E1 mirrorless interchangeable lens camera, and it was my primary camera for travel and street photography for about 3 1/2 years. Its AF was fine for most things, but I also had to learn to adapt to slow AF in low light and with low contrast subjects — and the issue was more acute with some lenses than with others. For this reason — and a few others, including electronic viewfinder (EVF) display latency — I would never have thought to use that camera for photograph active subjects.

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Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

The Crosswalk

July 10, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

People in a crosswalk, San Francisco

There is not a whole lot to say (or is there?) about this photograph, except that I like it. I made it on a walking day in downtown San Francisco a month and a half ago. In some downtown areas of The City, especially along sections of Market Street, there is a combination of interesting and diverse people doing a wide range of things and some very interesting light at times.

The light was perhaps part of what triggered the choice to make a photograph here. It was a relatively sunny day, but down in the urban canyon there isn’t a lot of direct light. However, there is a lot of reflected light which arrives by bouncing back and forth among the tall buildings in a manner not unlike that by which canyon light arrives in the Southwest.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Pacific Surf and Sky

July 9, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Fog clouds dissipate above surf and offshore rocks along the Big Sur coastline

This is the third in my recent series of “straight out to sea” photographs of the misty Pacific Ocean horizon to the west of California’s Big Sur coast. You never know for sure what conditions you’ll find here, especially on days like this one that start with thick fog that gradually retreats off shore as the day continues — will you find yourself socked in or will it clear and leave you in bright sunshine? As I drove along this section of the coast I move continually between the fog and the sun.

I made this photograph and the southernmost point on this day’s shoot, where there was a turnout high above the ocean. The fog bank that I had just passed through a bit further north was here breaking up, and the dissipating clouds floated just of the shoreline. Farther out to sea, the horizon was blurred by the increasing mist and haze, and the fog bank lingered in the distance.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

All posts by G Dan Mitchell

Wetland Dawn, Trees

A Small Test: Fujifilm X-Pro2 Mirrorless and Active Subjects

The Crosswalk

Pacific Surf and Sky

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.