Tag: photography workshops

2010 in Retrospect

Join me as I look back on the accomplishments of 2010 and look forward to the promise of 2011.

I feel kind of funny  writing this post. I’m feeling that this end-of-the-year, beginning-of-the-next band wagon is awfully crowded.  But it’s something I want to do, if for no other reason than to reflect on the year just passed and learn what I can apply to the new one just started.

As I’ve worked on my website over the past year and compared the work I’m doing these days to the works from four and five years ago I see definite signs of growth.  I’ve had many powerful influences over the years who I’ll not attempt to list here, except for my brother Roger.  One doesn’t learn photography in a vacuum.  While each of us is striving to find our own voice there is a long period of gestation where we are best served when we learn from and let ourselves be influenced by other photographers whom we respect and admire.  I feel that after five years there have been a few brief flashes of individuality where my personal style is just beginning to express itself.

Partridge Falls

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Mastering Exposure–Histograms Part 2

Take a deep dive into the often misunderstood histogram and discover the critical role it plays in capturing great photographs.

A few weeks ago I published the first of a series of articles on histograms, “Mastering Exposure – Histograms Part 1.”  I eventually want to talk about different types of histograms and how to work with them in the field and during the post processing.  But before getting into that I want to take a deeper dive into the histogram itself.

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Photography Tutorial–Composition

Using design elements in landscape photography

Why study composition?  Edward Weston said, and I paraphrase, that studying the laws of composition before taking a photograph is like studying the laws of gravity before going for a walk.

Well, sometimes I feel like a toddler when it comes to composition.  And if you’ve been around a toddler as they’re learning to walk you know how diligently they study the laws of gravity and why they have such thick padding on their rumps.  There’s a reason they’re called ‘toddlers.’

I’m always searching for new ways to present the principles of composition in my photography workshops.  And I think I’ve come up with an approach that will get some of the people seeing the world differently, at least that’s the goal.  I like to challenge my workshop attendees to stretch themselves and expand the way they see.

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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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Three New Photographs Published

I just published three new photographs on http://RalphNordstromPhotography.com.  They’re from my shoot in Minnesota the first weekend of October with my brother Roger and his friend Travis Novitsky.  There are more to come but here are the first three.

oberg_lake_2010

Oberg Lake

superior_twilight_2010

Superior Twilight

spirit_tree_2010

Spirit Tree

Stay tuned.

Join me on an upcoming workshop.  Click here for more details.

To see more of my photographs click here.

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Mastering Exposure–Histograms Part 1

Alas, the histogram is misunderstood…, or not understood at all.  I often run into students on photography workshops who say they’ve noticed the histogram but never knew what it was nor paid much attention to it.  But the histogram is one of our most effective tools we have for getting the correct exposure.  And a correct exposure is essential to a compelling photograph.  So, what is a histogram?  Read on as we explore the ins and outs of this powerful tool.

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Getting the Most out of a Photography Workshop

Get the most out of your upcoming photography workshop.

You’ve spent a lot of money and are about to invest a lot of time in an upcoming photography workshop. It’s natural you’ll want to make the most of it. And there are several things you can do before hand and during the workshop to maximize your experience.

The Gang
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A Ten-Step Program for Grad ND Filters

I have a couple of Lee graduated neutral density filters in my camera bag.  I don’t use them very much because I’m kind of an HDR guy.  But the past couple of mornings we’ve had some very clear sunrises and given the location of our home in the Southern California foothills this turned out to be a good opportunity to play around with my grad ND filters.

I discovered a few very interesting things.  I’m just going to provide a checklist here without any illustrations.  Hopefully it will make sense.

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