Thinking About Photography

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Little Red House on the Mountain

I spent the first weekend in April on a mountain top in Utah. It snowed for 24 hours straight and when it stopped snowing, Oh. My. what a beautiful world. This shot was taken just before dawn. The sun is illuminating the sky in the west, but hasn't hit ground level yet. Notice how the trees lead up to and embrace the little red "house," in a very satisfying composition.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Aspens 1

Adobe's Lightroom is the most amazing tool. I used its "cold tone" preset as a starting point to make this image look as wintery as possible. By contrast, the next picture has no manipulation at all. The file is pretty much just how it came out of the camera.

Aspens 2

This is how the aspen grove looked in real life.

Winter Scene 1

Another "cold tone" treatment. I love how the tops of the trees pop against the shadowed hillside behind them.

Winter Scene 2

This is the scene as it actually looked. It's beautiful, but it doesn't evoke winter as strongly as the toned picture. In fact, to my eye, the toned picture almost looks more realistic!

Sunday, May 03, 2009

Sunshine and Shadows

The valley floor is bathed in late afternoon sunlight. Rapidly moving clouds shroud the mountains. A red tractor casts a long shadow in the pasture. Springtime in Cache Valley, Utah.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Primary Colors

No, this picture was not staged! It's exactly what I saw--a yellow bike with red tires parked in front of a blue building in late afternoon light. This is exactly why you should never go anywhere without your camera. You can never predict when a picture like this will appear and be your only chance to capture it. I've never seen that bicycle again.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Mysterious Statues

These amazing statues from Burning Man lived on the Embarcadero near the Ferry Building for about three years. Entitled "Passage," the work was created by Dan Das Mann and Karen Cusolito. "Crouching Spider" by Louise Bourgeois has since replaced them.
I used a wide-angle lens for this shot for two reasons. First, to fit the entire scene in the frame. Second, to use the distorted perspective to add mystery. Backlighting amplifies the mood. Is the figure embracing the city or attacking it?
The statues lend themselves to many interpretations. Their sheer scale alone makes them impressive. From the front, they can be seen as warm and welcoming. At other angles they can seem cold and cruel.
I hoped they would stay there forever and was sad to see them leave.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Adding Mystery to an Industrial Scene with Lensbaby

These enormous cranes at the Port of Oakland have fascinated me for years. They can be seen clearly from San Francisco. However,the closest I'd ever been was on the Bay Bridge. I assumed you couldn't get much closer, so never thought seriously about making pictures of them.

Yesterday I was in Alameda with a friend doing some test shooting with the Lensbaby, a special-purpose lens that allows selective focus more precisely and interestingly than relying on depth-of-field alone. We started out at Bay Farm Island.Great views, but everything too far away. So my friend, who lives in Alameda, drove us to the Naval Air Station. Well, guess what's right on the way--this very scene! Sweet!

Thanks to Lensbaby, the white loading cranes pop right out of the scene. Awesome!

Adding Mystery to an Industrial Scene with Lensbaby - Example 2

In this picture I wanted to convey the menacing, StarWars-like aspect of these enormous cranes. Luckily the weather cooperated with ominous clouds in the background.
Sometimes the constraints of this format really bother me. This picture needs to be seen much larger to appreciate the nuances in the selective focus.