January 17, 2012 — Sonoma County Coast, California Returning with new eyes to a shot taken eight years ago. I’ve just competed a series of webinars by Bruce Percy. He describes himself as a black and white photographer working in color. His sensitivity to tonal balance is inspirational and very instructive. This shot is pretty much the same as the way I left it the last time I worked on it almost three years ago, […]
June 28, 2018 — Puketeraki Lookout, Otago, South Island, New Zealand Rescued from the archives. Here’s one that I kept coming back to, but in post-processing I could never get it to do what I saw. Tonight I could. And did. Persistence pays off in the end. This is for all the Kiwis who are showing the rest of the world how it’s done. In adversity, the light shines even brighter. Persistence pays off in […]
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 24, 2020 — Londrangar View Point, Snaefellsjökull Peninsula, Iceland I think I’ve only done this once before: posted that same frame twice in a row, with the second being a re-do. There’s a story. When I posted this picture the other night, I decided at the last minute that the image was too dark. It was late and I was in a hurry, so I simply went back to the 16-bit Photoshop file and […]
January 24, 2020 — Londrangar View Point, Snaefellsjökull Peninsula, Iceland Beside the fact that it was his photography workshop in the first place, I have Gary Hart to thank for this one in another way. His blog post today* prompted me to go back and review my own version of the same scene, and when I did, I came across this shot made about fifteen minutes earlier. I’d overlooked it because the RAW file seemed […]
December 24, 2018, Sonoma County Coast. I’ve looked at this frame approximately 9,476 times* and failed to see its potential. Today, I saw it with different eyes.** Don’t it make my brown eyes blue. Except they are blue. Be well. Do good. Be kind. Create. (Nikon D500; AF-P NIKKOR 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6E ED VR. RAW processing in DxO PhotoLab 3.2; Editing in Adobe Photoshop.) *If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a million times — I never […]
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 […]
January 26, 2020 — Jökulsárlón, South Coast, Iceland Iceland’s south coast has lots of berms. The ones parallel to the beach are breakwaters and, presumably, the ones perpendicular to the beach are for flood control. Iceland also has lots of clouds — at least in the winter. This photograph has both. Iceland also has powerlines, which — much to my annoyance — clutter what would otherwise be many great shots. I normally do all I […]
January 26, 2020 — The Thórbergur Center, Hali Country Hotel, South Coast, Iceland Same scene as the last post, but simplified and in other ways edited to bring out something closer to the essence of what I saw. The changes are in most ways not huge — but in one way, sweeping. It’s more than just a crop. Stay tuned… (Canon G5X II. RAW processing in DxO PhotoLab 3.1; Editing in Adobe Photoshop.)
January 26, 2020 — The Thórbergur Center, Hali Country Hotel, South Coast, Iceland As we returned to our hotel and eatery after a morning shoot, she and I gaped gasping at the gray glory of the sky. While the others ducked into their warm and dry rooms, we got as close as we could to the edge of a sharp slope that ended at the edge of a partially frozen lagoon. Not wanting to take […]
January 28, 2020, 11:29 p.m. — Jökulsárlón, South Coast, Iceland As the plot thickened, the action moved to center stage. ISO sensitivity now down to 400. This was Kp index 3.3. I can’t imagine how bright the top of the scale — 9 — is. Maybe you really do need sunglasses. (Nikon D850, Tamron SP 15–30mm f/2.8 Di VC USD. f/2.8, 10 sec, ISO 400. RAW processing in DxO PhotoLab 3.1; Editing in Adobe Photoshop.)
Dec 30, 2019 — Sonoma County Coast What a difference a crop makes. (This isn’t quite monochrome. There’s subtle color here, but WP — WordPress — has all but WiPed is out.) (Nikon D500, Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR zoom. RAW processing in DxO PhotoLab 3.1; Editing in Adobe Photoshop.)
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 […]
October 11, 2019 — Seat 14 F, Somewhere Over Texas Rules exist for a reason. Rules are normally based on how things work, perhaps with a measure of caution dialed on for safety’s sake. It’s good to know the rules. It’s better still to know how things work. Following the rules without exception can lead to creative imprisonment. Knowing how and when to bend, break, or utterly ignore them altogether because you understand the underlying […]
November 10, 2019 — Wright’s Lake, California Whatever it is, it feels no pain and it never cries. It spends a lot of time reflecting. What do you do when you go out on your first shoot in several weeks and you’re not satisfied with your take? You crop ruthlessly and improvise in post-processing. (Nikon D500, Tamron 100-400mm f/4.5-6.3 Di VC USD. RAW processing in DxO PhotoLab 3.0; Editing in Adobe Photoshop.)
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