Tag Archives: light

Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Canyon Reflections, Utah

November 25, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Reflections in the surface of a slot canyon stream, Utah

Among photographers that I know, finding ways to photograph the surface of flowing river and creek water is almost a bit of a game or even an obsession. There is something very appealing about either stopping the motion of the water, or about using longer shutter speeds to let the water blur, revealing the smooth patterns of flowing water and the interesting colorations that we can otherwise easily overlook. People I know seem to have developed their own little idiosyncratic tricks for working with this subject – special shutter speeds, an eye for particular types of reflections, and so forth.

The Utah canyons are a prime place to look for interesting reflection patterns, at least in those canyons in which the water is flowing. This narrow desert canyon contained a small, burbling steam – just enough water to be interesting and dampen boots and pants legs, but not so much as to impede progress up the canyon or make shooting difficult. The trick is to look beyond the apparent surface of the water and instead learn to look for and see the reflections instead. Part of this is looking for interesting flow and ripple patterns, such as the bit of faster moving water moving diagonally across the frame in this image. Another part is to anticipate and then find sources of reflected colored light. This photograph includes several: blue from overhead sky visible above the center of the canyon, purple and burgundy from shaded cliff faces, intense orange reflected from sunlit sandstone, and bright yellow-green from cottonwood and box elder trees.

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: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Clearing Storm, Morning Light

November 18, 2012 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Fog clearing from a Zion Canyon cliff face. — “Clearing Storm, Morning Light” — Clearing storm clouds and morning light on sandstone towers, Zion National Park

We arrived in Zion the previous day, driving through rain across lower Utah and upper Arizona, stopping to photograph here and there, including rain-soaked upper elevation areas of Zion. We arose early to catch one of the first shuttles into the canyon. The morning began with sun coming through breaks in the clearing clouds from the previous day’s rain. In my view, clouds in Zion canyon are not usually all that conducive to photography, since I tend to rely on the diffused midday light coming from open sky to light my subjects, which are often found in the shade. Clouds produce too much shade and move the color balance away from the warm tones of daylight and toward the dark, blue tones.

On the other hand, I love sunlight broken and muted by clouds, especially those that move and are a bit transparent. I love shooting in Yosemite Valley when winter storms or fog are swirling around the walls and spires, alternately revealing and hiding bits of the landscape. As we rode the shuttle into Zion Canyon, with a vague plan of heading toward the middle or upper part of the canyon, I looked up to see that same sort of effect high on the cliffs along the west side of lower Zion Canyon – early morning sun was shining through breaks in clouds that swirled around the upper cliffs, alternately revealing and concealing their form. Plans change, and we hopped off the shuttle. I put the long lens on the camera and spent a few minutes exploring this subject.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Aspen Grove, North Bishop Creek

November 8, 2012 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

An aspen grove along North Bishop Creek in late afternoon light.

While I like huge, expansive groves of aspens, I also like small, isolated groups, especially when set against the background of what I think of as sage brush country. This group of trees is actually part of a long, thin grove that stretches along a small dirt side road up in the Bishop Creek drainage. The grove and the road are on my “must visit” list for my annual aspen-chasing trips to the eastern Sierra, so by now I’ve learned a lot about the “personality” of this particular spot. Like a number of other spots to which I return each year, you might not notice anything spectacular about this grove – but by means of repeated visits I have learned where to look for certain little subjects: a creek that flows past boulders beneath colorful trees, a particular thick grove of very thin-truck trees, groves of trees that seem barely taller than I am.

I made this photograph in what might seem like unlikely lighting conditions. It was late afternoon, and the trees were back-lit. The sun was close to dropping behind the very tall ridge that lies above and beyond the border of the photograph, so the light was angling across the several background ridges running down into the valley, and lighting their upper edges. And, of course, the leaves glow when the light come through them from behind.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Aspen Grove, Evening

November 4, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A ridgetop aspen grove in full autumn color, Dixie National Forest, Utah

This is another photograph that resulted from a more or less chance drive up a back road that I happened to spot while out looking for color, and the particular location of the photograph is anything but iconic – in fact, I’m betting that this grove of aspens is rarely photographed, given its someone “off the beaten track” location in a place without even a recognizable name. Essentially, we had turned off onto an interesting side road and started driving up into the mountains. A bit earlier we had stopped to photograph incredibly colorful aspens and other trees before moving on.

As we continued on up this climb, we became aware of time issues – mainly because I had an idea about photographing another specific location at sunset, and that location was still a good drive away from here. So when we came to an intersection along the gravel road, it seemed like a fine place to stop, look around, and consider heading back the in the direction from which we had come. As we pulled over we began to see several interesting things here. First, nearby there was a little old track leading into the aspen forest. (A photograph of that subject will appear here later.) Then another side road nearby started to look interesting, so we drove a short distance along it until we had a panoramic view of the mountains leading toward Cedar Breaks. Here we turned around, and drove the short distance back to that intersection, and I though that this row of colorful aspens, set along the edge of the ridge and fronted by a bit of meadow, looked interesting enough to photograph – and when I saw the faint clouds line up in the low spot between the trees I had to photograph the scene in this soft, overcast light.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: light

Canyon Reflections, Utah

Aspen Grove, North Bishop Creek

Aspen Grove, Evening

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