Luminous Landscape is hosting an interesting piece by Charles Cramer on Tough Selections Made Easy. Charlie explains an interesting (and, for me, already useful) technique for selectively adjusting sections of a photograph without having to carefully mask them – worth reading.
Category Archives: Technique
Pssst… I’m not the only photographer in the family
That’s right, my brother Richard Mitchell is also a serious photographer. As a matter of fact, his switch to digital is a big part of what rekindled my serious interest in photography a few years back.
While we share some photographic interests (landscape photography, for example), we also pursue some different subjects. For example, he has done significant portrait work – I have barely touched that aspect of photography, doing only a very small number of informal shots of friends and family. In addition, having a son who is a serious gymnast, he has a lot of experience photographing that sort of sport. He has posted an interesting and useful report and how-to on this topic at his blog.
(When I see some of the lenses he uses and the prices of this gear, I think I’m glad I do landscape! :-)
Fun with Panoramas
Earlier I posted a panoramic photograph of the Seattle skyline shot at night from West Seattle. While I’m on the subject, a bit more about getting this shot. I go to Seattle somewhat regularly, having a number of relatives living in the area, and I’ve come to enjoy photographing Seattle quite a bit. My son lives in downtown Seattle and knows far more about the area than I do, so I welcome his suggestions about interesting things to see and places to go.
He had mentioned that the view of the Seattle waterfront from West Seattle is stunning. I’d never been over there, though I’d seen the area from the air on approach to SeaTac. In any case, I had the idea of getting out there at night in the back of my mind during my last visit. One rainy evening I took him back to his place in the Capitol Hill area and – miracle of miracles! – the rain seemed to let up. I quickly decided to head over to West Seattle and see if I could find a place to do my photography.
Having no idea what the roads are like in West Seattle, I pretty quickly ended up in the wrong place – on a road heading across the area and away from the Seattle view. I finally just decided to take the next right turn and see where it would lead. After wandering around on a bunch of random streets I finally made it down to the waterline where there seemed to be some kind of park. I stopped, checked out my surroundings, grabbed my camera, lenses, and tripod and went to work. The rain held off just long enough for me to grab a few panorama sequences, and a couple of them turned out quite well.
Seattle Night Skyline Panorama. Seattle, Washington. January 2, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell. – all rights reserved.
Electronic Flash and Landscape
The Strobist has a piece today that hits two of my interests, landscape and night photography, and ties them together with the use of strobes and light painting.
Using Speedlights with Landscapes – You might not think a small flash — or even a flashlight — could make such a big difference in a landscape photo. But the trick is waiting for the ambient to come to you, and being selective about what you light. [Strobist]
Follow the link for the full post and photographic examples.
While I have done a bit of “light painting” in my night photography, I’m not a “flashy kind of guy” myself. However, I’m becoming more intrigued after following the Strobist for the past month or two. If you don’t already subscribe to their news feed, I recommend it. Visit The Strobist to find out more.
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him.
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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.