Tag: California

Orange County Fair Judges Walkthrough

Come on out to the Judges Walkthrough at the Orange County Fair photography competition – Thursday, 7/21 at 8:00.

This year I’ve been honored to be asked to judge the photography competition at the Orange County Fair.  It’s been an amazing experience.  I’m hoping that the experience can be as good for all the people that submitted photographs as it has been for me.  It’s not an easy assignment to sit in judgment of so many fine photographs.  I’m quite sure the other eight judges found the task as difficult as I did.

(Read the first post in this series at

http://ralphnordstromphotography.com/wordpress/journal/orange-county-fair-photography-judging/ )

Continue reading “Orange County Fair Judges Walkthrough”

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The Making of a Photograph – Pond, Owens Valley 2011

Follow along in the making of a photograph as we go from kneeling in the mud to the final print on paper.

It all started with kneeling in the mud.

I was with David Muench, Jerry Dodrill and twelve other eager photographers on a Mountain Light Gallery workshop in May.  We lined up along the bank of the pond just outside Bishop, California and aimed our cameras at magnificent Mt Tom, the dominant peak in the Eastern Sierra crest in this area.

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I’d like to take you through the process of making a photograph from the images I captured that morning.

Continue reading “The Making of a Photograph – Pond, Owens Valley 2011”

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Photographing the Eastern Sierra

Let me show you some of my favoriate locations for photography in the Eastern Sierra.

I don’t know where you’ll find a more spectacular range of mountains than the eastern edge of the mighty Sierra Nevada Mountains.    This is where the gargantuan slab of granite from which the mountain range is formed plunges precipitously from the peaks along the crest into the Owens Valley below.  Driving up the Valley on legendary highway US 395 is likely to give you a crick in your neck.  Because you can’t take your eyes off the endless procession of towering summits.
I’ve camped and backpacked in these mountains since I was a young boy and I always love returning to them.  And now that I come back with camera in hand I have an opportunity to capture and share with you the inspiration I receive here.
mt_whitney_first_light_2009_rrpm_rc100
Mt Whitney
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Mt Williamson
Mt Whitney is the tallest peak in the lower 48 and from your vantage point in the valley below it towers more than two vertical miles above your head.  It’s nothing short of breathtaking in the morning sun.
But there’s more to the Eastern Sierra than the grandeur of these mighty peaks.  Come with me on a journey as I show you the superlative and the sublime.

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Mastering Exposure–Histograms Part 3

This is the third post in a series on the histogram. This post discusses the Rocky Mountain histogram, what it is, when you can get it, how to photograph and how to do the post processing.

This is the third post in a continuing series on the oft misunderstood but oh so important histogram.  In the first two posts we discussed the histogram in general.  If you missed them, click on these links.

Mastering Exposure – Histograms Part 1

Mastering Exposure – Histograms Part 2

Recap

To recap, the histogram displays a graph of the tonal values in the scene you are about to photograph.  It shows how the dynamic range of the scene matches and fits into the dynamic range of your camera’s sensor.  There are two critical pieces of information a histogram tells you:

  1. If your exposure is correct
  2. If you have problems capturing the dynamic range of the scene

To recap, the exposure is displayed by the position of the histogram curve within the boundaries of the graph area.  As you increase the exposure the histogram moves to the right.  As you decrease the exposure it moves to the left.  If the exposure is increased so that the histogram moves all the way up against the right side of the graph area you will have highlight clipping. Likewise, if it moves all the way to the left side you will have shadow clipping.

The dynamic range of the scene is displayed as the breadth of the histogram,  The wider the histogram the greater the dynamic range of the scene.  The narrower the histogram the lower the dynamic range.  When the histogram is so wide that it extends from one end of the graph area to the other you are facing a situation where your camera’s sensor will have a difficult time capturing the full dynamic range of the scene.  The worst case is you will have both highlight and shadow clipping.

Continue reading “Mastering Exposure–Histograms Part 3”

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A Trek in Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park

Here’s an account of how I spent a beautiful Monday morning in the foothills of Southern California.

Yesterday was a perfect day for a hike in Whiting Ranch (our back yard).  The hills are green from the wonderful rains we’ve had this winter.  This is welcomed in a location that is basically a desert and has its share of droughts.

WRWP_the_start The start of the hike is down the street at our local park.  It starts out easy enough.

