In the Moment:
Michael Frye's Landscape Photography Blog
by Michael Frye | Jun 12, 2024 | Vision and Creativity
Misty evening light along the Oregon coast. I thought a slow shutter speed (1 second) complemented the soft, misty, painterly light in this scene.
If you want to make expressive photographs – ones that capture a mood, or tell a story – then light, composition, and timing (the moment you capture) are usually the most powerful tools in your arsenal. Those three essential elements largely define the message and feeling of a photograph.
But while these tools are vital, they’re not the only ones at our disposal. We also have camera controls, like shutter speed, aperture, and filters. And we can use processing to interpret and enhance the photograph’s message.
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by Michael Frye | May 26, 2024 | Light and Weather
Dogwoods, mist, and Bridalveil Fall, Yosemite NP, California
Before I left for my raft trip down the Grand Canyon, Claudia and I had a chance to go up to Yosemite Valley to see dogwoods. We picked a rainy, showery day, because interesting weather often generates interesting photo opportunities.
We made a circuit around the valley to check on conditions, and found lots of dogwoods blooming. Some were still in that stage where the blossoms (actually bracts) are green, but most were fully out, and beautiful, with white blossoms, but not yet leafing out, so the leaves didn’t compete with the flowers.
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by Michael Frye | May 24, 2024 | Announcements
Melting Ice #1, Yosemite NP, CA, USA. This photograph of mine earned fourth place in the Abstracts and Details category in 2023.
There’s still time to enter the Natural Landscape Photography Awards contest! The deadline is next Friday, May 31st. And you can still get a 10% discount on entries by using the code FRYE10.
I’m honored to be one of the judges this year, alongside my distinguished fellow judges Viktoria Haack, Lizzie Shepherd, Matt Palmer, and Ben Horne.
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by Michael Frye | May 22, 2024 | Digital Darkroom, Video Tutorials
Rapid and reflections in the Colorado River, Grand Canyon NP, Arizona. The lower-right portion of this photograph had a large blemish caused by a water spot on the sensor. This would have been difficult to remove using traditional retouching tools in Lightroom or Photoshop, but took about five seconds with the new Generative-AI mode in Lightroom.
Yesterday Adobe announced significant upgrades to Lightroom, Lightroom Classic, and Camera Raw.
To me, the biggest news is the addition of “Generative AI” for retouching. This uses similar technology to Generative Fill in Photoshop, but isn’t designed to add or create things – only to remove objects. In fact Adobe changed the name of the Healing tool to the Remove tool.
Whatever you call it, Generative AI is a big leap forward in the retouching capabilities of Lightroom. It makes Lightroom almost as powerful as Photoshop for retouching, but unlike Photoshop it works in a completely flexible, non-destructive way. Generative AI does have some limitations, however, which I discuss below.
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by Michael Frye | May 19, 2024 | Light and Weather, Travels and Stories, Vision and Creativity
Dappled light above the Colorado River, Grand Canyon NP, Arizona. I used a neutral-density filter (probably seven stops) to slow the shutter speed to three seconds and smooth the water, and had to wait for moments when the wind was calm at the camera position, lest the wind vibrate the camera and blur the photo during the long exposure.
I left the Grand Canyon just a week ago. Once again I co-led a ten-day raft trip down the canyon with my friend Jerry Dodrill for Visionary Wild. And once again it was an amazing trip.
This journey is hard to describe if you haven’t experienced it. It’s more than just a photography trip – although the photography is fantastic. It’s a true wilderness adventure, immersed in the depths of this magnificent canyon for ten days, sleeping under the stars, living by the rhythm of the sun, moon, and river, sharing the experience with a small group of like-minded people. It’s unforgettable.
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by Michael Frye | Apr 28, 2024 | Light and Weather
Pines, mist, and Lower Cathedral Rock, Yosemite NP, California (March 30th)
In between trips to Death Valley, Anza-Borrego, Big Sur, and Arkansas (for the eclipse), Claudia and I found ourselves at home, near Yosemite. Not a bad place to be.
When at home I always keep my eye out for interesting weather. And even though we didn’t have any really big storms this past winter, we had lots of smaller storms, and therefore many opportunities to photograph misty scenes of clearing storms.
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by Michael Frye | Apr 21, 2024 | Travels and Stories
Crashing wave, Monterey Peninsula, California. I used a 1/2 second shutter speed to create some blur and sense of motion, while still preserving some of the shape and texture of the wave.
Because of our eclipse journey I haven’t had a chance to write about the Out of Big Sur conference yet – a big omission, because it was such a fun event! Great people, wonderful co-instructors, great locations, and well-organized by Chris Smith, Chrissy Donadi, and the rest of the Out of Chicago team.
We all had lots of fun photographing the Monterey Peninsula, Point Lobos, and the Big Sur Coast. Though I live fairly close to these areas, I’ve actually spent more time photographing coastal areas farther north near the northern-California redwoods, and along the Oregon Coast. So it was good to get re-acquainted with the Monterey and Big Sur region, and discover some new locations I hadn’t photographed before. It’s such a beautiful area.
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by Michael Frye | Apr 15, 2024 | Announcements
El Capitan emerging from clouds, Yosemite NP, California. This photo was awarded first place in the Grand Landscape category of the Natural Landscape Photography Awards in 2021.
I’m pleased to announce that I’ll be a judge this year for the Natural Landscape Photography Awards!
From its inception, I’ve felt that this contest’s goals align with mine: making photographs that celebrate the beauty of nature – without excessive manipulation, and where the photographer’s skill and vision behind the camera are more important than their Photoshop skills.
I’ve entered this competition in each of its first three years, and was fortunate enough to win some awards, including first place in the Grand Landscape category in 2021. Now it’s my turn to help decide who will get those awards – though of course I won’t be alone, as I’ll be joining a distinguished panel of fellow judges: Viktoria Haack, Lizzie Shepherd, Matt Palmer, and Ben Horne.
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by Michael Frye | Apr 11, 2024 | Travels and Stories
Total solar eclipse, April 8, 2024, northeast Arkansas
The “diamond ring” and solar flares as the sun emerges from a total solar eclipse, April 8, 2024, northeast Arkansas
I started thinking about the 2024 solar eclipse right after our last one in 2017. Claudia and I, along with our friend Robert Eckhardt, viewed that eclipse from the Sawtooth Mountains in Idaho, and it was such an amazing experience I immediately wanted to do it again.
When I looked at this 2024 eclipse, the best part was the length – four-and-a-half minutes of totality in Mexico and Texas, compared with only a little over two minutes in Idaho in 2017. Two minutes seemed way too short.
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by Michael Frye | Mar 31, 2024 | Light and Weather, Travels and Stories
Dunes in a sandstorm at sunrise, Death Valley NP, California
Death Valley is a dynamic place. While the appearance of other landscapes frequently changes because of weather and seasonal changes, in Death Valley the land itself undergoes routine transformations caused by wind and water – especially the infrequent, but highly destructive, flash floods.
Last August Tropical Storm Hilary dumped over two inches of rain on Death Valley, washing out roads, closing the park for two months, and filling Badwater Basin with water – a resurrection of ancient Lake Manly. We visited Death Valley in late December, and got to see and photograph that lake, though it was shallower by then. (You can see some of my photos from that trip toward the bottom of my year-end-photos post.)
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