Making light the subject...

I spent the evening hiking the trail around Reflection Lake yesterday. The ecosystem at that elevation is spectacular. In a matter of 100 feet the trail moves from wet, marshy willows to sandy soils with Ponderosa pines towering overhead. Along the trail are numerous small lily ponds. I decided to go with minimal equipment on this hike as I didn't have long before the light would be gone for the day. I brought along a 100mm macro lens and a monopod. What I soon discovered is that during the late evening most of the interior forest is completely in shadows. While I had been hoping to find some beautiful "wrap-around" light on an interesting subject, I wasn't so lucky this evening. I assumed the light was gone for the day so I had hoped to at least find an interesting subject to photograph. I came across a lily pond and figured I'd use my macro lens to get some nice shots of the lilies and perhaps a frog if I could get close enough. The low light levels made it difficult to hold the depth of field that I needed for the macro images. As I was reviewing images on my LCD I noticed one of the images had some amazing light in the top corner. I simply glanced up at the scene and saw the most amazing shafts of light on the opposite side of the pond. The angle of the light, the shadows of the trees, and the reflection in the water were perfect. I had about 20 seconds to reposition against a tree for stability and capture this image before the shafts of light were gone. I was reminded of a great lesson Fred Larson of the San Francisco chronicle taught me. Fred said that if you want to make great images, go to where the great light is and find a subject. If you expect to make a great image of a certain subject and don't have great light, you may never succeed. On this hike I had lost my focus on looking for great light and was just hoping to get an interesting subject in front of my camera. I became so wrapped around the technical aspects of the macro shots I was attempting that I almost missed this brief moment of light. So remember what Fred says - If you want to make great images, go to where there is great light. The rest will work itself out.

Earth Day irony...

I wanted to capture an image in honor of Earth Day and found that I couldn't get access to the area I wanted to photograph. Just beyond this fence is a beautiful mountain meadow and pond with abundant wildlife. If I could only capture "irony" in an image.

If you don't get your camera out...

As I was uploading the previous post I realized that the day was beautiful and the light would be perfect for some more landscape shooting. So instead of sitting at the computer and thinking about it, I grabbed my gear and headed for Lassen National Park again. This time I hiked the Lily Pond Trail around to the south side of Reflection Lake to capture this image of Crag View.

What are you waiting for...

New landscape image...

Spring is here in Northern California. The temperature was in the upper fifties today, and the road to Lassen National Park was open. I managed to get up to the park and hike around Manzanita Lake for a spectacular view of Lassen Peak. I'll be posting numerous images over the next few weeks. Here is one of my favorites from my brief visit today.

Photo editing and sharing...

I will be offline for the next week or so and thought I would post a link to some great online video tutorials. Lynda.com is offering a 24 hour free pass at the following link: free pass. You can then access some of the best video tutorials available these days. If you don't already have Picasa, you can download it from the Google Pack link at the top of this page. I highly recommend this program and the associated tutorials on Lynda.com if you are not a heavy Photoshop user. If you are just looking for a way to do quick yet powerful edits to your pictures and share them easily with friends and family, Picasa is for you. You can access the tutorials here: Picasa 2 Essential Training. Certainly take a look at some of the other tutorials at Lynda.com if you have time. You can access a great deal of the videos even after the free pass expires.