Yosemite - Three Perspectives

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! These three images are of Yosemite during the same trip. I wanted to capture different moods and lighting. It is amazing how the light varied in such a short period of time! I love it when there are clouds in the sky...it makes the image so much more interesting! What do you think?

I am one of those photographers who most of the time, over think my shooting process. Sometimes it works and other times it just fails. Then there times when I walk out of a restaurant and I see the the beautiful landscape we have here and do what I know best, taking a photo. Taking a picture for me is more then just clicking a button and seeing the result on the back of the camera. Taking a picture is about capturing a moment in time and knowing you have the picture. If you breakdown photography it basically means drawing with light, to me this photo shows that. The way the sky was painted with many different colors, the way there is just enough light to make out the foreground. Is this the best landscape no, to me it is actually a boring landscape of suburbia America, what makes this photo interesting is the way the light is interacting with rest of the subject.

More Perspective

The only regret I have is that the foreground foliage isn't more interesting - maybe some colorful flowers? As you may have realized, one of the techniques I enjoy is shallow depth of field. It's not useful in all situations. But I like getting in close and using larger apertures. If you haven't seen it before, check-out some "bokeh" images on Google. This is a Japanese word for controlled blur or the aesthetic quality of blur or out-of-focus. This is can be accomplished quite well using a 50mm 1.4 lens with a large aperture setting with the camera close to the focus point. Here's one example (click on image for a better look):

Reflection

This was taken in Mammoth, CA. My family and I used to take trips to Mammoth every year, and just spend time relaxing. This was taken from our most recent trip. I love the reflection in the water.

Big Cypress Swamp

What's in a Lansdscape ?

I am usually a portraits and Black and white kind of guy, but when I decided to try out some color film and shot this photo I fell in love with it. The owner of Bottle Village in Simi valley had in her madness set up this beautiful scenery that passers by had neglected to see. As much as I personally like this shot I couldn't decide weather or not it could be considered a Landscape. After asking around I got mixed responses, some claimed it was a portrait of the figurine and some thought it was a landscape. So my question to you now is this; whats your opinion? Is this a landscape or a portrait and why?

Composition

In my opinion landscape and documentation are up to the photographer. For most people when they think of landscape pictures they think of Ansel Adams, but for others they may see it differently. I don't have a very specific definition of landscape. I enjoy urban landscapes most though.

Cactus Caps

I really have a thing for the unusual image. I am a sinner big time when it comes to the "C" word (cropping) and this pair of images are an example of the extent of my cropping depravity. While I am not a bullseye shooter by any means, I often find the sweeter image in post production. In addition I lean towards the Darth Vader side of exposures as well, so the image 2 is a bit more to my liking because of the pepper tree in the background all ominous looking. The 1st image is more straight forward in exposure and color but as you can see it is cropped to show a completely different flow. Is this enough babbling to qualify for the test post, Wendy? LOL!

Fire Water

Several things have to be right to get a Fire Water shot. The surf has to be up, it has to hit a rock or something and you have to be low enough (without getting wet) to get the sunset angle low enough to illuminate the splash. Again I checked my Google Earth to find a North and South beach so the setting sun is at the proper location.

Sunsets do they ever get old

Shot while down in Puerto Vallarta from beneath the grass covered shade of the open air villa. saying good bye to another day in paradise

HDR sunset

I used the program Photomatrix Pro3 to do this photo. Using a tripod I set the camera to Auto-Exposure Bracketing (AEB), select the Continuous Shooting mode, make sure the camera was set to Aperture Priority, and select an exposure increment of +/-2 stops.

First I checked my GPS program to see the sunset compass direction and sunset time. Then I checked Google Earth to find a long stretch to photograph the sunset. I’ve found out in the past that I need to be far away from a mountain to allow the sun to set close to the horizon. Too close to a mountain the sun is blocked before it can set far away and show its colors through the atmosphere. This HDR photo was taken just past Piru on the 126 and then left on Torrey Rd. by the bridge.

Sea Biscuit

A cast of hot air thousands during the filming of Sea Biscuit. 12/12/2002

I was the stand in for William H. Macy.

This image, I took up in the Sierras last Fall. It has a lot of meaning to me, it reminds me of that little sense of serenity that truly does exist in such a hectic world we live in. There's something about Nature that really just blows me away. Growing up with parents who love to travel have really made me appreciate Nature, and all of its beauty. Being able to experience the beauty of Nature from not just the state of California, but from every single state on the west coast of the United States; you really begin to appreciate the difference and the individuality every bit Nature has to offer. The impact Nature has on me is greater than any word or group of words could describe. This photo I took just means so much to me.

dear, los angeles.

I love Los Angeles. I love photographing Los Angeles. I love living in Los Angeles. It's my home. It is a part of me.

The DCH is a puzzler of a building. It sits in the middle of Downtown where modern and classic collides; where the business professionals walk alongside the homeless; where the city becomes interesting.

I enjoy photographing LA because it is unlike any other city in the world, for better or worse. Unless you're a native Angeleno, you're oblivious to the luster of a place that can be both ugly and beautiful. Los Angeles has an amazing urban landscape that I choose to spotlight. I don't care to look at its mountains, trees, or streams. Those elements are not unique; they exist in every environment. But the people and culture in this city can exist only in this city. Thats what I want to show.

THAT PEACE OF MIND

Wishing I was back there again. Shot pool side at Ocho cascade Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

Landscape in my eyes

To me landscape is:
Land with something interesting or beautiful....outside, nature etc.

I wish I could post my favorite but they are watermarked with my name and wish to remain anonymous here.

Land and sea scape

I love photography and I am grateful in having the opportunity to take this class with like interested photographers. These are landscape with water.

The only "landscape" picture I have taken that I like, a lot.

I guess I should make this post a little bit longer. I said before I really feel like this blog can get to be something really big, and from the posts below this one now really prove that.

I have a problem stretching what I am used to, and where my "box" is. When I think landscape I think of your typical shot of a mountain or river, but I'd like to be able to think of other things as "landscape". I guess this shot to me is sort of my interpretation of landscape just a few months ago. I hope to expand from this.

PERSPECTIVE

I like experimenting with perspective using DOF, camera angle and low light conditions. While in Bath, England I took a lot of pictures - most were just ordinary. But I thought this image was interesting because of the depth of field and camera angle. I was shooting with my Canon 40D in full automatic. Since we were touring I didn't want to spend a lot of time adjusting in manual mode.

Montmatre Paris, FR. November 2010

Once you reach the church at the top of the hill, hundreds of stairs past the carousel and the Moulin Rouge, past Amelie's enigmatic clues, you turn around to see all of Paris below you. It is a sprawling urban landscape shaped by both history and the arts. This was my first attempt at creating and shooting a seemingly panoramic picture using Cs4 (it took 9 pictures maybe?). Shot on my RebelT2i. And surprisingly I didn't use a tripod!