McWay Falls, Big Sur Coast
I’m happy to announce my newest fine art print release, McWay Falls, Big Sur Coast. McWay Falls is one of the most majestic waterfalls in the world with its elegant tumble over beautiful cliffs plunging onto the beach below and then flowing into the Pacific Ocean. I’ve been visiting McWay Falls inside Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park along California’s Big Sur coast for a number of years but never created an image I was satisfied with so I thought I’d try again.
While I created a number of images both before and during the golden light of sunset nothing was really stood out as a possible gallery image. As the day’s light continued to fade I decided to keep making images to show the movement of the water as the tide moved in and out of the small cove that the waterfall lives in. As the exposure increased the movement of the water became increasingly interesting and I soon realized I had the image I’d been waiting for.
McWay Falls, Big Sur Coast is available in sizes from 10×20 to 30×60 and would make the perfect compliment to any home or office decor. Purchasing information can be found here. Art consultant or Designer? Please contact us for a quote based on your project’s needs, 209-541-1815 or edward@edwardmendesphotography.com
Image Information
Mamiya M645
Mamiya 55mm f/2.8 lens
Polarizing Filter
Manfrotto Tripod and Head
Minor Tonal Work in Photoshop CS5
Tags: beach, Big Sur, Black and White, bw, California, carmel, Central Coast, cove, Fine Art, Fine Art Print, horizontal, Julia Pfeiffer Burns state park, landscape, long exposure, McWay Falls, monterey, nature, photography, Rocks, trees, Water, waterfall
The Whole Gang at Tunnel View
My “Yosemite in Winter” workshop for 2012 is now in the rear view mirror, how fast time goes, one workshop down and the next is fast approaching. I once again had a wonderful group of photographers join me for a lovely weekend of photography in one of the greatest locations in the world, Yosemite National Park, and while conditions this year weren’t exactly as winterly as they normally are the workshop was a great success with a lot beautiful images created by all.
I’m lucky to have a large number of returning students at my workshops, I have some people that have taken 5 and 6 in just the past year or two, and this workshop was no exception with half the participates having already taken a workshop from me in the past.
Day One
W
e met Friday evening for introductions, orientation and a bit of Q&A before regrouping bright and early Saturday morning for a sunrise shoot at “Tunnel View”. The sunrise was soft, offering a hint of color in the sky and some dynamic clouds, a perfect opportunity for black and white images. After Tunnel View it was onto the Yosemite chapel and the wonderful views of both upper and lower Yosemite falls just across the street. Strom clouds were moving quickly through the sky as everyone worked and I spent some one-on-one time with each participate tightening up compositions, pointing out the changes in light and answering questions. Time really does fly when you’re in the field creating images and soon we were on our way to breakfast.
I try to have everyone eat as many meals together as possible as I feel this time of sharing and discussion helps to build the comradery that makes for an enjoyable workshop and bui
lds friendships that last well after our time together has ended.
By the time we finished breakfast we’ve already put in a full day for most people so a bit of time off is usually appreciated to download image and perhaps take a quick nap before our afternoon print sharing and Photoshop lesson starts. During our Photoshop lesson I discuss my work-flow and demonstrate the techniques and software I use to process an image, from RAW file to finished print. We finish our classroom time with print sharing, which gives each person a chance to show a few of their own prints to the group. I try to make the print sharing an informal and comfortable environment filled with positive reinforcement and constructive ways an image may be improved.
After being inside for a while it’s good to get back out in the field and start making more images. Fern Springs is one of my favorite places in the park and always a must stop to enjoy Yosemite’s smallest waterfall. Storm clouds filled the sky blocking any light from the setting sun so we spent the rest of the day using the conditions to our advantage in El Capitan meadow. Dark clouds and mist filled the meadow creating a mood ideal for black and white images. I was very impressed by the pictures everyone created and I’m looking forward to seeing even more as everyone gets time to process them.
We ended our day with a group dinner before calling it an evening and preparing for another early start.
