Tag Archives: michael

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: People, Photographs: Photographers

The Last Light

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The Last Light
Photographer Michael Frye silhouetted against the fading light of winter San Joaquin Valley dusk sky.

The Last Light. San Joaquin Valley, California. December er 26, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Photographer Michael Frye silhouetted against the fading light of winter San Joaquin Valley dusk sky.

Earlier this week I spent the day out in the San Joaquin Valley, photographing birds and this expansive landscape of water and sky and a few trees. (I also made a quick midday run up to the Sierra foothills on business, and it was wonderful to see the evidence of a relatively normal looking winter in California — water pooling in flats and snow on the peaks!) It was quiet in the morning when I arrived, and there were few others there at dawn. But shortly, as I was stopped photographing sandhill cranes, a car drove up and it was my friends Michael and Claudia — what a wonderful surprise!

These are long days, beginning with a 3:30 wake-up alarm, a two-hour pre-dawn drive in darkness, and arrival at my destination by perhaps 6:30 AM or so. I photograph for a few hours, take a midday break, and then return in the afternoon to photograph until the light is gone. The cycle of the afternoon photography is striking. I begin in good light, watching for the golden hour light to begin. Soon it arrives, and it goes quickly. On this evening it was hard to figure out where the birds would be, so we finally just decided to pick a spot and see what would happen. As the sun set, geese and cranes began to arrive — cranes flying past, mostly, and some geese landing in the ponds in front of us. We continue to find ways to photograph as the light fades — switching from long lenses to wide-angle, working with rather than against the blur of lower shutter speeds. But eventually it just plain becomes too dark and we stop photographing. And this, in many ways, is the most beautiful moment of the entire day — we lower our cameras and simply stand and look, on the best days standing with a small group of friends as the day ends.

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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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: Northern California, Photographs: People, Photographs: Photographers

Photographer, Fog

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Photographer, Fog
Photographer, Fog

Photographer, Fog. San Joaquin Valley, California. February 14, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Photographer Michael Frye at work in early morning tule fog, San Joaquin Valley

A small group of us met up on this mid-February morning to photograph migratory birds, winter fog, and the San Joaquin Valley landscape. We came from different directions, beginning our travels well before dawn so that we could meet here before sunrise. We met shortly after 6:00, exchanged greetings in the pre-dawn dark, and then got ready to shoot. I lagged behind a bit while getting gear ready, and our friends Michael and Claudia started off down the gravel road before Patty and I did. Very soon were ready to follow, and in moments we found their car parked near a grassy area.

The fog was dense but also very shallow – nearly ideal for photography since it blanketed everything in a mysterious layer but still allowed the colors of the developing dawn sky to penetrate right down to ground level and make the fog layer glow with luminous color. Michael must have seen this coming, and he was already across a grassy area and at the edge of a pond when I arrived, and he was barely visible through the fog. My first thought was to “work” this solitary tree as my primary subject as the light came up, but first I thought I’d grab a photograph of him silhouetted against the foggy landscape. I made this photograph and then walked to the edge of the pond and made my own series of photographs of the tree, the water, and the foggy atmosphere as the light passed through a range of colors that the eventually revealed higher clouds lit by the dawn sunlight.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist 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.

Publications, Reviews

Exposure for Outdoor Photography, by Michael Frye

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Exposure for Outdoor Photography by Michael Frye

Craft and Vision has just released Michael Frye’s new ebook, Exposure for Outdoor Photography. The book seems to be directed at the many folks who own DSLRs or non-DSLR cameras and are striving to advance beyond the point and shoot approach to their photography. The book takes a straightforward approach to some of the most important topics related to exposure. It begins with a basic description of, well, the basics of exposure – shutter speed, aperture, and ISO and some of the important terminology and concepts related to these factors. Michael keeps the level of detail to a minimum, but the basics are all there, including an explanation of the how and why of using the histogram display – which is probably just about exactly the right approach for his intended audience.

After getting the basics out of the way, the book moves to a series of ten “cases studies,” each of which uses one of his photographs to explore a particular aspect of exposure. The subjects of the case studies include using the histogram, dealing with both large and small depth of field, freezing motion or controlling motion blur, the tradeoffs of moving to higher ISO, recovering highlights in bright scenes, how to handle extremely bright highlights such as direct sun, and a nod to the zone system (in very simplified form) and HDR and exposure blending concepts. Rather than presenting the concepts in theoretical form, he uses his one photographs to provide practical examples for the case studies.

There are a number of things I appreciate about the book, and I think many readers may also agree:

  1. Rather than presenting rules that you must follow, Michael presents the concepts and explains/demonstrates the effects of some of the choice under discussion. He is careful to point out that there usually is no “perfect” exposure, and that there are different ways to get the result you have in mind. (Near the end of the book he even provides some examples of photographs that intentionally “violate” the exposure rules.)
  2. He strikes a good balance between too little and too much detail. He avoids the pitfalls of trying to make things so simple that they end up being simple-minded and of trying to cover all possibilities to the extent that many readers simply end up confused. This is probably an ideal balance for photographers who are taking first steps towards fuller understanding and control of exposure in their photographs.
  3. The case study photographs effectively illustrate the concepts that he covers. In addition, many of them are just plain fine photographs. (Two of my favorites are the Tuolumne Meadows photograph and one of geese in beautiful morning light.)

The ebook concept seems to be catching on quickly and there are plenty of good reasons for this. The visual quality of the text and illustrations is excellent. The books can be read on a laptop or a tablet. They are easy to purchase, and the cost is very low.

The book is now available from site affiliate Craft And Vision, and I understand that there may be a discount price during the first few days of availability.

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.

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 →