mountain – Page 13

May 20, 2011January 14, 2013

Eastern Sierra Wrapup

Earlier this month I had the pleasure of attending a short three-day workshop with David Muench, one of this country’s preeminent landscape photographers. Assisting him was Jerry Dodrill, who spend his early professional photography career working for Galen Rowel. It was great to catch up with both of them, and see some of the best that the eastern Sierra has to offer in the spring. It was a busy three days, during which I averaged about four hours of sleep per night. I spent a few days on either end of the workshop to meet up with friends and do a little exploring on my own. Here are a few photographs from the trip.

Barrel cactus is just starting to bloom in the Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, CA. Canon 17-40mm f/4L lens with the EOS-5D Mark II. ISO 200. Evaluative metering -1/3 EV: 1/6 sec. at f/22.

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The photo above and directly below were taken in early morning in the Alabama Hills, just outside of Lone Pine. It is an area famous not only for the sheer face of the eastern Sierra and the multitude of arches that frame them, but also for the many movies made here. Recent films include Iron Man, Gladiator, and Gone In 60 Seconds. Driving out on the dusty dirt road after sunrise, we saw two women walking along the road. I did a double take as I saw one of them was Penny Marshall. Really weird place to see a Hollywood celebrity!

I love the barrel cactus growing in this area, and wanted to feature one using the backdrop of Mt. Whitney and Mt. Langley.

Various patterns and colors of rock form layers to the face of Mt. Langley, Alabama Hills, CA. Canon 17-40mm f/4L lens with the EOS-5D Mark II. ISO 200. Evaluative metering 0 EV: 1/4 sec. at f/18.

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This photograph is a more straight-forward interpretation, using the layering of rock bands to lead up to Mt. Langley. The area offers infinite patterns of boulders and rocks, many of which can be composed into very strong photographs. This is one of many areas for which David Meunch is famous.

The rising sun lightly dusts the peaks of the Eastern Sierra, Bishop, CA. Canon 17-40mm f/4L lens with the EOS-5D Mark II. ISO 200. Evaluative metering 0 EV: 1/13 sec. at f/18.

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The mountains to the west of Bishop provide a dramatic backdrop for a variety of foreground locations and environments. The above photo used a small pond in a flooded field to create a reflection of Mt. Humphreys, Basin Mountain, and Mt. Tom (from left to right). The morning was clear with not a cloud in the sky (not a photographer’s best conditions for shooting!) The lack of wind was great for reflections, but the lack of clouds reduced the drama of the morning significantly. This is one of those examples of a great location with imperfect conditions. It is definitely a spot I hope to revisit and capture with more dramatic skies.

Irises come into bloom outside of Bishop, CA. Canon TS-E24mm f/3.5L II lens with the EOS-5D Mark II. ISO 400. Evaluative metering -1 1/3 EV: 1/20 sec. at f/16.

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The flooded field also contained wild irises, which were just starting to come into bloom.

Irises catch first light, Bishop, CA. Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L lens with the EOS-5D Mark II. ISO 200. Evaluative metering -1 EV: 1/13 sec. at f/18.

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Our last evening brought a special sunset treat – a long line of lenticular clouds that formed above the Sierra crest had blown out over the Owen’s Valley. With strong winds out of the west, there was no cloud buildup in that direction, allowing the sun to light up the underside of the lenticulars at sunset. This phenomenon can happen regularly in the area due to the local topography, and has come to be know as the “Sierra wave”.

Lenticular clouds form over Owen's Valley at sunset, Bishop, CA. Canon 17-40mm f/4L lens with the EOS-5D Mark II. ISO 200. Evaluative metering +1 EV: .4 sec. at f/22.

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It was a great trip – I got to spend time with friends and meet some new ones. Although nature photography tends to be a “solo sport”, it can be great fun meeting up with like-minded people.

May 1, 2011December 1, 2022

Distorting Reality

When I first started studying photography, I learned about the effects that various focal lengths had on a scene. Wide angle lenses give prominence to closer subjects while shrinking distant features into tiny objects. On the other hand, telephoto lenses compress a scene, making subjects that are far apart appear next to each other, and fooling the eye with scale. It wasn’t until I started experimenting with many different focal lengths that I really understood what this meant. Here are two examples from opposite ends of the focal length spectrum.

Mt. St. Helens from the lahar or ash flow that destroyed the Toutle River Valley in the eruption of 1980, Mt. St. Helens National Monument

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The image above was captured at the 35mm film equivalent of a 16mm focal length. Here, the foreground rocks and flowers are rendered quite large, while the massive volcano of Mt. St. Helen’s is shrunken into the background. The wide angle emphasizes the distance between the foreground and the horizon, seeming to stretch them apart.