Day Two
We again started our day dark and early to have the opportunity to scout Cook’s meadow and the beautiful elm tree that dominates it. Sitting in the shadow of Yosemite falls Cook’s meadow is one of my favorite places to spend a Yosemite morning as photo opportunities continue to present themselves from almost every angle as the sun makes its rise in the morning sky. As the day starts any color in the sky helps to highlight the beautiful composition that is the elm and mighty Half Dome. As the light changes Yosemite Falls comes into play as the morning sun highlights it in golden light before turning its attention once again on the elm. As the sun peaks over the high granite mountain peaks the tree is bathed in golden light which is made all the more amazing then combined with morning fog rising off the meadow floor as we had this very morning.
After a full morning of image making it was off to breakfast followed by more image making at one of 
my favorite waterfalls before heading back to the hotel for a bit of rest. My workshops focus on creativity and the act (both mentally and physically) of creating images, something I call “The Journey” and our second day’s afternoon discussion focuses on that aspect of nature and landscape photography. We again finished our afternoon with print sharing before heading out for sunset at Tunnel View. After our sunset session we say our good-byes and everyone goes their separate ways. I enjoyed a wonderful dinner with two of my students, Paul and Ravi, before heading back to my room to pack.
It was another wonderful workshop, I’m lucky because I never seem to have a bad one (knock on wood). I would like to thank everyone who participated, it was great getting to know you and I hope we can do it again soon.
Interested in taking an upcoming workshop? Visit the website for a list of current offerings, www.edwardmendesphotography.com
Here’s what’s coming up
The Big Sur Coast – April 6th through 8th 2012
Yosemite in Spring – May 11th through 13th 2012
Grand Teton in Fall – September 25th through 28th 2012
Fall Colors in the Eastern Sierras – October 12th through 14th 2012
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- The Whole Gang at Tunnel View
Tags: 'landscape photography', 'nature photography', 2012, Adventure, California, Eastern Sierras, landscape, nature, photo, photography, travel, winter, workshop, Yosemite, yosemite valley
I always recommend using a cable release or a remote trigger when working in the field. Not having to touch the camera when releasing the shutter reduces the opportunity of you introducing movement into the image in the form of camera shake and therefore making certain your images are as sharp as they can be. If you don’t have a cable release or find yourself in the field without yours don’t worry, there’s a work around. Simply set the self-timer on the camera to a two or three second delay, now press the shutter and in a couple seconds it will release, vibration free.
Tags: 'landscape photography', 'nature photography', fine art photography, hints and tips, landscape, nature, photo, photography, photography tip, tip
Well it’s that time of year again, the season of consumerism and non stop spending. Which means the companies that make the photo gear we all use are getting ready to cash in as they’ve spent the last few months releasing their latest generation of pixel loaded, resolution driven toys that we all know and love.
My inbox is bombarded with press releases from companies telling me all about their new products all hoping that I’ll find them interesting enough to pass it along to you, I rarely do. But things really start to pick up in August, new cameras and flashes, new lens, new printers and software, all getting on the market in time for you to know about them for Christmas.
Technology has always moved fast, in the past we would talk about new film emulsions that were hitting the market or focus our attention on the improved auto focus that a certain camera may have or even the next enlarger released for your darkroom pleasure. We’ve always been presented with new things to buy to make us better photographers, as thought the equipment has anything to do with our own creativity. The difference is today we’re seeing the new technology appearing at an ever increasing rate, more pixels, high bit depth, better color…video! This cycle we’re in of ever changing and improving equipment is something that most of us have become accustoming to and got me thinking.
How good is good enough? I mean really, photographers are like kids, always wanting the newest toy to play with. If you belong to a camera club in your area, especially a professional camera club, then you know exactly what I mean. There is always at least one person who strolls into the meeting with the newest $8,000 camera that they’ll be using as a paper weight in about a year or so when his manufacture of choice releases their next $8,000 ego booster.
For as long as photography has been around, image quality has been almost entirely dependent on the material the image was captured on. In the past this material was film, a very inexpensive and infinitely upgradable material on the consumer end. When a new and better film was released, it worked in all cameras and thusly all cameras and photographers could benefit from it quickly and cheaply. Today however, we are trapped in a time when improved image quality is directly related to the camera. The image capture material is integrated into the camera and the only way to upgrade is to upgrade the entire system. This is great for camera manufacturers. Think of film photographers, many continue to use cameras that are decades old, heck until a couple months ago I used my trusty Mamiya M645 from the 70’s. Thirty years from know how many people do you think will be using their now new Nikon D7000? I’m guessing not too many if anyone at all.
