“Tufa, Sky, and Water” — An island of tufa formations under early morning sky, Mono Lake.
I think of this photograph, in part, as a study in tones. I had been photographing a brilliant sunrise in color, but as the first wild sunrise colors diminished I began to think about monochrome. (Of course, my camera being digital, I was capturing color images, though monochrome results were in my mind.) The brightest areas of the clouds were extremely bright, while the facing side of the tufa formations, being backlit, were very close to black. My plan was to control the bright areas in the exposure and then lift the shadows in post, just enough to hint at details on the tufa.
“Dawn, Mono Lake” — Mono Lake tufas under a colorful pre-sunrise sky.
In the right conditions, a Mono Lake sunrise can be spectacular. To some extent it is up to the clouds. Clouds produce the most colorful sunrises, of course, but if they are too thick or in the wrong place they can also “turn out the lights.” The ideal, I think, is for it to be clear on the eastern horizon, with scattered clouds closer to the lake. Almost anything goes in the west — some clouds there to catch the light can be good, but clear skies and the earth shadow or even dark and dramatic clouds can work.
“Lake, Tufa, and Morning Clouds” — Mono Lake tufa towers silhouetted against morning sky and distant mountains.
With this post, I am doing something unusual for me — I’m sharing monochrome and color versions of the same photograph. By that I mean literally the same file, though interpreted differently. (The monochrome version was posted here recently.) Usually I settle on either color or monochrome, but in this case I feel like both have something (different) to offer.
“Gruinard Beach” — Surf rolls in at Gruinard Beach, Scotland.
We passed this large beach on our way from Ullapool to Applecross, Scotland this past May. We were on a long day trip loop drive out there. I don’t think I really had a good idea of what we’d see or what kinds of country we would pass through, and I was surprised by the many places where our route took us along the ocean coast. This beautiful beach seems to be shallow, with the tides uncovering a wide swath of sand. And, as is so common in this part of Scotland, we could see both the ocean waters and distant high peaks.
Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
Manage Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
