Lake Tahoe Sunrise

Lake Tahoe Sunrise, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan.

Lake Tahoe is 12 miles wide, so even on a dawn that doesn't offer a lot of color you can take expansive wide angle shots or zoom in on a subject to fill more of the frame with what color you do have.

Crescent City Sunset

Crescent City Sunset, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan.

My last sunset on my way back from Oregon and Washington.

Sunset Bay Oregon

Sunset Bay Oregon, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan.

As its name implies, Sunset Bay can be a nice place to catch a sunset, but it gets even better when low tide is close to sunset.

Hyperfocal Landscape Photography: Maximize Your DOF!

Cannon Beach, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan.

To get a photo sharp from way close to infinity, just focus on the hyperfocal point for your camera, f stop, and degree of zoom (focal length). You can see from the charts here that at f/22 you can reasonably expect to have a photo sharp from least 2 feet to infinity!:
http://www.naturephotographers.net/articles0307/rb0307-1.html

For a link to an Excel spreadsheet you can print showing DOF range for a given camera with various settings:
http://ronbigelow.com/articles/depth-of-field-1/depth-of-field-1.htm

You can fake it by simply pointing your camera at something in the foreground with autofocus on, then after it focuses, switch off the autofocus. Then reframe on what you want to shoot, and let the camera re-acquire a reasonable exposure for that image you want to capture (but it shouldn't destroy the focus you just set).

I've been doing this with DSLRs like Canon XT/XTi/40D, and after I reframe the shot I often hold a graduated neutral density filter in front of the lens and have the camera set on self timer to take 3 exposures (Auto Exposure Bracketing). I simply have to avoid bumping the lens focus manual ring (or I could use masking tape to temporarily keep it set in one place, as I do for night shots once I achieve a good distant focus for star trails).

With a point and shoot camera that doesn't have manual focus, you might have to hold shutter button halfway while you reframe so it holds the close focus point, and you may need to exposure compensate to darken the photo a stop or two so it doesn't emphasize the foreground and overexpose the sky (or just do it on a tripod and take 3 bracketed exposures, which can be averaged in the free trial version of Photomatix).

It's a lot easier than it probably sounds... just focus close, reframe, shoot!

The effect is most dramatic when you use your widest lens setting, since you can see what's at your feet plus all the way out to the distant horizon. It's even better if you put the camera low to the ground (tripod on its lowest setting) since that emphasizes what's right there at your feet, while including as much as possible out on the horizon and in the distant sky.

If you use a compact point-and-shoot camera, it probably doesn't have an aperture setting as small as f/22. Don't worry... just use your camera's smallest lens aperture setting, even if it's f/8 or larger. It turns out that due to physics and geometry, smaller cameras with smaller sensors have much more depth of field for a given aperture setting, so you're probably getting the equivalent of f/22 on a 35mm camera from your camera's setting of f/8. Check the hyperfocal distance charts for similar compact cameras, or just set your camera to its smallest aperture and try a few shots out to see how much DOF it can deliver.

One last note: since small apertures let in less light, you may want to have your camera on a tripod in case it uses a long exposure to compensate for the small aperture (especially at sunset or sunrise when light is lower anyway). I also bump up my ISO setting to at least ISO 200 to keep exposure time reasonable.

Try it out. You may be pleasantly surprised at the enlargement quality results that your camera can produce with just a little attention paid to where in the scene you allow it to focus.

Sunrise Moonset from Hurricane Ridge

Sunrise Moonset from Hurricane Ridge, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan.

I knew the nearly full moon would be setting shortly after sunrise this morning, and the forecast for the coast was for more overcast skies, so last night after Second Beach I headed to Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park. The only challenge was the drive after my twilight shots yesterday, putting me in this area at close to 1am for my alarm at 4:15am!

The flowers were good on the ridge, but they were even better down the access road a few turns.
I like the results better when I use layers in Photoshop to merge in an adjacent exposure optimixed for the moon rather than using HDR software. More complicated photos may be a different story.