For those that don’t know it I also do commercial work, portraits and wedding, editorial, etc. and until recently I created all that work with a Nikon D70 and a D70s, these cameras are about 8 or 9 years old, ancient by today’s standards, and since I bought them Nikon has released a number of other newer and “better” cameras. Now I’d be lying if I tried to tell you I wasn’t at all interested in all these newer camera and some of them I really thought about buying but when I sat down and really thought about whether or not I needed them the answer was always the same, not really. My D70’s continue to provide high enough quality for my uses, I can make a wonderful 30×40 portrait from one of their Raw image files, which is the largest size I offer so what’s the point. Part of the reason these cameras continue to meet my needs is the fact that for my subject matter, people, the software I have is able to interpolate skin tones very well. I realize that for many people their subjects may not consist of areas of mostly smooth, fairly solid toned areas and for them, particularly professionals making a living on their work, a more frequent upgrade may be a necessity, but for my own work it isn’t.
I have to be completely honest with you; I did recently break down and buy a Nikon D7000. I know, I know but the D7000 is a major advancement over the D70s and the image quality is good enough that I’m also creating my fine art images with it. The latter being the main reason I decided to upgrade, with film my timeline from image creation to finished print was measured in months and I wanted to be able to share my work in a much more timely manner. After doing an extensive amount of research and testing I’ve found that I can make beautiful 40 inch prints from the D7000 when paired with a sharp lens so I’ve started to retire my good old film camera. Before you start thinking I’m a hypocrite please remember that I passed on a number of upgraded cameras before going with the D7000 and I really do expect to be shooting with this camera for a number of years. Maybe the D10,000 will be in my future.
So the next time you see that newly released, high mega pixel beauty sitting in your local camera store and you reach for your credit card, take a moment and ask yourself “Do I really need this?” your answer may surprise you and besides, learning a new camera is a pain.
Tags: artist, canon, digital camera, Fine Art, new camera, nikon, photo, photography
Sea Arch, Big Sur Coast of California by Edward Mendes
This is something that many photographers overlook and doing so really limits them, tying their hands creativity. It’s important to know your tools, to understand their function and to master how to use them. It’s only once you have a mastery of the equipment you use that you can free yourself to explore your creativity to its fullest. For a photographer part of that mastery of your equipment is knowing how to manually adjust things like aperture, shutter speed, iso, white balance, image quality, focal points and more. It’s having the knowledge of how your camera operates that frees you to think creatively in the field and not having to adapt or change your original vision in order to work around a technical limitation you have in the operation of your camera.
I know modern DSLR cameras can do everything from allowing in-camera editing of images to taking HD video and if you don’t know how to use one of those features buried deep in the camera’s menu that’s ok, these aren’t things you use when creating the majority of your images anyway, plus it’s why you carrier your camera manual with you. You do carry your camera manual with you right?
The image above, Sea Arch, Big Sur Coast, is a great example of how knowing how to use the basic functions of your camera allowed me to achieve my creative vision for the image. Once I composed the image I knew I needed a small aperture to get the depth of field I wanted however I also knew I needed to keep the shutter speed in the 1-4 second range to get the look I wanted in the water. By using manual settings and knowing how to manipulate them, along with how to use my filters (that’s for another tip) I was able to capture the image with the look I visualized.
Tags: hint, photography hint, photography tip, tip
Painted Sky Above Mono Lake by Edward Mendes
I’m pleased to announce the release of my newest fine art piece, Painted Sky Over Mono Lake. Mono lake is one of the most unique places in the Eastern Sierras of California and has been a magnet for photographers for decades because of the other worldly tufa formations that can only be found there.
It was the last evening of my annual Fall Colors in the Eastern Sierras workshop and I decided to set up and make an image of my own, a rare occurrence during my workshops. The previous year had been a particularly wet one and I noticed the lake had rose about two feet from the previous year. Because of this rise in the lake’s water level many areas I’ve made images from in the past were now underwater as were the trails leading to many of the more photographed tufas, time to get creative and find some new favorite spots I thought to myself.
I made my way to the south end of the area known as South Tufa and found a formation I enjoyed with an incredible display of clouds above it and an equally impressive reflection below. I quickly setup my tripod and composed a number of images at different focal lengths increasing and decreasing the amount of sky and reflection in the images with more than one variation working very nicely.
