There’s a simple compositional technique you can apply to quickly improve the quality of your pictures.  It’s fun and easy and works in so many situations.  It’s called the “Rule of Thirds,” and it goes a little something like this.

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The workshop is ‘in the can.’  We finished up yesterday with a Mono Lake South Tufa sunrise followed by the rest of the morning in Bodie. 

There weren’t any clouds but the sunrise was bright red (“Red sky in morning….” but it didn’t pan out).  Still, South Tufa is always fascinating.  We explored some new places and found some new compositions.  We also found a place where an underwater spring was welling up.  The tufa building process continues.  There were clouds of brine shrimp and alkali flies (in their respective environments).  And amazingly, the flies were not a bother.  They swarmed on the tufa right at the water’s edge and only flew when you disturbed them by moving too close.  Discovering an active site was really very thrilling.

Unfortunately, the water level continues to drop as the drought continues.  I’d estimate the water level is down a couple of feet from the time I first started shooting there about two and a half years ago.  But the potentially good news is that yesterday the National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center issued a forecast  that an el nino is building and will last through next winter.  We could use five years of el nino in California to replenish our nearly exhausted water reserves.

Bodiewas fascinating as usual.  And although we were photographing in late morning light the subjects are still very interesting and the photography, exciting.  There’s a temptation to rush around in an attempt to cover it all.  But I prefer to slow down and absorb the spirit of the area.  Oh, and we ran into David Muench and his workshop.

We were so busy the last days of the workshop that there wasn’t any time to even review our pictures much less get any ready to post.  But that will come and soon.  So stay tuned for more images.

You can check out my other photos on my website – http://RalphNordstromPhotography.com

Use of Spot Healing Brush

I have an image that is a shot of the Eastern Sierra at sunrise.  There are gorgeous clouds hanging over the peaks.  The early morning sun lit them on fire along with the mountains.  It was amazing!

My exposure was pretty close to being right on.  And yet, there was one part of the clouds that technically wasn’t clipped but was very close.  The RGB numbers were not 100% but were in the high 80% to low 90%.  The thing was there wasn’t much detail and it really stood out.

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In photography one of the most powerful means of growing is through interactions with the other photographers we meet, be they in workshops or in the field.  Not only do you learn from artists who create amazing photographs but you also build friendships.

One such chance meeting of an outstanding photographer and friend is Jack Graham.  We met on the banks of Mono Lake in October of 2006.  I was there by myself; he was leading a workshop.  We were shooting the South Tufa at sunrise under the harvest moon setting in the west above the imposing Sierra Nevada range.

I added the address to Jack’s blog in the blogroll.  You can also click here.

You’ll also want to be sure to check out his work.  You can click here.