WRWP_the_road_down The first part of the hike is easy.  An access road drops down to the bottom of the canyon behind our house.  This morning it is especially beautiful hiking in the lush green that seems to be hanging on and on and on.  The rains this winter have come at good intervals and have nourished the hills.  They have recovered beautifully from the fires three years ago.

WRWP_sleepy_hollow One of the most beautiful sections of the hike is through a lovely oak grove called “Sleepy Hollow.”  The trail meanders under a canopy of Coastal Live Oak.  And the stream is still trickling making this a special treat.

WRWP_lower_cattle_pond The Sleepy Hollow climbs out of the grove when it comes to a dam built during the ranching days.  Cowboys built it to catch water so they could graze cattle on the hillsides.  For many years this dam has been mostly dry with at best a small muddy puddle.  But this year there is a considerable amount of water.  There aren’t cattle in the area any more to drink the water but I’m sure the deer, coyotes, foxes, raccoons, skunks, rabbits, mountain lions and all the other critters in the area enjoy it.

WRWP_upper_cattle_pond Not far above Lower Cattle Pond the trail goes by Upper Cattle Pond.  It too is nearly full.  When these hills were still private land you could wander around the banks of the pond.  (Well, maybe I trespassed just a little.)  But then the county bought it and has restricted access.  So the trade off is the county controls access but we don’t have developers building their homes down here.  I’ll opt for the limited access any day.

WRWP_erosion_control_oak This oak tree is amazing.  It’s standing all by itself and the ground on three sides is literally washing away.  Every rain that falls carries a bit more dirt away from its base.  If you look closely you can see it’s roots jutting out of the bank, dangling in mid air.  So far the oak is hanging on to a pretty large chunk of land but I wonder how long it can hold out.  I’ve been keeping an eye on this tree for over 20 years now and it seems to be doing just fine.  You gotta love it.

WRWP_four_corners The first resting point is Four Corners.  Mountain bikers and hikers alike sit on the benches projecting from both sides of the bulletin board.  The county brought in a water fountain for people and an automatic waterer for horses.  People stop here after a good climb to catch their breath before zooming down the other side.  It’s a good place to relax and an easy place talk with some very interesting people.  But this morning I’m not ready to turn back.  There’s more in store.

WRWP_dreaded_hill_road_start I’m going to continue on up this road.  It’s aptly names the Dreaded Hill road although this isn’t the dreaded part of it.  That’s further on.  This road will take me near the summit of the highest peak in the area.

WRWP_steep_road No, this isn’t the dreaded part of the road either.  It’s just a minor steep part on the way to the summit.

WRWP_mark_reynolds_memorial At the summit is the memorial to Mark Reynolds, an avid mountain biker who was attacked and killed by a mountain lion not far from here.  He was fixing a flat tire when the lion pounced on him.  He probably never saw it coming.  Later that same day the mountain lion came back and attacked another mountain biker, this time a woman.  Fortunately she was with her friend who, with the help of some other mountain bikers, were able to get the lion to release her and run off.  She recovered.

WRWP_mark-reynolds_plaque That all happened back in 2004.  Gosh, has it been that long already.

WRWP_dreaded_hill_descent Now we get to the dreaded part of Dreaded Hill Road.  I’m doing it the easy way – I’m heading down.  Climbing this road is another matter and very few mountain bikers will even attempt it.  This is mostly a hiker’s climb.  As beautiful as these foothills are you always know that the city is not far off.

WRWP_santiago_peak But when you look in the opposite direction from the city you are rewarded with inspiring views of Santiago Peak, the tallest summit in our very own Santa Ana Mountains.  I never tire of looking at the range. I’ve hiked all over them from the time I was a Boy Scout until now.

WRWP_dreaded_hill_bottom It’s difficult to capture just how steep Dreaded Hill really is.  I describe it this way, “Dreaded Hill is a killer at the bottom and a killer at the top and murder in between.”  If you look at this picture carefully you can see the road way down there as it enters the trees just to the right of center.  Maybe you can get a feel for how far down that is.

WRWP_below_dreaded_hill And this is what greets you where the Dreaded Hill road enters the grove.  Beautiful, isn’t it.  Just up a few more steps the road meets the Serrano Creek trail where I do an about face and head back towards the start.

