Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Snow Geese, Pond

January 22, 2018 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

A flock of snow geese stands in a shallow wetland pond.

This is a somewhat different photograph of geese than I might usually make. More often I photograph them in flight or in huge flocks, either landed or flying, and quite often the photographs feature Ross’s geese. This group is none of those things. When I came to this spot — and, yes, I was looking for big flocks — I found small groups of geese (and other birds) that were mostly quietly tending to their business in these shallow ponds. There wasn’t a lot of flying, a lot of noise, or much else.

However, their relative passivity did give me a chance to make some photographs that can (especially when viewed larger than these web images permit) reveal some of the individuality of the birds in the group. Their heads are up, which often indicates that they are aware of something that focuses their attention, possibly a potential danger of some sort. (It could have been me, but I was using a long lens and was pretty far away.) Because of their erect bearing, we get to see the juxtaposition of all those heads and beaks, pointing in various directions. It is also possible (again, in a larger version of the photo) the tell-tale “grin” pattern on the sides of the beaks that characterizes snow geese. (It is easy to mistake them for Ross’s geese and vice versa, and the indicators can be a bit subtle.) In addition, contrary to our expectation that such bird will all look pretty much the same, among the members of this group you can spot some significant variations in appearance. For example, note the two birds with darker feathers or the several with distinctly yellow features on their heads.

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

Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

The Office, Deconstructed

January 21, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Abandoned and broken chairs abandoned on a Manhattan sidewalk

I’m no longer quite as surprised as I once was to see what finds its way to the sidewalks, curbs, and gutters in New York City. (I recently arrived at an understanding that people in such places focus more on the quality of their home environments and less on the public environment — beautiful, comfortably designed and equipped homes are found inside buildings that, from a certain perspective, look like dumps from the outside.) If you think about how many people live and work there, it boggles the mind to consider how much stuff flows in and out of the place, including an awful lot of stuff that simply needs to be discarded.

When I walked past this spot, located in an area of very narrow and twisting streets (which should narrow it down for New Yorkers), this particular pile caught my attention. Broken office chairs were piled on the sidewalk, completely blocking it. Nearby were a few other things we might associate with work/office: abandoned coffee cups, an empty cigarette carton. Heck, in a way you might even say there is a “corner” window. Of course, I noted other things, too: the angular and geometric forms of roll-up door, tiled wall, and the strange triangle near the top, plus the soft and blue light in this narrow spot where sun rarely shines, especially in the winter.

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

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Post-Sunset Geese

January 20, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Winter geese fly toward wetlands after sunset

These days photographing wild birds are frequently long. For me they begin about three hours before dawn, when I awake to a (very) early alarm, grab coffee and a bit of food, load my vehicle, and start out on a two-hour drive in the darkness. As I approach my destination the first color is coming to the sky above the Sierra — that is if tule fog doesn’t reduce visibility to 100 feet or so! I arrive a half hour before sunrise, set up camera equipment, and begin to work. At first I may make some landscape photographs, since it is often still too early to handhold the camera for bird photography, but soon the first birds fly up from the ponds. I usually spend the next three hours of so photographing birds and landscape — though the precise time varies depending on the conditions — and then I take a break in the middle of the day. By mid-afternoon I’m back, looking for evening photographic opportunities, and the pace of the work increases as sunset approaches. During the last few minutes of light a lot happens quickly, and then I photograph until the light is gone.

I made this photograph during that late period, following sunset, when lingering light colored the thin clouds above the western mountains. Around sunset there is a period of coming and going by the birds. Birds may rise up from ponds and fly away, or flocks may arrive from distant points and settle in for the night. Often cranes arrive just after sunset. The birds in this photograph are geese, most likely Ross’s geese, approaching the wetland ponds from that western sunset sky.

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

Equipment, Tests

Fujifilm GFX and Canon 5DsR part II

January 19, 2018 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Earlier I shared the beginning of an article that compares the Fujifilm GFX 50S and the Canon 5DsR, two cameras with different formats but approximately the same sensor resolution. That article (“Fujifilm GFX and Canon 5DsR” wasn’t complete … and now I’m back with one more point of reference.

When it comes to resolution, making judgments based on screen images has its limits. For example, 100% magnification crops “show” you things that won’t be visible even in a very large print, and in many cases you must interpret what you see in the screen image in order to speculate about what the print will look like. As we say, “The proof is in the print.”

With that in mind, I have prepared some files that may be useful for comparing print resolution from Fujifilm GFX 50S and the Canon 5DsR. These files each hold three “test strips” labeled A, B, and C. The files have been formatted for producing prints with a print area of 10″ wide and 6″ tall (use letter-size paper) when printed at a resolution of 360. They are sRGB color files in the highest quality (Photoshop: 12) jpg format.

There are four files. Let’s call them:

(Click on the links to see and download the files.)

IMPORTANT NOTE: When first posted, these links went to downsized files rather than the full size print-ready files. This was corrected on 1/21/18. The print areas of these files should be 3600 pixels on the long side, for printing 10″ long at 360 ppi.

Viewing them on screen is not the object here — in fact, for reasons I won’t go into here, trying to evaluate that way is of very limited value and may mislead you. (For example, the files have been optimized for print in ways that may make them look poor on screen at 100% magnification.)

You will need to print.

Since there are four samples, you’ll need to make four letter-size prints. The correct settings will probably be entered automatically, but check that the print area is 10″ wide and 6″ tall and that the resolution is set to 360. As you download and print the files you may wish to make a note on each (in pencil or ink) indicating which file it is — sample 1, sample 2, sample 3, and sample 4.

Observe each print carefully. Note anything you can see related to the resolution of each printed strip A, B, and C. (Note that this is only a resolution test — don’t worry about things like image size, brightness, color, and so forth.)

In order to avoid confirmation bias I’m not going to reveal anything else about the files at this time. Once a few people (or a lot of people?) have weighed in with their observations — please use the comments below — I’ll reveal more important information about what you are looking at.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

The Office, Deconstructed

Post-Sunset Geese

Fujifilm GFX and Canon 5DsR part II

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