In the Moment:
Michael Frye's Landscape Photography Blog
by Michael Frye | Dec 27, 2015 | Night Photography
Half Dome, North Dome, and the Merced River by moonlight, Yosemite. This photograph was made about 11:30 p.m. When I first arrived at this spot Half Dome was completely obscured by fog. But I waited, and soon Half Dome and North Dome started to appear through the mist. I made a series of images with similar compositions as the clouds and mist shifted, but I particularly liked the light in this one. Sony A7rII, Rokinon 24mm f/1.4 lens, 20 seconds at f/4, 4000 ISO.
I promised to post more moonlit images from last Saturday night and Sunday morning, so here they are. In case you missed them, I posted a photograph from that night made at Gates of the Valley here, and another image from Tunnel View here. But it was such a beautiful night, with fresh snow, and mist that stayed around for a long time, so I photographed for almost four hours, and was able to try many different viewpoints and ideas. I’ve included extended captions to give a little more information about each photograph here.
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by Michael Frye | Dec 24, 2015 | Announcements, Night Photography
Yosemite Valley lit by the setting moon, with Jupiter above, Yosemite NP, CA, USA
To all of you who celebrate the day, Claudia and I wish you a very Merry Christmas! We hope you have a wonderful holiday, full of peace, joy, and the love of family and friends.
This is another moonlit photo from Saturday night (actually early Sunday morning). After making the image Gates of the Valley that I posted on Sunday, I headed up to Tunnel View. When I arrived the valley was hidden by a thick bank of fog, but eventually the mist parted, revealing stars, Jupiter, and cliffs lit by the setting moon. Claudia thought this had a Christmas feeling to it, and I had to agree, so it seemed like an appropriate photograph to post today.
We hope you have a great holiday season!
— Michael Frye
by Michael Frye | Dec 22, 2015 | Yosemite Photo Conditions
Over the last couple of days Yosemite received a big dose of rain and higher-elevation snow. It was one of those “atmospheric river” events, with subtropical moisture streaming into the northern part of California. Usually when this happens satellite photos will show a direct, straight line of clouds extending from somewhere near Hawaii toward California. But this time the river took a detour, starting north of Hawaii, then bending up toward the Gulf of Alaska and back down to Northern California. This screen shot from the Upweather app at 2:00 p.m. yesterday shows that path:
The atmospheric river aimed at northern California at 2:00 p.m. yesterday
Since Sunday afternoon Yosemite Valley has received over 5.5 inches of rain. We got over 3.5 inches at our house in Mariposa. That’s easily the biggest storm in this area since 2011, before the drought.
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by Michael Frye | Dec 20, 2015 | Night Photography
Gates of the Valley by moonlight, Yosemite NP, CA, USA
A small storm arrived yesterday morning. It looked like it might clear before sunset, but by early afternoon it became obvious that showers would linger throughout the day. There was, however, another window of opportunity, as the two-thirds-full moon was due to set at 1:45 a.m. When the clouds started to break up around 9:00 p.m. I drove up to Yosemite Valley.
This storm was a little warmer than the previous ones, bringing mostly rain instead snow to Yosemite Valley, but in typical fashion the temperature dropped at the tail end of the storm, and I found a light dusting of snow. I arrived just before ten o’clock, almost four hours before the moon was due to set, so this was the lunar equivalent of an early-afternoon clearing, with the moon still high overhead. But there was abundant mist, and moonlight breaking through clouds, so it was quite beautiful. And the mist lingered for hours, so I stayed and kept photographing until after the moon set.
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by Michael Frye | Dec 17, 2015 | Composition, Vision and Creativity
Reflections along the Merced River, winter, Yosemite. I tried several different versions of this photograph. I initially wanted to include a wider view, with more trees on the sides, but a distracting log just out of the frame on the right bothered me. In the end I liked this tighter, simpler, distraction-free version better.