This is one of my favorite images from the evening, the bright painterly sky and intense reflection is something special about the Mono Basin where Mono lake lives as very few places in the world has the dramatic skies as is routinely seen there.
Painted Sky Over Mono Lake is available in sizes from 11×14 to 30×40 and would make the perfect compliment to any home or office decor. Purchasing information can be found here. Art consultant or Designer? Please contact us for a quote based on your project’s needs, 209-541-1815 or edward@edwardmendesphotography.com
Image Information
Nikon D7000
Nikkor 18-200mm VRII
Polarizing Filter
Manfrotto Tripod and Head
Minor Tonal Work in Lightroom 3 and Photoshop CS5
Tags: Autumn, bishop, desert, Fall, Fine Art, high mountain desert, Highway 395, Lee Vining, mono county, mono lake, New Release, photo, photography, sunset
Aspens and River by Edward Mendes
I’m in the Eastern Sierra’s for my annual Fall Colors in the Eastern Sierras photography workshop and have spent the last couple days photographing and scouting along beautiful highway 395 from Lee Vining to Bishop California. I know a lot of fellow photographers are in the area right now or will be making a trip very soon to capture the color display so I figured I’d put together a little update to help you with your travels.
First let me say that the color is very late this year, in fact most areas haven’t peaked and in many cases haven’t even turned yet, very unusual for this time of year. With that said here’s what I’ve found.
Lake Sabrina
Lake Sabrina was hit pretty hard by the storm that moved through the area a few days ago. The tree lined mountain sides that surround the lake was covered in snow on Friday (October 7th) and very few leaves were visible at that time as it looks like most were blown off during the high winds of the previous two days.
The road leading to the lake was a mix of green and yellows with more green than yellow. The trees that had turned again were hit hard by the snow and rain and were covered in brown spots.
North Lake
North Lake is well past prime with the large groves on the far side of the lake completely brown. The aspens that line the road once you get to lake level had some nice color but was covered in thick snow when I was there. With a day or two of warmer weather these trees will be covered in brown spots with very few additional trees turning.
In addition to the poor color conditions at North Lake the driving conditions to the lake are white knuckled to say the least. I have four wheel drive with snow tires and almost got stuck in one area. If there is snow on the road I wouldn’t risk making that drive, the last thing you want is to get stuck on a one lane snow covered dirt road with nothing but a 1,000 drop on one side of you.
North Fork of Bishop Creek to South Lake
This is where I found the best bits of color in the entire area; however it’s still very green in most areas. Color is starting to pop near the bait shop and small store along the road, I’m sorry but I don’t know the name of the small “town”. There is a waterfall descending down the mountain side, again I don’t know the name of the falls, and the trees around it are starting to show some color. This area should be nice in a week or so if another storm doesn’t roll in next weekend. As you continue further up the road the trees are either past prime, yellow but covered in brown spots due to the snow or still green. Bishop creek near Parchers Resort has a few trees with prime color overhanging the creek (the image above is from there) but that’s about it. As you continue to South Lake nothing is showing itself as its past prime.
Aspendale and surrounding Canyon areas
Everything is still green, mostly light green with a few darker green and a little yellow mixed in but for the most part isn’t hitting yet.
McGee Creek and Canyon
I drove the road along McGee Creek to the canyon trailhead and while there are some yellows to be found what has turned is on the wrong side of prime. Most trees are light green with a good week or more until they start to really hit.
Convict Lake
The trees leading to the lake and the parking areas were still green. Looking across the lake it was a bit difficult to tell as everything was covered in snow however it looks like the color is still hiding for a little longer.
June Lake Loop
I’m planning to go drive the loop tomorrow and will update this when I do, however I can guess what I’ll find…green, green, green.
Lundy Canyon
The campgrounds leading to the lake have some isolated color in many of them, along with the aspens that line the road. I stress isolated because we’re talking about one or two trees here and a couple over there. The good news is the trees that are showing look very good and are great for some leaf details.
The trees going up the side of the mountain as you look across the lake are yellow and can be photographed with long glass.