Second Beach is #1 in my Book

Dinner on Second Beach, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan.

Second beach may be my new favorite shooting location! It's smaller than Yosemite, but the potential for stunning shots is very high under the right weather conditions. Unfortunately the weather and lighting conditions weren't all that good when I visited, but that just means that I have to return soon! I can't complain though... it wasn't raining.

Knowing I'd light a fire on the beach for photos anyway, I stopped by the grocery store in Forks and picked up hot dogs and buns on the way to the beach. It's hard to beat food cooked directly over coals. Next time I'll bring steaks & s'mores!

My reaction to this beach can best be summed up as, "Second to what?"

Sea stack reflection on Second Beach

Temperate Rain Forest

Tree of Light, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan.

The last light of day lights up club moss covering a tree in the Hoh Rain Forest in Olympic National Park, Washington.

An elk in the rain forest near the town of Queets.



I need to re-edit this one for white balance (color accuracy), but I like the motion blur...



The overhanging forest coanopy on the way to Rialto Beach.

Rialto Beach

Rialto Beach, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan.

for sunset I decided to try Rialto Beach. This site requires only a 20 minute walk, but it's an interesting scramble across a rock breakwater topped with storm debris logs, especially on the way back as it's getting dark!

Ruby Beach

Ruby Beach, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan.

Ruby Beach in Olympic National Park, Washington.

A sea stack reflects on the wet sand at Ruby Beach. Even without the colorful sunrise that I had hoped for, it was great to be out before the beach was overrun with visitors, and I still shot about 8GB of photos on this morning!







More later... I'm off to take more pictures!

Last Morning in Mount Rainier National Park

Reflecting, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan.

To successfully capture great images in a locaiton that you've never visited or haven't visited in a while, a lot much of your success depends on being in the right place at the right time. With dawn color well underway by 5am and sunset running past 9pm, logistical efficiency such as staying in a convenient location plays a role as well. I've been to this park before and I have a good photography guide to the park, but the days I've spent this week will set me up very well to crank out good shots on my next return. Hopefully I'll get some scenic weather!

This last dawn in Mount Rainier National Park offered the most intersting sky, at least for a few minutes.


The Paradise Ridge area still has about 10 feet of snow on the ground, but there were patches of flowers in places elsewhere.

Tatoosh Range

Tatoosh Range (Week 1 of 52), originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan.

The snow it too deep for most of the wildflowers that are normally out by this time of year, but the mountains themselves always make excellent subjects!

Pikas are small members of the rabbit family that inhabit rocky slopes in subalpine environments.




Mount Rainier reflected in Reflection Lake.

Dawn at Sunrise Point

Dawn at Sunrise Point, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan.

It isn't necessary for every shot here to have Mt. Rainier in it, but then again, why not?

Tipsoo Lake with Mt. Rainier in the background.

Rainier National Park

Reflection Lake Iceout, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan.

My photography in Rainier National Park started with some night shot attempts under a moonless sky. I took a few short shots to confirm focus, then left the camera open with the North Star directly over Mt. Rainier. It would have been a great shot if I hadn't fallen asleep and overexposed it! I had to settle for this dawn view a couple of hours later instead.

Mt. Rainier received 950 inches of snow this last winter, so there's still a snowpack about 10 feet deep in the Paradise Ridge area where there usually are wildflowers by now.

Off to the Northwest!

Rachel the Pig, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan.

I finished moving out of my apartment a day late, and my legs were cramping from doing the equivalent of several thousand feet of vertical carrying things down from the third floor, but I finally hit the road.

My first photo stop upon entering Oregon was Silver Falls State Park. I arrived at 6am, too early for the quirky day use opening time of 7am. I stretched my legs with the short hike to North Falls and captured a few images.





Unfortunately I was still pretty disoriented from the days of packing and driving (and very little sleep), so I completely forgot to shoot the other falls that I intended to visit! No problem, it was a nice park and I'll be happy to revisit the next time I'm passing by.




