Category Archives: Commentary

Commentary, Equipment, Reader Questions

Reader Questions (April 2013)

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Blog readers and others occasionally send me questions, and I like to reply publicly so that others who are interested in these topics can also see the answers. Here are a few from the past few weeks. (Some posts are edited slightly here.)

Dave writes:

“I recently was reading a thread here where you posted about the 24-105 vs the 24-70. First I wanted to say thanks for your perspective. I had every intention of selling the 24-105 after much of the hoopla I’ve read about it not being so great and ordering the 24-70 MKII. My first day out with the 5D3 was in a museum (No flash) and the IS on the 24-105 in combination with the ISO on the 5D3 gave me shots I never would have thought possible. In short I’m very happy with the 24-105 when I had zero expectation of keeping it.

The question I have is that my 24-105 does have a fair amount of distortion @ 24mm and I noticed you also use the 17-40. Do you find the 17-40 a better performer @ 24mm and do you like the 17-40 in general?”

There are several interesting questions here, so let me try to take them one at at time.

First, though, an article I wrote a while back that looked at the pluses of the 24-105mm lens: In Praise of the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 IS L lens

Image stabilization (IS) versus larger apertures – The maximum aperture of the Canon 24-105mm f/4L IS is f/4. An f/2.8 maximum aperture is available on a Canon 24-70mm zoom and larger apertures come on a number of primes. This would seem to leave the f/4 zoom in the dust for low light photography – but maybe not. In situations where the limiting factor is camera stability (and the photographer’s ability to hold the camera steady at low shutter speeds), IS can provide several stops of additional low light performance if the subject is not moving too fast and/or if some subject motion blur is acceptable or even desired. In a situation like this one – photographing in a museum – the IS can work in light that would require a f/1.4 lens without IS. In addition, working at f/4 gives you slightly more depth of field. This can make focus just a bit less critical – important when working handheld with AF – let you keep more of the subject in focus.

Distortion at 24mm on the 24-105mm f/4L IS – One of the perceived negatives of this lens is that it shows more barrel distortion (a bowing outward of the image along the sides of the frame) at 24mm. It also exhibits more corner light fall off (or vignetting) at the largest apertures and especially at wide angles. In most cases you won’t notice either of these, but if you image contains lines parallel to the frame edges you may well see the barrel distortion when shooting at 24mm and you may well see the vignetting at f/4. (All lenses vignette to some extent – so it isn’t a question of whether a lens vignettes, but of how much. Most wide zooms will also show at least some barrel distortion.)

I rarely notice the barrel distortion. First, most of the time I shoot at focal lengths that don’t exhibit the issue. Second, when I do shoot at 24mm the issue is not visible with most subjects. But sometimes it will be visible at 24mm. However, most current raw conversion software auto-corrects for this. Some worry that this will diminish image resolution, but I’ve look for degradation and I cannot see it. Likewise, the software can automatically correct for vignetting and do so in ways that are essentially imperceptible. However, keep in mind that vignetting can be a beneficial effect in your photograph – in fact, it is not uncommon for photographers to add some in post! It serves to diminish the importance of peripheral parts of your image and can bring more attention to central elements.

Continue reading Reader Questions (April 2013) →

Commentary, History, Photographers

“Philip Hyde Books” – Q.T. Luong

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Q.T. Luong has shared an insightful and well-written tribute to photographer Philip Hyde: Philip Hyde Books.

Philip Hyde has been described as one of the most important members of the mid-to-late twentieth-century generation of American landscape photographers – in Luong’s article he is described as being a member of a trinity that includes Ansel Adams and Eliot Porter. Of the three, Hyde is the least known – perhaps not so much because his work wasn’t seen but, rather, because it was often seen in the service of other things, mostly environmental causes. His son, David Leland Hyde, who carries on his father’s legacy, has said that his father may have regarded the value his photographs had in the campaign to keep two dams out of Grand Canyon National Park to be his greatest success – not a bad legacy, I’d say!

Hyde’s work was featured in the early Sierra Club “coffee table books” on environmental and wilderness subjects. Today, even as role of actual books fades and online imagery (in some ways, unfortunately) increases, we still take these sorts of books for granted, and we perhaps forget just how important they were. How many of use had our first profound experience with the power of photographs through these books? I know that I and many others who began doing photography during the latter half of the 1900s certainly did. In his article, Luong acknowledges that he formed much of is own orientation to photography before he knew about Hyde, but he also acknowledges an affinity he feels for Hyde’s work. This is no accident. The influence of Hyde’s way of seeing the natural world has, I am certain, affected many photographers (and others) who are unaware of the source of this influence – precisely because the effect of his work and of the books through which it was shared was so widespread and pervasive.

I know that I saw Hyde’s work when I was much younger. I worked in a book store for some years and managed to purchase just about any Sierra Club book that we had on the shelves. But I’m afraid that I didn’t connect what I saw to Hyde himself at that time, though the power of the photographs certainly affected me. When I first photographed in the Sierra and elsewhere in California, it was these images (along with those of Adams and Porter and Weston and others) that I held in mind as a model of what I wanted my photographs to do.