The area leading up to and surrounding both beaver ponds are still completely green and really hasn’t even started to turn yet, this includes both aspen groves. I would think it’s going to be 10 days until we start to see some decent color here. Also, the snow really did a number of the beaver ponds; the grasses that surround them have turned brown and are flattened down in many areas.
Conway Summit
As you view Conway Summit from highway 395 it’s still completely green with no color showing. If you take the Virgina lake turnoff you’ll find some color in the first aspen grove but you’ll also find a lot of leaves with brown spots. The second grove is a mix of yellow and green with a bit more color as you head deeper into it. If you continue down the road you’ll find a mix of light green, past yellow and bare trees.
Groves near Lee Vining
As you head out of Lee Vining to Conway Summit there are a few accessible groves but they are all still dark green.
I’ve scouted as much as I possibly could leading up to the start of my workshop, overall conditions are still very green and a good 7-10 days from peaking, in my opinion. There is another possible storm coming in next weekend and who knows what that may do. If you’re planning on coming to the area plan for anything and I hope this condition update was helpful.
Tags: Apsens, Autumn, autumn colors, bishop, California, color, conditions, Convict Lake, conway summit, Eastern Sierras, Fall, fall color conditions, fall color report, fall color update, lake sabrina, landscape, Lee Vining, Lundy Canyon, McGee Canyon, mono, nature, north lake, photography, scenic, travel
Mono Sunset by Edward Mendes
One of the goals in my photography workshops is to help participates take their work to a new level of creativity and technical skill. What that means exactly differs from person-to-person depending on where you are along your personal photographic journey. I’ve had one person tell me the workshop changed their life based on a single tip, while others find that it’s a collection of a number of smaller exercises and ideas that help to give them the clarity they were looking for. This is the first in what I hope will be a regular series of photography based tips that will help you improve your photography skill and open your creative mind. I’m not saying each tip is going to be mind blowing to all you pros out there but as with everything thing else I hope they’ll be worthwhile to the majority of shutterbugs and occasionally help the more advanced see something in a way they hadn’t before. So here we go…
Photography Tip #1 – It’s not all technical…It’s all about light.
It’s not uncommon for someone to show me a picture they took, tell me what model camera they have and ask what they should have done to make their picture look like “That one”, pointing to another image on the gallery wall.
This may seem obvious but it bears repeating, over and over again, the foundation of any great photograph is great light. After all photography is really nothing more than the recording of light so no one should be surprised when that image they took in the middle of a bright sunny day just doesn’t look as good as the one they saw in a gallery taken at sunrise or sunset.
While all rules have their exception the best light for nature and landscape photography is generally around sunrise and sunset and more specifically about 30 minutes before and after each event. This is when the sun is low on the horizon, the light is warm, soft and its direction helps to accentuate features in your subject. On the other hand mid-day light is harsh, high in contrast and has a much less attractive blue and cyan color to it. Unfortunately this is the time when many people are out and trying to create images, a real bummer. Instead of settling for bad light use this time to scout and come back when the lighting conditions are better, I know you may have to get up early or stay out late and miss dinner but if you’re truly committed to improving your images and to becoming a better photographers there’s just some things you have to do, and it has nothing to do with what model camera you have.
Tags: 'nature photography', hints, ladscape photography, landscape, light, nature, nature tips, photo, photography, photography hints, photography tips, scenic, Sunrise, sunset, tips, travel
Fall Foliage, Yosemite National Park
Even though it doesn’t feel like it here in central California where I live summer is officially in our rearview mirrors. Yep, fall began on Friday and that can only mean one thing, fall color will soon be on its way. Fall / Autumn is one of my favorite times of year, not only is the heat of summer giving way to the cool temperatures of fall, but it’s also a time for color, and to a nature and landscape photographer few things are better than a forest of colorful trees, at least in my humble opinion. The amazing pallet of brilliant yellows, oranges and reds finally replace the dry browns of the hot summer. In addition, the days are shortening just enough to make the hours a bit more manageable, important when you work during the extremes of the day. Virtually every part of the world enjoys the changing colors of autumn in some form so great images are always nearby. This is a wonderful time of year!
