Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Birds in Winter Dusk Sky

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Birds in Winter Dusk Sky
A small flock of birds flies toward the last dusk light on a winter evening.

Birds in Winter Dusk Sky. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A small flock of birds flies toward the last dusk light on a winter evening.

It is easy for me to imagine some viewers of this photograph asking questions like, “That’s not real, is it?” or “You photoshopped that, right?” I can’t blame them — or you — for wondering, so I’ll share a few things about the photograph: how it was made, how it came to look the way it does, and why the colors are so atypical for bird photography. But first, of course it is “photoshopped,” that that probably doesn’t mean quite what people intend to imply when they say or write it. Everything in the image appeared just as you see it, and aside from some color balancing and a few other adjustments, the colors were actually just this unusual. (Almost no one ever presents a photograph that hasn’t been optimized in post-production. Virtually all photographers regard the post-production process to be as integral to achieving the final image as all of the things that take place before the shutter is released.)

So, what is going on here? First, and probably most obviously, I used a relatively long shutter speed that allowed the bird’s motion to blur. I often do this at the very end of the day when photographing birds — rather than fighting diminishing light with high ISO and big apertures I go the other way and embrace the blur! The fact that there was so little light is another clue to the colors. I made the photograph significantly after sunset when the last colorful clouds appeared, and I tracked the birds until they crossed a particularly colorful patch of sky. But why are the birds so blue? The answer is that they actually were this blue — though if you had been there your visual system would have “corrected” and told you that you were looking at white birds. While the distant sky was wildly colorful, the close side of the birds was lit by darker sky that was quite blue. (There’s a lot more that could be said about the way we see color non-objectively, but that will have to wait for another post.)

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.

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Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Night, Photographs: Urban/Street

6th Avenue At Night

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6th Avenue At Night
6th Avenue at 26th street, photographed at night from a Manhattan hotel

6th Avenue At Night. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

6th Avenue at 26th street, photographed at night from a Manhattan hotel.

Hotel rooms in big urban centers may offer interesting perspectives for photography.(If you get lucky! If you get that room where the window faces… the elevator shaft, not so much. We have gotten lucky a few times. One memorable occasion was in Paris. We went to our room on a lower floor of our Montemartre hotel… to discover cigarette smoke wafting through the room and someone else’s unpacked baggage. We went back down to the desk, where the horrified employee immediately upgraded us to a top floor room… from which I was able to photograph the Eifel tower across a foreground of Paris rooftops.

We didn’t have that sort of luck on our recent December 2019 visit to Manhattan, but our 20th story room did offer an interesting view of the night action along a section of 6th Avenue that ran past the hotel. Shot without a tripod, I simply used a high ISO and lightly braced the camera agains the window to get sufficient stability for the shot.

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.

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Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Winter Trees

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Winter Trees
Two bare trees and new winter grasses in a foggy Central Valley pasture.

Winter Trees. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Two bare trees and new winter grasses in a foggy Central Valley pasture.

This is a familiar and welcome scene at this time of year in many places in California — bare trees in a winter pasture, cloaked in fog that is just beginning to clear. It surely is not what most world regard as an iconic California photograph — no rugged coastal cliffs, giant redwood trees, granite Sierra peaks, or desert sand dunes. But if you live in this landscape such scenes are at least as representative.

So, despite its non-iconic character, there are a number of things here that I identify with. Let me share a few of them. Note that crop of new green grass beneath the nearer tree. Many who visit California are struck by how brown it is during the tourist season — but they came at the wrong time. Our winter is the green season, as the rains start the plants growing between now and spring. Also, despite all of the classically remarkable California landscapes, these agricultural scenes are probably more typical — grassy areas interrupted by occasional large trees. This photograph is also a reminder for me that there are photographs everywhere, even in what we might think of as mundane landscapes.

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.

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Photographs: New York City

New York Bay, Sunset

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New York Bay, Sunset
A winter sunset over New York Bay, photographed from sixty floors up.

New York Bay, Sunset. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A winter sunset over New York Bay, photographed from sixty floors up.

When it comes to visiting New York City we have one advantage — both of our sons and their wives live there, so rather than relying on visitor guides and similar resources we often have our own personal guides to the city. As a result we end up visiting places and seeing things that we probably would not otherwise experience. This afternoon and evening provide an excellent example.

We began with a long walk. We started at Grand Central Station, where we met our eldest, and from there we started south, following a route that he picked, though neighborhoods that we likely would have otherwise missed. (Though along the way we also traversed some familiar terrain.) Eventually we made it to almost the southern end of Manhattan, where we met up with his wife plus our other son and his wife for drinks at Manhatta, a 60th floor restaurant high above the city. I don’t know if it was their plan or not, but we arrived there and looked out the windows at this stunning sunset panorama. (On the other side of the building there was an equally amazing view north over Manhattan.) From this stunning perch we descended back to the streets below for dinner and the unpretentious but delicious Xi’an Famous Foods restaurant.

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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