This weekend was one of the first opportunities this year to photograph moonbows in Yosemite. While it’s always a magical experience to photograph the falls in Yosemite it’s especially amazing to photograph them with a moonbow. The reason is that you can’t see the moonbow very easily with your naked eye as your night vision limits your ability to see color as you might during the day. For most peopl
I’ve always been fascinated by the debate as to how truthful a photo or artist must be. This debate most often comes up when discussing post-processing with Photoshop (check out Is Digital Post-Production Killing Photography? Debunking the Purist Myth). Such debates are often centered around the core question, “Is photography the factual reproduction of a subject or the interpretation of that subject by t
By day nature is wondrous, and by night nature is breathtaking (both literally and figuratively). When I photograph nature by day I am taken with amazing features and phenomenon that I can easily comprehend my scale and place. When I photograph nature at night, under a blanket of infinite stars, I am reminded how astonishingly vast our Universe is and how incredibly small, fragile and special our world is. It is in t
This week I’ll be running a free 4 day online astronomy landscape workshop discussing Star Trail photography at 9am PST Monday March 26th to Thursday March 29th. Enroll here to receive a link to a larger video feed or watch below. This is going to be a great event and you’re invited to attend. I’ll be covering tons of great info from gear selection at BorrowLenses.com to Camera Technique to Post-Pro
It’s just about that time of year again when the moon makes rainbows in Yosemite valley. Moonbows are particularly magical because they’re almost invisible to the naked eye due to our limited night vision. It’s for this reason that when you review moonbow photos on your camera (assuming you’re shooting with a digital camera) the end result almost appears to be magical. “My heart leaps up when
One thing I love about the prairies of the United States are the incredible clouds. These amazing clouds provide the perfect contrast to the expansive landscape. In addition they always seem to dwarf the terrain providing an interesting size contrast. Perhaps its because such cloudscapes are seldom seen in the same way here in California, but I’m forever attracted to such scenes. In fact in this instance I caug
Ever think much about Contrails? Air travel is great, but it often pains photographers day and night. During long exposures at night you’ll often see plane lights streaking across a dark sky and during the day you’ll frequently see contrails polluting the sky. On a trip to Yosemite last summer it became painfully evident how bad contrail pollution is, while taking in the scenery at the Tunnel View lookout
This week was Ansel Adams birthday, he would have been 110, and one of his lesser known photo subjects that caught my eye long ago was his photos of Devils Postpile National Monument. I have to admit I had a soft spot for Devils Postpile due to the geology of the basalt columns to begin with, but his take on the formation as a photo subject always inspired me. Truly a fascinating place to explore and photograph. Happ