Tag Archives: and

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Boulders and Spring Torrent, Cascade Creek

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Boulders and Spring Torrent, Cascade Creek
Boulders and Spring Torrent, Cascade Creek

Boulders and Spring Torrent, Cascade Creek. Yosemite National Park, California. May 7, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Runoff from spring snow melt rushes over boulders of Cascade Creek, Yosemite National Park.

This is a subject that I return to several times each year – a particular section of creek that can be viewed from overhead and which can vary from nearly dry to a wild torrent depending upon the time of year and the character of each new year. During the past year I was inspired by Charles Cramer’s stunning photograph of this subject to look at it more closely and from some different perspectives. (A small bit of “Charlie’s scene” appears in this photograph. I wonder if you can find it? :-)

In some ways, the view of this scene is limited in that you can only see it from a particular range of positions – unless you have the skill of levitation! In another way it is hardly limiting at all since the larger view contains many possible smaller views of rocks and plants and water and light. I still have in mind a horizontal composition in this general area, but so far it hasn’t quite worked. Guess I’ll have to keep trying.

I made this photograph in the morning before any direct light had worked its way around the mountains and down into the stream bed. Beyond the stream, which drops precipitously into the Merced River far below, there was open sky and that is the light that reflects on some of the wet rocks. By playing around to find an appropriate combination of ISO values, aperture, and shutter speed, I tried to get the water to hold some detail but to also be blurred enough to reflect its wild motion as it tumbles down this rocky canyon.

As is sometimes the case, I still cannot decide for sure between this monochrome version and a color version that will appear here before long.

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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.

Ideas, Reviews, Technique

Review: “Light & Land” by Michael Frye

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Over the past few weeks I have had the chance to go through Michael Frye’s new ebook, “Light and Land: Landscapes in the Digital Darkroom.” Many are no doubt already aware of Michael’s reputation from his photography, his workshops, and his other publications including his “Photographer’s Guide to Yosemite” and “Digital Landscape Photography: In The Footsteps of Ansel Adams and the Masters.” I have the .pdf version of “Light and Land”, and I understand that an iPad app version may also be available.

Light and Land - Michael Frye
Light and Land - Michael Frye

It is typical for photographic “how to” books to focus on specific techniques, and to be organized around a presentation of these techniques – perhaps with a section on curves, a section on black and white conversion, and so forth. This approach has its place, especially for certain types of learners and at certain points in the learning process. It is important to understand the basic techniques and operations that are available in the “digital darkroom” of such programs as Photoshop, Lightroom and so forth. That said, the bigger and more important issue is how to call upon these techniques creatively and effectively and appropriately in order to make photographs. Not all “how to” books do an effective job of illustrating this.

Michael’s “Light & Land” takes a different approach, and one that more accurately and realistically reflects the thought process of a photographer who is calling upon this arsenal of techniques in the service of creating beautiful photographs.  He writes:

“The digital darkroom gives us tremendous control over our images. We can make them lighter, darker, add contrast, change the color balance, increase saturation, turn a color photograph into black and white, remove telephone poles, blend exposures with HDR, combine ten images to capture infinite depth of field, or put a winged elephant in the sky.

But what do we do with these choices?” Continue reading Review: “Light & Land” by Michael Frye →

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco

Three Ships at Anchor, San Francisco Bay (Black and White)

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Three Ships at Anchor, San Francisco Bay - Black and white photograph of three ships anchored beyond old dock pilings in luminous morning light on San Francisco Bay
Black and white photograph of three ships anchored beyond old dock pilings in luminous morning light on San Francisco Bay

Three Ships at Anchor. San Francisco, California. July 17, 2006. © Copyright 2006 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Three ships anchored beyond old dock pilings in luminous morning light on San Francisco Bay.

I frequently ride the Caltrain up to San Francisco on summer mornings and photograph along the Embarcadero waterfront (and other locations). I have been shooting this particular scene for several years now, and I never cease to be amazed when I find such a peaceful and serene subject… standing next to old concrete barriers as commuter traffic whizzes by a few feet away.

These ships are frequently moored out in the bay a bit south of San Francisco, presumably while waiting to go into port or perhaps leave the bay? They seem to drift and turn a bit as the tides flow, so their alignment and positions can change in interesting ways. On this morning I was lucky to spot three of them lined up so nicely!

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.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Cloud Shadows, Mount Winchell

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Cloud Shadows, Mount Winchell
Cloud Shadows, Mount Winchell

Cloud Shadows, Mount Winchell. Kings Canyon National Park. August 13, 2005. © Copyright 2005 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Late-afternoon cloud shadows race across the west face of Mount Winchell, Sierra Nevada.

Mt. Winchell is just south of Bishop Pass on the crest of the Sierra Nevada. I was intrigued by the repeating diagonals in this image along with the cloud shadow.

(Technical note regarding this photograph. I am frequently asked about prints of this image. It is available as a print, but the size must be limited to approximately 12″ x 18″ dimensions because the photograph was made with an early digital camera that could not produce image quality equivalent to that produced by cameras that I use today. This quality is appropriate for many electronic and print uses.)

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.
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.