Research
While autumn does offer a multitude of opportunities for photographers, don’t forget that it’s also a very short season, the bright colors that light up trees and other vegetation only last a week or maybe two in any given location and then it’s gone for another long year. I like to start my fall color preparation early; August is usually a good time to start thinking about locations you may want to visit and to do research on how the now long forgotten rainfall last winter and spring will be affecting the colors upcoming in a few short weeks. In general, a good wet winter and spring brings great colors, while dry conditions, particularly those that have persisted for a number of years, will dull the fall colors somewhat.
Have color will travel
To get the most out of the season, remember that color starts to show first in higher elevations, some locations start showing their fall color display as early as late September. As the elevation of different locations get lower the change in color flows to later in the calendar. So if you want to do some shooting in say Mount Rainer National Park in Washington, plan to go early as color often starts to show in mid September and is in full force later in the month. If you have trouble thinking of some great places to go, check out some photography workshops, instructors always schedule their fall workshops around what is generally the best time for color in a certain location.
If you have the time and resources a multi-week fall color photography trip is a great way to spend the season. Start off at the higher elevations in one area of the country and follow the color as its location changes. Not only will you come away with some amazing images but you’ll be able to experience a lot of the wonderful little and people that make up a great road trip.
Plan Ahead
Don’t forget that you’re not the only person that is planning to head out to see the color show, during this time of year photographers from around the world travel to New England, the Eastern Sierra Nevada’s and countless other locations to capture the fall colors. In fact, it’s not only photographers that come to see the beautiful colors of fall, apparently some people just enjoy looking at the colors without bringing their camera, who knew. My point is that often the places known for the best display of colors are also the most popular, so be sure to plan ahead and book lodging and other necessities early.
Fall and autumn is one of the best times to be a photographer, and if you do your research and plan accordingly; you’ll be able to stretch out your fall shooting season and enjoy the beautiful colors and weather until it’s time to give thanks for the wonderful images you’ve created over the previous two months.
Tags: 'landscape photography', 'nature photography', autumn color, fall colors, Fine Art, fine art photography, landscape, nature, photo, photography, planning, reseach, scenic, Scenic Photography, travel
Back in one of my favorite places, Grand Teton National Park, no words I can string together seems to adequately describe this awesome place. I was in the area to lead my “Grand Teton in Spring” photography workshop and spent the days leading up to the class location scouting both some of my favorite spots and a few that were new to me.
As I drove the interior park road the beautiful wooden fence that runs for miles along it just seemed to scream out to be photographed, so that’s what I decided to do. Now I know the fence has been photographed before and that’s OK with me, for this particular image I wasn’t trying to re-invent the wheel.
I noticed that in a few areas the fence follows small hills and creates short dips that make very interesting leading lines within a potential image and I started looking for the perfect one. After a bit of looking I found the area in the fence that gave me a nice curve without being too steep and decided to return a bit later when the conditions were better.
I finally had my opportunity the morning after the workshop concluded; I woke up at 3:30am and headed out to greet the sunrise. During the previous few days storms had moved through the area bring a real hit-or-miss sense to each sunrise and sunset shoot. As I drove into the park I could see the top of Grand Teton with only a few clouds in the area, it looked like this morning may be a bit Hit! Because of the scouting I did a few days earlier it didn’t take me long to find the composition I wanted and quickly started my wait for the sun to rise. The morning was beautiful with the dramatic clouds cover the Teton Range making for a wonderful image opportunity, however the skies to the east (where the sun was coming up) were covered in much thicker cloud cover which didn’t allow for much color to show in the sky above the peaks. Taking a moment to re-group I decided that this would be a perfect opportunity for black and white! I started to slightly re-visualize the image for black and white tones and started to create the image.
Morning Storm over Grand Teton is available in sizes from 11×14 to 30×40 and would make the perfect compliment to any home or office decor. Purchasing information can be found here. Art consultant or Designer? Please contact us for a quote based on your project’s needs, 209-541-1815 or edward@edwardmendesphotography.com
Image Information
Nikon D7000
Nikkor 18-200mm VRII
Cokin 2-Stop Grad ND Filter
Manfrotto Tripod and Head
4 Vertical Shot Pano
Minor Tonal Work in Lightroom 3 and Photoshop CS5
Tags: Adventure, Black and White, clouds, Jackson, Jackson Hole, landscape, Mountains, nature, New Release, Panoramic, photography, scenic, Snow Capped, Stock, storm, Sunrise, Teton Range, travel, Valley, workshop, Wyoming
