June 26, 2020 —Above Stinson Beach, California On a bluff a hundred feet above a very calm Pacific. The summer fog was advancing. Fifteen minutes later there was nothing to see; the ocean was but a distant sound. (Nikon D850, Nikon 24-120mm f/4G VR. RAW processing in DxO PhotoLab 3.3; Editing in Adobe Photoshop.)
Jan 18, 2012 — Sonoma County Coast, California An old favorite reimagined. If you look, you’ll see Point Reyes way off in the distance. The sky is creamy. The best camera is the one you have with you. The Canon S95 was one of the first pocket cameras to have a larger sensor, allow full adjustments including Manual, and to provide RAW files. The RAW files were only 8-bit, which didn’t allow much flexibility in […]
May 8, 2015. Devil’s Slide, San Mateo County, California. Revised this old favorite while trying out my new monitor. It’s still a favorite after all these years. The monitor is a new favorite. (Nikon D750; Nikon 28-300 f/3.5-5.6G Zoom. RAW processing in DxO PhotoLab 3.3; Editing in Adobe Photoshop.)
May 12, 2020 — San Mateo County Coast, California Driving has always been allowed in California. There is simply nowhere worthwhile to park. All state beach (meaning “beach”) parking has been blocked. But there had been rain (finally) and the sky promised to be interesting, I drove to the coast to try my luck. I was expecting reasonably good surf for wave photos. Six to nine feet was the forecast. I was pumped. The very […]
April 15, 2015 — Windy Hill, Woodside, California I was going to post something else today, but a look at an Instagram post by Óli Haukur inspired me to show this instead. Oli made the point that most photography instructors stress low ISO settings for low noise and therefore “best” image quality. Image quality these days seems to be based solely on low noise and extreme sharpness. His opinion is that, based on these criteria, […]
January 10, 2016 — Marin County coast, California Many years ago — longer ago by far than when this picture was shot — someone close to me was enthralled by music that was extremely minimalist, consisting almost entirely of texture and tone. Very little form, rhythm, or melody. Only texture and tone. Although I can’t really say I liked it, I had an appreciation for what he was hearing because he and I are cut […]
May 8, 2015. Devil’s Slide, near Pacifica, California. Another hidden treasure from the archives, this one from a memorable shoot on Devil’s Slide. When I was in high school, one of my favorite things to do was sketching with chalk on black paper. When I look out to sea, my favorite thing to see is a streak of light on the horizon. Reminds me of chalk. Reminds me that even then I was seeking to […]
December 23, 2017, Sonoma County Coast. For those who wondered what happened to the pixels in yesterday’s post, here is the image before the changes. Yes, it really did look like this. It was a remarkable day. Be well. Do Good. Be kind. Create. (Nikon D500; Nikon 28-300 f/3.5-5.6G Zoom. RAW processing in DxO PhotoLab 3.2; Editing in Adobe Photoshop.)
March 22, 2020 — San Mateo County Coast, California Every pixel was spoken to softly and coaxed and cajoled into a new life because, you see, many of my influences lived a couple of centuries ago. They didn’t have pixels. They had pigments. And that’s what they did with pigments in those days. Tech note: This was all done with varying degrees of microcontrast (Lightroom calls it Clarity) in DxO PhotoLab and then put into […]
March 22, 2020 — San Mateo County Coast, California The lives of many pixels were changed forever in the creation of this image. I hope they’re happy. Be well. Do good. Create. (Nikon D850, Nikon 24-120mm f/4G VR. RAW processing in DxO PhotoLab 3.2; Editing in Adobe Photoshop.)
January 24, 2020 — Londrangar View Point, Snaefellsjökull Peninsula, Iceland Minimalist horizon on a cold, cold day. (Nikon D850, Tamron SP 24–70mm f/2.8 Di VC USD G2. ISO 64, 20 sec at f/16; 6-stop neutral density filter. RAW processing in DxO PhotoLab 3.1; Editing in Adobe Photoshop.) For more Seascape Horizons, see amagaphoto.com
December 28, 2019 — Sonoma Coast, this afternoon It has been said on this very blog, among other places, that the best photography happens in the worst weather. That’s where the drama is. Today was pleasant. Very pleasant. Not so dramatic, however. The weather prognosticators prognosticate drama for tomorrow. We shall see. (Nikon D850, Nikon 24-120mm f/4G VR. RAW processing in DxO PhotoLab 3.1; Editing in Adobe Photoshop.)
I want to propose something. Here’s the background: Last week, as I was driving home from an appointment, I crested the pass above Fremont and got a view across the bay and beyond the Santa Cruz Mountains toward the west. It looked promising for some dramatic horizon seascapes. Because I always have my pocket camera with me, I drove straight to the coast. My expectations mounted during the nearly an hour-and-a-half drive, but when I […]
April 6, 2013 — Sonoma coast. November 21, 2019 — Silicon Valley What struck me about this scene was the texture of the water below the creamy sky. It still strikes me. What struck me about the Sony RX100 was the notion of getting exhibition-sized prints out of a pocket camera. That notion stopped striking me years ago. The sticker on the front of the camera quietly proclaims Zeiss Optics. Zeiss. That means quality. Not so […]
August 17, 2019; Caplela de Nossa Senhora de Peninha, Parque Natural de Sintra-Cascais. How could I be near a coastline and not do a horizon shot? The sea called and I answered. The unusual thing for me was looking west over the Atlantic. But not that unusual, because the sea, sun, clouds, and fog bank worked the same here as they do on the northern Sonoma County coast in California, which shares the same latitude. […]
AMAGA Photography Blog 