Apr 26, 2011 | Landscape Photography
Yeah, looking to the west when you’re in the Hills at sunrise is a wise thing! This was a spectacular morning showing off the reward of hitting the road at 4AM to be in place at the right time. The other trick to this whole venture is being in the right place as well. The Hills are pretty long and vary greatly from locale to locale. You might recognize this since it was the backdrop for IronMan. Nearly all of the Hills have been used by Hollywood since the 1930s.
The trick this morning was to get high! If you were to stand down on the ground or be close to the rock formations, you would not have seen the narrow band of light squeezing in under the cloud cover lighting up the slope of the Sierra. I ran from locale to locale chasing the band of light as it moved ending up finally on the tallest rock formation I could reach. It was just a glorious sunrise in the west!
The camera part was easy. WB-Cloudy A6, Vivid, EV-1.7 with a 2stop Split Grad. The shooting might be a challenge. It’s easy to get sucked into the color and focus in on just that band (as I did some of the time). But telling the story of the Hills was my goal for the morning which meant having them in the foreground. There were in shadow of course so in post they were lightened up a tad with a simple curve and camera warming filter. The one aspect of the photos you cannot plan for is the “rain” which never reached the ground. But it acted as a prism giving some images a little purplish tint to them that I really liked. I still shot with two bodies going wide to long as fast as the light changed and dictated it. And just like my experience at Mono Lake, I want to invite you the viewer into the morning and the experience. Hope I’m successful!
Photos captured by D3x, 14-24AFS / 24-70AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film
Apr 26, 2011 | Landscape Photography
The Alabama Hills is a favorite location of mine that is helped me with my year goal of shooting a whole lot more. I’ve been here every hour of the day with none being the same, none being better then the other. This morning I raced down to the hills when I saw the weather. Storms racing over the Sierra make for amazing mornings at the Hills and this day was no different!
The one thing the uninitiated wouldn’t know about shooting in these kinds of storms is the light changes FAST! The sun started to pop far off in the east which is the top frame. The storm was dropping moisture but it wasn’t reaching the ground giving the light a great prism to spread its warmth. But within minutes with the earth’s rotation the color was gone (bottom image). Knowing this was coming, I was shooting with two bodies. One D3x had the 14-24AFS and the other the 24-70AFS (with 2 stop circular split grad attached). I did this because as the light changed, I could go from long to wide if needed. In this case, I shot it all with the 24-20AFS. The other trap of the Alabama Hills is while the light sucks you to look east, a whole lot of amazing can be happening to the west.
Photos captured by D3x, 24-70AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film
Apr 25, 2011 | Landscape Photography
The sun comes up and lights up the Sierra in the background but it’s not hit the tufas yet. It’s an interesting time to shoot as the light has not yet committed it’s power to our photographs. The things all these images have in common is I lit the tufas myself, in post. There were dark silhouettes when I took the photos but I arranged them in the frame as if they were lit. Why not use a flash? That would have been the smart thing but I’m not one who usually does the smart thing. This was an easy light job using a curve and a warming filter, took ten seconds in Photoshop.
Now these two were finished two totally different ways. One was completely finished in ACR.
The other is a single image HDR done in Nik’s HDR Pro. I think the final image will be the two combined. But what’s the challenge here? It’s seeing the light before there is light, when there is no light, the light you can bring in post to a subject. The camera part is easy, WB-Auto, Vivid EV-.7, it’s the post that might take a second, and only a second to learn and then apply. Find a subject, make a click and then play. You too can do it!
Apr 25, 2011 | Landscape Photography
OK, here’s how I went about inviting you, the viewer into my morning experience at Mono Lake. The question is, do you wanna shoot there now? The technical side of making the click is bloody easy. Arranging the elements just like wording an invitation, that’s the challenge. Are you up to it? I think you are!
Apr 25, 2011 | Landscape Photography
Oh yeah, when the show is on at Mono, it’s on! You’ve gotta act quickly because it doesn’t last long. That color can’t be missed but often photographers get sucked into its warmth and focus nowhere else. And while the clouds and really make that an easy thing to do, I’m suggesting you go further, go past the obvious. (The obvious WB-Cloudy A6, Vivid, EV-2 1/15)
Yeap, back to those curves again. I want the viewer to feel in my click what I felt that morning on the bank of Mono Lake. Using that curve, we bring in that intimacy, we create visual depth and the tufas still pop in front of that great color. That last thing I want you to think that ever lakeshore or sunrise has to be photographed in this was to be successful, quite the contrary. I just want you to consider your options and keep in mind the viewer of your photograph when you make that click. Invite the viewer into your image, into your world, into your experience and you will start having more powerful images!
Photos captured by D3x, 24-70AFS (handheld) on Lexar UDMA digital film
Apr 25, 2011 | Landscape Photography
Mono Lake is a favorite of mine, been visiting it since 1959. I have been incredibly fortunate to visit many lakes over the years and none are quite the same as Mono. There are many things contributing to this from location to character. Most think of Mono for the tufa formations at South Tufa and rightly so since this is the only destination for most who visit the lake. I’ve walked the entire circumference of Mono over the years and the one thing you see at South Tufa which is indicative of the lake are the curves on the shoreline. This last week on our latest walk down to the tufas I was watching the photographers and noticed the curves got no attention.
The tufas tower up and are very unique shapes but prior to dawn, they are just shapes. The challenge as I see it is how do you tell the story of Mono Lake, Tufas, dawn and the experience in one click? The camera part is easy, WB-Cloudy A5, Vivid, EV-2 f/5.6 1/10 with all finishing done in ACR. It’s the arranging of the elements that is tricky. The wind was nuts the day before, a blizzard that prevented us from even reaching Mono Lake. It left massive banks of foam which was cool so it outlined the curve of the shoreline. What is it with the curve in the shoreline you ask? If we straighten out that shoreline or not even include, how intimate is the scene? Seriously, you do either and you don’t invite the viewer into the scene but include it and it brings the viewer into your world you saw and felt that moment you went click. Such a simple thing it is easy to overlook, not even consider. Once you do take this into consideration then the only option left is, vertical or horizontal and that is totally your call, there is no right or wrong. Next time you’re at a lake, take note of the shoreline and do a little experiment and take a photo of a cover and or a long stretch and see which one feels more inviting to you, and more importantly, to the viewer of your image.
Photos captured by D3x, 14-24AFS (handheld) on Lexar UDMA digital film