A view of a Palo Alto home includes the city of San Mateo in the midground and San Francisco in the background. The view is compressed using a long telephoto lens. — A view of a Palo Alto home includes the city of Redwood Shores in the midground and San Francisco in the background. The view is compressed using a long telephoto lens.

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The photo above shows the opposite effect. It was captured at the 35mm film equivalent of a whopping 1280mm. I took the photo in Palo Alto, CA, about a quarter of a mile from the house in the foreground. The buildings of Redwood Shores (Oracle headquarters) appear as if they are directly behind the house, when in fact they are 15 miles away. At the top of the photo can be seen the buildings of downtown San Francisco, which is 40 miles from the house. The extreme telephoto squashes this distance between subjects so that they appear stacked on top of each other. This same effect has been seen in countless photos of the moon rising from behind buildings or a giant sun rising over an African landscape.

November 2, 2010January 14, 2013

Bristlecone At Sunset (Photo of the week)

An ancient bristlecone pine reflects the last rays of daylight, White Mountains, CA

On my recent trip to the eastern Sierra to photograph the fall colors, I visited the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest in the White Mountains, part of the Inyo National Forest. I had done some reading about the area from books such as David Muench’s classic Timberline Ancients (out of print), and several of Galen Rowell’s insightful essays from Vision and Inner Game of Outdoor Photography. But actually being there and walking among these trees was a spiritual experience, and one I will not soon forget.

We were blessed with a recent snow storm that blanketed the crest of the White Mountains – not enough to close the road, and just enough to provide a clean contrast to the rough, twisted texture of the bristlecone. We were working an exposed western-facing slope, and after taking a few establishing shots, I climbed to the top of the hill. I quickly remembered that I was at 11,500 feet in elevation, as I was out of breath after only a few steps! My goal in the photo above was to capture the vibrant colors of sunset reflected in the wood of the bristlecone, while also getting the colors in the opposite horizon, as well as the earth shadow as it crept across the eastern foothills and Nevada desert beyond. The warm pastels in the wood are continued in the sunset colors of the sky above.

All lengths of lens work here, depending on your personal style and vision – whether it is to shoot a distant mountain top grove with a telephoto, or to crawl up inside the gnarled spiral of a branch with a fish-eye. The challenge in shooting these trees is to try to decide what to include and what to leave out of the frame. One question I kept coming back to that helped me to focus was, “What is the main point of this photo?” If my answer was “the texture of this branch,” then why include the roots of the tree? If my answer was “to show the desolate environment in which these trees live,” then I knew to shoot wide and and treat an entire group of trees as the main subject.

Below are a few more photos I took while exploring the bristlecone forest.

A bristlecone log frames an upright tree, both of which have lived for thousands of years, White Mountains, CA

A bristlecone pine grows from a desolate, snowy mountainside, White Mountains, CA

Fresh snows blankets the slopes of the White Mountains, framing the ancient bristlecone pines that live there

October 31, 2010January 14, 2013

Moonset Over The Sierra (Photo of the week)

A crescent moon glows in the warm colors of sunset as it sets behind the crest of the Sierra.

This week’s shot was taken a few weeks ago from high atop the crest of the White Mountains, at about 11,500 feet elevation. The moon was setting about half an hour behind the sun, providing an opportunity for a nice crescent moon, lit up by the dramatic colors of sunset. My particular location allowed me to anchor the photo with the silhouetted crest of the eastern Sierra, giving the image weight and a sense of scale and perspective.

On the technical side, in order to achieve this photo, I had to pull out all the stops. In order to keep the shutter speed down, I bumped up my ISO to 200 (I try to shoot most of my landscape work at 100). I didn’t want to go any higher, so I could keep the dark, rich tones of the sunset relatively noise free. I used my 100-400L lens at 310mm, and locked it down onto my tripod. I also made sure to turn off the image stabilizer, because if it kicked in here, it would most likely lead to a blurrier photo than I’d get without it. Finally, I locked up the mirror and set the camera to a 2 second self-timer mode. Unlike Nikon, with the 2 second self-timer, Canon cameras will lock the mirror when you press the shutter release, wait two seconds, and then trip the shutter. This allows the camera itself 2 seconds to settle down after being rattled by the vibration of the mirror slap. Normally, none of this matters, but at this magnification along with the 1.3 second shutter speed I used, even small vibrations will degrade the photo. I framed my shot, held my breath, and pressed the shutter release. Two seconds later I had the photo I wanted.