My next subject in Oregon was Mt. St. Helens at dawn from Portland. I can sleep when I'm dead. Hopefully that attitude won't bring that about sooner rather than later!


Taking care of a few more move-out details via a wi-fi connection at a coffee shop, I left Portland with plenty of time to reach the "photowalk" group photo shoot in Seattle. Unfortunately commuters in Tacoma didn't know that I had an appointment to get to, so I arrived late adn missed the group. I did meet soem other attendees that had missed the group, so we had a very nice walk around town anyway.

Countdown to Blastoff!

I leave my apartment in a few hours to hit the open road and immerse myself in photography. No employer, no assignment, no expense account, no trust fund... just a sense, a conviction, that photography is what I'm here to do. Time will tell.

On Display at the California State Fair

This image has been accepted for the art show and competition at the 2008 California State Fair in August and early September. Only a small fraction of works are accepted for inclusion, and I am honored to have my work selected by the judges.

This has been a good week. This second shot was selected as "Photo of the Month" in the California Parks Foundation photo contest, and they're considering a couple more of my shots for possible inclusion in their calendar.

Are Your Photographs Being Stolen and Misused?

Your shots may be getting stolen more often than you think. In his article "How Every Flickr Photo Ended Up on Sale This Weekend" Jim Goldstein provides several examples of how everyone's photos on Flickr get exposed to possible theft. Joy Elizabeth Effie's comment #94 after the article provides the additional example of how some creep stole her child's photo and used it for their online profile.

Congress is about to make someone stealing and misusing your photo of your children perfectly legal, as long as they can say that they made a reasonable attempt to identify you. The examples in the article clearly show that photos are increasingly being automatically shared among Web sites and that your identity and other key information will often get stripped out in the process, so the Orphan Works Act will simply reclassify your work as "orphaned" and make any and all use of it perfectly legal.

Here are some sample photography industry statements opposing the proposed Orphan Works Act:
http://www.asmp.org/news/spec2008/orphan_update.php
http://www.nppa.org/news_and_events/news/2008/05/orphan02.html

Please pass on news of this pending legislation and encourage family and friends to contact their elected representatives by email. The easiest automated form to accomplish this that I've found so far is at this link:
http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/issues/alert/?alertid=11442621

If you fail to contact Congress, don't be surprised to find your child used for the profile photo of some swearing, drug-using MySpace or Facebook user advocating illegal sexual acts, and there's nothing whatsoever that you can do to stop it.

I was shocked to learn that several of my representatives support the bill. I will be letting them know that I will be doing everything in my power to educate other voters in their district that their re-election should be vigorously opposed.

Your Photography in Yosemite National Park

Here's a short list of good places to shoot in Yosemite National Park, organized by time of day:

No rush for sunrise... consider Cook's Meadow from the Sentinel Bridge parking lot area shooting towards Yosemite Falls, as the sun first hits it about an hour after dawn. Walk to the bridge a short way downstream and come up the far bank, shooting in any direction that looks interesting. Ahwanee Meadow can be interesting around this same time if there's a ground fog.

In late morning you can catch a rainbow in Vernal Falls from the mist trail, then again from above Vernal Falls 1/2 mile back on the alternate return trail.

Mid afternoon is a good time to shoot Half Dome from Ahwanee Meadow, and El Capitan from the field near its base, from Cathedral Beach, and from the opposite bank of the Merced River.

In late afternoon you can often catch a rainbow in Bridalveil Falls from the parking lot.

A little before sunset Valley View is great, then as you start to lose light on El Capitan you can move up to Tunnel View.

Sunsets can be good at Glacier Point, Tunnel View, Sentinel Bridge, and Ahwanee Meadow. Sentinel Dome is even better than Glacier Point, but have a spare flashlight and spare batteries to make sure you can hike the mile back to the car in the dark.

Night photography in Yosemite can be great when the moon is about half full or more. Just return to the same spots you shot when the sun was roughly where the moon is as you're shooting. In the Spring and early Summer while there's enough flow and mist you can catch moonbows (lunar rainbows) in Lower Yosemite Falls shortly after a full moon rises.