WRWP_serrano_creek Serrano Creek gets its name from the Spanish Ranchero that this land was a part of.  The creek doesn’t flow all year, only a few weeks in the spring and that’s not a for sure thing.  Hey, this is Southern California.  You get used to it.  But I love this little stream, especially in spring.  It feels so good to walk in the cool air under the spreading oaks.  Even in summer this little canyon remains cool and inviting.

WRWP_serrano_creek_vignette Here’s another vignette of the creek that I just have to share with you.  This is such a glorious place.  I’m so fortunate to have this literally in my back yard.

This is a good place to end this account.  In just a few more steps the oak grove comes to an end and gives way to the open hillsides so typical of these foothills.  From that point on it’s an anticlimactic climb back up the hill to the park.

If you would like to join me on one of my adventures in Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park, let me know.  I’d love to share it with you and would enjoy your company.

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Photographing Death Valley

Death Valley is a wonderful location to photograph and here are a few of my favorite places.

Every year I lead a workshop in Death Valley.  We offer personalized instruction and photograph some of the many exciting locations there.  Click here for more information.

death_valley_reflections_2009Now, the only time you want to be in Death Valley is late fall through early spring.  Otherwise it’s just too darn hot.  Personally, I like February.  It’s kind of a quite time and we’ve had some mighty good luck the last couple of years with major rainfall in the weeks leading up to the workshop.  What this has meant for us is some of the playas were flooded.  When that happens you have lakes six inched deep that spread for miles in every direction.  It doesn’t take a lot of rain to flood the playas either.  Generally an inch will do.

There are some locations in Death Valley that I really love and I’d like to share them with you.

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Photographic Challenges – A Solution

A few weeks ago I posed a photographic challenge.  What decisions would you make to capture the Bristlecone Moon image?  Here’s the photograph again.

bristlecone_moon_2008Bristlecone Moon (2008)

This shot poses some interesting challenges and here’s a link to the first post that spells out the situation in case you missed it.

Photographic Challenge – the Situation

The planning for this photograph actually began several months before. I had the idea of photographing a bristlecone pine with the full moon as it rose behind it through the earth shadow.  The earth shadow is that ribbon of color that is projected in the sky above the horizon directly opposite the rising or, in this case, setting sun.  So the first step was to select a full moon weekend, contact my buddy, Eric Winter and head up to Grand View campground in the White Mountains.  We arrived three days before the full moon to scout the area and find a tree that had everything I was looking for – an open view to the east that looked down on the Great Basin below.  I also new I needed to have enough room to back away from the tree so I could use a telephoto and thus increase the relative size of the moon.

There are only two named bristlecone groves in the Whites – Schulman Grove where the oldest tree is found (4,700 years old) and the remote Patriarch Grove.  The Schulman Grove is at the end of the paved road and just a few miles from Grand View campground.  The Patriarch Grove is another 8 miles down a dirt road and when the rangers say it’s a 45 minute drive you’d better believe them cause it is.

The first day we scouted the Patriarch Grove but unfortunately, it is in a broad   depression that has a large hill to the east.  There weren’t any trees that had what I was looking for.  The next day we killed some time in Bishop and dropped into Vern Clevenger’s gallery.  Vern and I chatted and I told him what I  had in mind.  He advised me to get the shot one or two nights before the full moon, not the night of the full moon.  It turned out to be a critical piece of advice that I needed.

So back up to the Whites and back out the dirt road in a search for THE tree.  We scouted a couple of places but none worked out.  We climbed back into the truck and continued down the road.  “What about that tree?” Eric asked as we drove by.  It was perfect.  Throwing the truck into reverse, we backed up and parked off to the side of the road.

The tree had a clear view of the eastern horizon.  There was a large hill to the west but all that meant was that the tree would be dropping into a shadow long before the sun dipped  below the horizon.  There was enough space to use my 70-200 lens and back up far enough to fill the frame with the tree.

I had printed the moon charts from the internet so I new the precise time and azimuth of the moonrise and was able to figure out where I wanted to position myself.

I started working with compositions well before the moon was due and decided to crop off the ends of the branches because I liked the proportion better.  Then I sat on Mother Earth and quietly waited.  The shadow from the hill to the west crept across the road toward the tree and finally swallowed it.  I sat, looking to the east, waiting for the moon to rotate into view.  Sitting up high on the side of the White Mountains I got a strong sense of the earth turning on its axis, rotating until the moon appeared above the horizon.  One moment it wasn’t there and the next it was.  It was time to go to work.