A few years ago I stopped at the Mono Lake visitor center and wandered into a side room where there is a small (and, unfortunately, somewhat neglected) gallery of photographs.  Among the images in this gallery are several of Hyde’s photographs. As I looked at them, I “saw” them for the first time and recognized a source of the way of seeing that is pervasive in the work of so many who photograph the natural world. (Needless to say, I now visit that little gallery almost every time I’m near Mono Lake.)

Commentary, Deals and Sales, Equipment

B&H Holiday Closure Reminder

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A reminder that site-sponsor B&H Photo closes in a few days for Passover, and orders placed after noon EDT on Sunday, March 24th may not ship until they reopen. Here is their statement:

“Upcoming Passover Closing

“B&H will be closed from Monday, March 25th in the observance of Passover and will reopen on Wednesday, April 3rd at 9:00AM EDT. Place your order by 12:00PM Noon EDT on Sunday, March 24th in order to ship before the Holiday. Orders placed after this time will ship when we reopen. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patronage.”

You might want to consider this if you plan to order something in the next week or two or if you have been waiting to take advantage of some of the promotions and bundles that expire at the end of March, including several from companies like Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fujifilm, and more. (See the Deals page for links to some of these specials.)

© Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Commentary, Events

The Annual Horsetail Fall Post

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Horsetail Fall, Early Evening
Horsetail Fall, Early Evening

UPDATE: As of 2020 I am no longer posting annual updates concerning this subject — and I am editing older posts on the subject in light of the need to be more responsible about not encouraging the onslaught. I also no longer recommend going to the Valley to see it. Unfortunately, too much exposure (yes, I played a part in it, unfortunately) has led to absurd crowds, traffic jams, littering, destruction of areas in the Valley where too many people go to see it… and the park has increasingly — and appropriately — cracked down. Parking options have been eliminated, at least one viewing location has been closed. Good news! The rest of Yosemite Valley is still there and often exceptionally beautiful at this time of year.

Horsetail Fall, Early Evening. Yosemite Valley, California. February 15, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The silver strand of Horsetail Fall and water reflecting on surrounding cliffs in late afternoon light, Yosemite Valley, California.

Although it seems like it would be extremely difficult to make a truly original photograph of Horsetail Fall at this point, I won’t completely rule out the possibility, and recently I have seen a few interesting and imaginative photographs of the phenomenon.

The necessary conditions are fairly specific, and even when the basics are in place there is no guarantee that the show will occur on a given evening. To be honest, the odds are distinctly against you, and you are more likely to see something that doesn’t match your expectations.

  • There must be flowing water in the creek near the east end of the face of El Capitan that feeds the fall. This is not a sure thing in mid-winter. There must be sufficient snow above El Capitan and the temperatures must be warm enough to melt it, or there must have been a recent warm storm that brought some rain to higher elevations.
  • The setting sun must align just right with a gap in the mountains to the west of El Capitan so that the setting sun (miraculously) casts its last beams right on the face of El Capitan where the fall is located. Roughly speaking this occurs during the second half of February, right around February 20 or so.
  • You must be in a position such that the fall is back-lit by the sunset light beam. In addition, your position must provide a clear view of the fall – not necessarily a simple thing given the forest cover in the Valley. These areas are now subject to terrible crowding that has damaged areas of the park, and the park service is wisely reducing or eliminating access.
  • Although photographs make it seem like a huge, overpowering spectacle, it is actually very small. It takes place high on a distant cliff face, and to photograph it you’ll need a very long lens.
  • Finally, the skies to the west of Yosemite must be clear so that the golden hour sunset light is not blocked. Many tell stories of clouds that made it obvious that the show would not happen or, even more frustrating, developing light that was killed at the last minute when the sun dropped behind clouds to the west, which are quite common.

Any post about the February Horsetail Fall occurrence must include a few other important points:

  • The event has become so popular in recent years that the experience has been significantly compromised. You will not have an experience of relative solitude such as Galen Rowell likely had when he made the iconic photograph of the subject decades ago. Instead you will likely find yourself among hundreds or thousands (you read that right) of other photographers lined up with lenses pointed the same direction.
  • This, of course, implies that parking and finding “your spot” may both be challenges. As a result of traffic jams, illegal parking, overwhelming crowds, gross littering, and damage to meadow, forest, and river… the park service is wisely putting several access limits in place, even closing one of the favorite areas as of 2020.
  • If Horsetail isn’t an option, you are are still in one of the most beautiful and compelling places on the face of the planet for making photographs! Speaking of which, while the crowds are focused on Horsetail, you might consider photographing other things away from the crowds…

The annual Yosemite Renaissance art show typically opens at about this time each February and features the work of photographers and other artists working in Yosemite. The show is in the Yosemite Museum Gallery and the 2013 edition runs from February 22 through May 5, with the opening reception at 5:30-7:30 on February 22.  (You can view my work in the show this year.) In addition, there is always something interesting to see at the nearby Ansel Adams Gallery – this year an exhibit of Michael Frye’s photographs opens on February 16.

NOTE: The 2017 edition of the exhibit, Yosemite Renaissance 32, opens with a free public reception at 5:30 PM on Friday, February 24. One of my photographs is in the exhibit again this year. See you there!

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.

Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.