Near Tioga Pass consider going to Saddlebag Lake and catching the water taxi 2 miles down the lake and going for a day hike around the 20 Lakes Basin. It's up at 10,000 feet though, so don't count on going very far if you're not acclimated to altitude (staying nearby or at Tuolumne Meadows would be good).

Mono Lake is an amazing spot for sunrise, but you have to arrive at South Tufa well before dawn to make the short hike to the shore and get set up for the best approaching light to the east, then move to catch the sun's first rays painting the mountain peaks towering 6000 feet above to the west. The ghost town of Bodie is another interesting option if you head out that way.

Some other places... The whole Tioga Pass road can be great in afternoons when afternoon thunderclouds are forming. Tenaya Lake is always worth a stop, especially at the West end on a calm afternoon, shooting east. Olmstead Point can be interesting at dawn or dusk, but mainly if the weather gets interesting. I wouldn't drive the hour from the Valley for it, but if you're driving by at least stop and see if the yellow-bellied marmots are climbing around the rocks looking for food (don't feed them). Tuolumne Meadows can be interesting at dawn or dusk.

Tempted to Self Publish?

Now you can with Amazon's Createspace.

Yes, I've seen Blurb, but it seemed too expensive, resulting in unrealistic retail prices if you actually want to sell some copies of the book yourself. CreateSpace seems to have a better pricing structure:
Trim Sizes
Prices & Revenue Share

Check it out, and let me know how your book turns out!

If anyone has advice on how to obtain maps for publishing, I'd like to get some books out myself.

Preface to California's Wildfires

The storm arrived on the California Coast last Friday evening with a few puffy white clouds punctuated by occasional flashes of lightning and cracks of thunder. Overall it seemed like a very small scale event, with a few light showers that lasted mo more than a few minutes. I even captured a brief rainbow projected onto one of the clouds as sunset approached.

The clouds seemed to grow a little taller as they climbed the Coast Range, with intermittent thunder rolling in the distance. It was an interesting novelty to have rain at all in June, all the more noteworthy with the rare accompaniment of lightning.

By the following morning, the storm had passed from the coast, although thunder could still be heard to the East. What I didn't know at the time was that the lightning has struck over 8000 times, and over 840 fires were burning in the state, at least 90 in Mendocino County alone.

Return to Bowling Ball Beach

I have an obsession. With a beach. I think it's a healthy obsession, but I've never thought of myself as a "beach person". Don't get me wrong, I love the sea, but I'd rather be playing in it or on it than walking or lying beside it.





So this interest in beaches, is it something I've learned, or do I have a "beach gene" that I've somehow overlooked until now? Or is this particular beach attractive specifically for its un-beachly character? What kind of beach is filled with, even named after, a collection of giant rocks? Whatever the case, I returned yet again to Bowling Ball Beach on California's North Coast.

Perhaps I'm just captivated by my own conviction that there are great images to be created at Bowling Ball Beach, while being frustrated by not having caught one yet that fully lives up to my lofty expectations.

So much of photography is the journey... visualizing the concept, preparing, anticipation, enveloping the subject with different angles, perspectives, exposures and filters, then gently teasing out a halfway decent result in postprocessing that might stand some faint chance at fairly representing a unique moment... in time, in place, in your life. The destination, the image itself, typically pales in comparison to the pursuit, but it's all we can offer to those who missed the adventure that led to its creation.

So I'll continue to visit this stretch of coast until the sun, the moon and the planets line up just right and I get the shot that I know will come from there... perhaps with a rising sun with a setting moon, at low tide. In the meantime my exploratory trips there serve as preparation for when I will eventually encounter those few precious moments of precious light that I will have to make the most of.

Back to the Mendocino Coast

With some of my favorite lakes in the High Sierras still under snow, I decided to take my kids up the coast to show them some of my favorite places and to introduce them to abalone diving. First we stopped at Kruse Rhododendron State Park so see if the the flowers were still around. No luck on that count, but the redwoods are always nice, and we found some cute little newts in the creek.