The moonrise was playing out just like I had hoped.  This is when I get nervous.  “Slow down, don’t make a mistake,” I kept telling myself.  Depth of field: f/16.  Shutter speed: 1.2 sec at ISO 100.  Too slow.  Bump the ISO to 200.  I heard Ansel Adams speak years ago at Pasadena City College.  He told the story of taking “Moonrise over Hernandez.”  He didn’t have time to take out his spot meter and do his usual zone thing.  So he exposed for the moon.  He knew it was in full sunlight and he knew what its luminance was without having to measure it.  So he put the moon in Zone VII and fired away.  I was thinking of him when I realized that I needed to shoot HDR if I wanted the moon to be more than a blank white disk, if I wanted to catch the man in the moon.

So I turned on the camera’s Highlight Tone Priority function to gain a little extra dynamic range, kept the ISO at 200 and bracketed the exposure by one stop.    The focal length was 185 mm and the total elapsed time for the three exposures was about 2 1/2 seconds.  At 185 mm you have 3.2 seconds to get your shot off without the moon (or stars) moving perceptibly.  (There’s a formula for calculating that.  It’s 600/focal length in mm.  It’s a handy formula to know.  See Ten Tips for Exciting Nighttime Photography.)

So that’s pretty much the whole story.  There are other ways go solve this challenge.  Carefully exposing the moon to fall at the right end of the histogram without highlight clipping would result in a capture in which both shadows and highlights could be recovered in Lightroom or Photoshop.  A graduated neutral density filter is problematic because it would cover part of the tree.  So HDR works well in this situation because you get a good exposure on both the moon and the tree.

I’ve returned to this tree several times since September of 2008 when this photograph was taken.  It’s one of the stops on our Eastern Sierra workshop.  Each time I return it has a different feel to it, a different mood.  Here’s what it said to me this year.

bristlecone_dusk_2010 Bristlecone Dusk (2010)

It’s a remarkable tree and I plan to keep on coming back.

Join me on an upcoming workshop.

To see more of my photographs click here.

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Eastern Sierra Photographs

I finally got a chance to work on a few more Eastern Sierra workshop photographs from June.  It’s amazing how many things barge to the front of the line.  But I finally got to these.  I hope you enjoy them.

alabama_hills_vignette_2010Alabama Hills Vignette

This one was taken before the workshop started.  It’s just one more wonder to be found in the Alabama Hills.  I get a very quite feeling from this one.

lone_pine_creek_2_2010 Lone Pine Creek 2

One of the exercises we did during the workshop was to photograph the chapter, paragraph and sentence on Lone Pine Creek at Whitney Portal.  This was my sentence photograph.  The water is swirling around the rocks going every which way.  This image captures the whole turbulence of the cascade in this little microcosm.

bristlecone_dusk_2010 Bristlecone Dusk

I keep coming back to this bristlecone pine in the White Mountains.  And each year the interpretation is different.  It was somewhat overcast this year and as night was coming on the clouds created subtle patterns in the sky.  One of the things I like about this tree is how it grows high above Great Basin.  It’s been here for thousands of years.  On this evening it softly glows as the day turns to night – one more time.

half_dome_storm_2010 Half Dome Storm

The Tioga Pass road opened just a few days before we arrived in Lee Vining.  So there was no doubt that we would photograph sunset in Yosemite.  Olmsted Point provides a unique view of Half Dome from the back side.  As luck would have it a storm was rolling across the Sierra and we were there.  I love the power in this photograph.  When I look at the image I can’t help thinking how good it would look in a Southern California arts and crafts style house.

These will be up on my website soon but I wanted to give you a preview.

Join me on an upcoming workshop.

To see more of my photographs click here.

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Bishop Creek Spring


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Originally uploaded by Ralph Nordstrom

Here is one of the photos I took today along the South Fork of Bishop Creek. South Lake was still snowed in but down the canyon spring was marching up. You can view the rest of the photos I took today on Flickr.

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Photoshop Tutorial – Atmospheric Haze

Haze is an integral part of landscape photography.  Distant mountains are not as clear as close up objects.  They lack contrast, are often lighter and may even appear blue or even purple (purple mountain majesty).  It’s interesting that in the history of Western art, painters didn’t incorporate atmosphere into their paintings with landscapes until the Renaissance.

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