Yosemite Valley received two doses of snow this past weekend, first on Friday night, and then again on Sunday night. I wasn’t able to make it up there on Saturday, but Claudia and I drove up early Monday morning after the second snowfall.
The storm had cleared around midnight, and temperatures then dropped down to 25 degrees. Below-freezing temperatures inhibit the development of fog and mist, so the skies were clear when we arrived in the valley. But we found three to four inches of fresh, fluffy snow coating all the trees.
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by Michael Frye | Dec 13, 2015 | Yosemite Photo Conditions
Aspens and sagebrush, autumn, Inyo NF, CA, USA
In most people’s estimation – including mine – this year was a poor one for fall color on the eastern side of the Sierra. Some aspen groves just turned brown and dropped their leaves early, probably because they were stressed by the drought. Other more well-watered groves turned late. It was hard to find areas where most of the trees were at peak color at the same time.
And yet, despite all that, we found some wonderful color on the east side this fall. I had a great time photographing the aspens before, during, and after our workshops. I posted a couple of eastern-Sierra grand landscape scenes earlier, but here are some more intimate views of the aspens on the east side. Whether the color is early or late, good or bad, there’s always something to photograph over there in October. Nature is resilient, and ever-beautiful.
— Michael Frye
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by Michael Frye | Dec 8, 2015 | Announcements
Thanks to all of you who bought the new second edition of Digital Landscape Photography, either directly from us, or through Amazon. I really appreciate all the support! We have sold out of the limited number of copies we had on hand, but we will be getting more, and I’ll let you know when we do. In the meantime you can get the book from Amazon, although of course it won’t be signed.
Thanks again!
— Michael Frye
by Michael Frye | Dec 8, 2015 | Announcements
Ilex Press and Focal Press have just released the second edition of my book Digital Landscape Photography: In the Footsteps of Ansel Adams and the Great Masters.
This book looks at the techniques of past masters of landscape photography – particularly Eliot Porter, Edward Weston, and Ansel Adams – and explores how those techniques can be adapted to digital photography today. In this new edition, I tried to infuse the book with even more of the master’s words, ideas, and images. I was happy to also be able to include images by Minor White and Philip Hyde, in addition to photographs by Adams, Porter, and Weston. I was also able to interview people like John Sexton and Charles Cramer who knew Ansel and his techniques, or had, I thought, particular insights into how traditional film and darkroom techniques relate to modern digital photography.
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by Michael Frye | Nov 29, 2015 | Night Photography
Clearing storm by moonlight, Yosemite, Wednesday evening.
Last week another storm brought rain and snow to Yosemite. We didn’t get a lot of precipitation, but after the cold front passed through, snow levels dropped down to near 3,000 feet, and Yosemite Valley received about two inches of snow.
Checking the satellite images online Wednesday afternoon it looked like the skies might clear before sunset, so I headed up to Yosemite Valley. It didn’t quite happen; I saw some breaks in the clouds, and faint sunlight hitting Sentinel Rock, but that was all. However, I knew that the nearly-full moon was due to rise about 20 minutes after sunset, so I headed up to Tunnel View to see if the skies might clear in time for the moonrise.
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by Michael Frye | Nov 27, 2015 | Announcements
Half Dome, oaks, and high water, Yosemite. The latest issue of Photograph magazine includes my article “Singing the Blue Sky Blues,” about how to make the most of cloudless days.
Today and tomorrow, everything is 50% off at Craft & Vision. And better yet, they’re donating 20% of every sale to the Red Cross to support Syrian refugees.
That discount inclues Exposure for Outdoor Photography, my ebook about understanding the essential technical fundamentals of photography. I also recommend Piet Van den Eynde’s Lightroom 5 Unmasked and Lightroom 6 Up to Speed as supplements to my Landscapes in Lightroom ebook; while my ebook covers the Develop Module in depth, Piet delves into all the details about the other modules. And I can also recommend anything by David duChemin.
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