Morning Musing – 8/24/14

August 24, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

This “Morning Musing” post is related to the photograph I shared here earlier this today: “Flooded Field, Winter.” I made this photograph last winter on New Year’s Day, when a group of us (friends who are all involved in photography in one way or another) gathered before dawn at a favorite migratory bird location to again welcome the literal dawn of the new year together.

I am aware that no one else see a photograph in the same way that it is seen by the photographer who made it. The backstory of this image reminds me that the viewer, in a sense, can see it more objectively for what it is as a pure visual image, though he or she may be able be able to share with the photographer some of the implications and connections that such a photograph might evoke. The photographer has a unique internal knowledge of and relationship to the photograph that can never be completely understood by the viewer, even by a viewer who might like the photograph a great deal. When I tell you that the photograph was made on a cold and foggy New Year’s Day, in the company of good friends and photographers, you know more about the context, and this knowledge mights shift the way that you understand the photograph, but I can never take you all the way “there.”

The photograph also reminds me of one other wonderful thought. Fall is coming, and then winter, and soon the birds will return to Central Valley, and my friends and I will meet there once again on mornings much like this one. I can’t wait!

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.

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

Flooded Field, Winter

August 24, 2014 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

The stubble of last year’s crop in a flooded San Joaquin Valley winter field

This photograph comes from a season that seems quite remote today, during the warm late-summer days of mid-August. I made the photograph back on New Year’s Day 2014, when a group of us met in the San Joaquin Valley to welcome the dawn (literally — we arrived before sunrise) of the new year by spending a day photographic migratory birds and the flat and moody Central Valley landscape. Looking at photographs like this one now always reminds me of how quick and how regular the annual cycle is, since we are now considerably closer to New Year’s Day 2015 than the first day of 2014.

This photograph could also be a reminder to the stresses to wildlife from a third drought year and the conversion of the overwhelming majority of the important Central Valley wetlands to farm land. On the positive side, this location is an example of how agriculture and wildlife protection can coexist, since it is farmed in the dry season and then flooded for the birds in the winter. And does it ever attract birds! Here the patterns left by farm machinery are visible in the waters of the shallow ponds where birds were floating on this day.

Morning Musings, Technique

A Bit More on Aperture Selection (Morning Musing for 8/23/14)

August 23, 2014 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

(Thanks to a reader who posted a follow up comment on an earlier post — “Making Aperture Selection Easy (Morning Musing for 8/22/14)” — I wrote up a response with a quick explanation of why you might want to be careful about stopping down too far if you are trying to maximize image sharpness. I think it might be useful information for others, too, so I’m sharing it here as a new post.)

Aperture selection, among other things, allows us to control depth of field (DOF)— the range of distances in front of and behind (if not focused on infinity) the subject that is the center of the plane of focus. By choosing larger apertures (such as f/1.4) we narrow the DOF and can throw elements beyond or in front of the main subject out of focus, making them soft and diffused. Choosing smaller apertures (such as f/16) will increase the DOF, and subjects further behind or in front of the primary subject will be much sharper.

Some photographers make a logical leap from “increasing DOF with small apertures makes more things in the frame look sharp” to “smaller apertures are sharper.” It doesn’t actually work quite that way! Continue reading A Bit More on Aperture Selection (Morning Musing for 8/23/14) →

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

Napping Elephant Seals

August 23, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A crowd of elephant seals napping on the beach near Point Piedras Blancas

This is (yet another!) photograph of elephant seals lolling about on the beach near Point Piedras Blancas just south of the Big Sur coastline. This location is well-known for providing easy access to viewing of these remarkable animals. They are found in many other locations along the coast now that their numbers have recovered, but in most places access is much more difficult. Here there is an “elephant seal nursery” mere feet for the Pacific Coast Highway, with short observation trails that give good views of the action and which protect both the seals and the human visitors.

I visited a bit earlier in this season when the pups were still rather small. This visit was almost an afterthought — after a morning of photographing landscapes and seascapes along the Big Sur coast I found myself at the southern end of this area with a few hours to kill in midday light, so I decided to drive a bit further and visit the seals. There were not nearly as many there at this later point in the season, but there were still plenty for me to make photographs. Images of the animals lying almost motionless on the sand not only evoke our own pleasant thoughts of doing the same thing (!) but they can also create a false impression that the lives of these creatures are lives of ease. In fact, the reality seems quite a bit different. In contrast to what seems like a life as a big chunk of sleeping blubber, these animals become quite sleek and graceful once in the water — where I understand that they have to be on the lookout in order to avoid become a snack for a great white shark!

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Morning Musing – 8/24/14

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A Bit More on Aperture Selection (Morning Musing for 8/23/14)

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

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