We secured a campsite near the beach at Manchester State Park near Point Arena, and on two evenings we headed down to the beach for sunset. We spent the next couple of days exploring the Point Arena area including Bowling Ball Beach, where we could explore tide pools and interesting rock formations.

Later in the week we moved north to the Mendocino area and camped at Van Damme State Park. We used the fire rings on the beach each night to make s'mores and to toast dinner roll dough over the fire on our marshmallow sticks (great right off the fire, especially if you roll the hot bread on butter).

The cove there is sheltered, so it's a great place to play in the water. We went to a dive shop in nearby Fort Bragg and rented wetsuits so the kids could snorkel around while I looked for abalone. Although we had minus low tides and I did get some abalone when I went out alone, it turned out that the kelp had grown significantly since I had visited in May and it was so thick at low tide that it wasn't practical or safe to bring the kids into the thick floating mats of it in the cove. We had fun swimming around though.

Join Me This Summer or Fall!

So for the past few years I've explored some of the best photographic vista from the West Coast to Montana to Arizona and back. As I travel this Summer and Fall, I'd like to share my site knowledge and my enthusiasm for photographic exploration with other photographers. In person. I love to create, but I love to teach and inspire others to create as well.

Here's what I propose: look at my schedule, and tell me where you might want to join me, and when. If it doesn't match with my current schedule, let's see if I can fit it in. Let me know what accommodation standards you'd prefer (camping/motel/hotel), and the level of adventure you'd prefer: road-accessible areas only, at least trail-accessible only, off-trail and cross-country exploration OK, or "full adventure" (such as guided canyoneering in Zion with 100' rappels into slot canyons).

I'll provide a quote for your custom trip, with the option to keep it private (limited to just your party). I'll even guide you for a few hours if that's all you want; my rates are very reasonable.

Here's my initial outline for the next few months.

July 9 - 10 Portland, Waterfalls of the Columbia River Gorge, OR
July 11-14 Seattle, Mt. Rainier National Park, WA
July 15-16 Hoh Rain Forest, Second Beach, Ruby Beach, Olympic Peninsula, WA
July 17-20 Backpack: Shi Shi Beach, Point of Arches, Olympic Peninsula, WA
July 21-24 Portland, Oregon Coast: Cannon Beach, etc.
July 26-Aug 3 Lake Tahoe and Hot Air Balloons, CA
Aug 6-10 Backpack to site of Ansel Adams' "Frozen Lake and Cliffs", Kings Canyon
Aug 12-17 Eastern Sierra: Bishop/Bristlecone Pines/Alabama Hills
Aug 20-24 Eastern Sierra: Mono Lake/Bodie/Mammoth Lakes
Aug 23-Sep 4 Eastern Sierra backpacking?

Sep 5-7 Lake Tahoe area, Reno Balloon Races
Sep 10-15 Glacier National Park, MT
Sep 15-22 Yellowstone National Park & Grand Teton National Park, WY
Sep 23-30 Colorado Fall Colors: Maroon Bells, Dallas Divide, etc. CO

Oct 1-3 Great Sand Dune National Park, CO, Taos Pueblo, NM
Oct 4-12 Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, White Sands National Park, NM
Oct 13-15 Full moon rise & set shots TBD
Oct 16-24 Open in the UT/CO/AZ/NM region (Grand Canyon, Antelope Canyon, The Wave?)
Oct 25-28 Bryce Canyon National Park
Oct 28-Nov 2 Zion National Park: The Subway

Nov 3-6 Death Valley & Eastern Sierra
Nov 8-9 Lake Tahoe area
Nov 10-14 Sacramento area
Nov 16+ Open

Dec: Re-shoot Ansel Adams' "Moon and Half Dome" in Yosemite National Park

Where would you like to join me, or have me adjust my itinerary or schedule to meet you?