Blog/Recent | Frank Field Photography | Edge Light Images: Light, Land & Ocean of Northern California

Remnant Sea Stack at Dawn

Posted on February 6, 2012 by fafield | Leave a comment

The coast of California is dotted with more than 20,000 small islands, rocks and reefs. Many of these are sea stacks: small parcels of land composed of slightly harder sandstone and left behind as the ocean continues its relentless erosion of the coast. Providing important habitat for birds and marine mammals, these outcroppings are protected as part of the California Coastal National Monument.

Remnant Sea Stack at Dawn, The Sea Ranch

This remnant sea stack is no more than a foot or two above mean high tide. I captured this image on Friday, February 3 at sunrise and coincidentally at high tide. We’ve seen very few storms this winter. This has meant both a lack of rain and also unusually calm ocean conditions. The sea was particularly calm on Friday. Combining calm ocean conditions with a long exposure helps this image convey that sense of serenity that I much like to capture in my images of coastal Northern California. Exposure was 5 sec, f/11, ISO 100 and required use of a 4-stop neutral density filter, extending exposure time by a factor of 16.

Remnant Sea Stack at Dawn, The Sea Ranch (Monochrome)

Continuing my exploration of black and white, I did convert the image to monochrome, using a B&W conversion layer in Photoshop CS5. One of the very nice things about monochrome photography in our digital world is the ability to experiment with use of a variety of classic filters in post-processing. The conversion is largely with a red filter, though I have optimized a bit beyond Photoshop’s straight red filter to emphasize certain aspects of the image.

Color or monochrome: which do you prefer? Why?

This image is part of my ongoing project to capture the eroding coast of Northern California.

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As always, I welcome your feedback. Public comments (will appear on the website) can be left through the form below. Private comments should be left via my E-mail inquiry form (under “Contact”).

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Posted in Image Capture, New Images, Post Processing, Technique

The Magic of Dawn

Posted on January 12, 2012 by fafield | Leave a comment

Winter Dawn, Bluff, High Surf, The Sea Ranch

When people hear that I am a landscape photographer living on the coast of Northern California, a common reaction is “oh, you must have great sunsets to photograph.” We do. But my favorite time of day to photograph is dawn – that period before sunrise when the sky grows brighter and that gentle light is diffused over the landscape.

I captured “Winter Dawn, Bluff, High Surf” on January 5, about 20 minutes before sunrise. We had a light fog (unusual for winter), high tide and high surf (caused by a storm far out at sea). The low light conditions of dawn allowed me to use a slow shutter speed (8 seconds at f/8, ISO 100). The long exposure softens the surf into a silky haze. Yet, the distinct water running off the bluff face does tell us clearly that there have been some very large waves here.

While the light striking the land is diffused it does have some clear directionality. The face of the bluff is “looking” almost directly toward the southeastern sky where the sun will rise. This is the brightest and warmest part of the dawn sky. This imparts a distinct, but still soft, warm-glow on the bluff face. I think that warm glow in contrast to the cool tones of the ocean makes this image special.

There is an old expression in photography. When asked how he captured the image, the photographer responded “f/8 and be there!” That is especially true in landscape photography where light and weather are totally out of our control. Conditions that enabled this image do not occur every day and are frequently not fully predictable. If you want to capture the play of light on the land and ocean, there is no substitute for being out in the environment as often as possible. Some days, the camera will stay in the bag. Other days will yield gems like this.

This image is part of my ongoing project to capture the eroding coast of Northern California.

Please click on this image to expand it to a larger size.

As always, I welcome your feedback. Public comments (will appear on the website) can be left through the form below. Private comments should be left via my E-mail inquiry form (under “Contact”).

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Posted in Image Capture, New Images, Technique

My Favorite Images from 2011: Part II

Posted on January 5, 2012 by fafield | 2 Comments

Here’s my second and final set of my favorite images from 2011.

Foggy Dawn Over "A" Ranch, Point Reyes National Seashore

In “Foggy Dawn Over ‘A’ Ranch, Point Reyes National Seashore,” I captured the ever-present fog at the Point Reyes headlands illuminated by the glow of dawn. Homes and barns for each of the twenty-six ranches at Point Reyes (labeled “A” thru “Z”) are generally built in available hollows and have now very mature plantings of Monterey Cypress trees to break the near daily, strong winds. The cypress hedge is barely visible in this early morning image. Not everyone responds to this image but I much enjoy the strong sense of quiet provided by the fog and the gentle dawn illumination.

Awakening Pastures, Point Reyes National Seashore

“Awakening Pastures” is a stitch of four images into a wide panorama of the first rays of sunrise glancing across the fields just behind the Point Reyes headlands. The winter brings rain to Northern California, greening the pastures in this February image. I like the way the first rays of sun model the undulating fields. Light is everything in landscape photography and there was maybe a 10-minute window in which this image could be captured.

Corn Lilies & Morning Dew, Sonoma County

“Corn Lilies & Morning Dew” captures the fresh green of spring as clumps of the perennial corn lily emerge. I used a stack of six images, focused progressively farther into the scene, to obtain excellent depth of field in the final image. While it is less obvious on the JPEGs I post on the web, the resolution of this close-up image is excellent. The texture of the fine hairs on the lily leaves really comes through and helps to emphasize the nearly ‘perfect’ young leaves. The range of the corn lily is limited to Sonoma and Mendocino Counties, California. It grows profusely in lower-lying, damper parts of our area on the coast.

Dominating Giant, Stout Grove

“Dominating Giant, Stout Grove” is an image of the lower trunk of a huge coast redwood tree. The tree is protected in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, part of the complex of state and national parks in Humboldt and Del Norte counties that protect the remaining original growth redwoods. This particular tree grows along the Smith River and indirect skylight from the clearing provided by the river helps to emphasize both the stature of the tree and the sinewy texture of its bark.

Old Corner Post, Stornetta Public Lands, Mendocino County

“Old Corner Post, Stornetta Public Lands” is a monochrome image. I think the black and white rendition works with this image. Black and white usually suggests “old” and it also helps to emphasize the strong texture of this very worn corner post in a cattle fence. I shot this image around 2:00 p.m. on a summer afternoon. This is not normally a good time for landscape photography but I think it is an example of how a monochrome image from the middle of the day can succeed where color would not.

Moonlight Reflections, Patricia Lake, Jasper National Park, Canada

“Moonlight Reflections” was captured during our September trip to Banff and Jasper National Parks in Canada’s Rocky Mountains. The setting, near-full moon provided the only illumination in this pre-dawn image, exposed for 13 sec at f/5.6 and ISO 100. Light from the blue-end of the spectrum dominates moonlight. With digital photography, we can adjust the color temperature of the image representation in post-processing. I left this heavily blue; converting to a more normal color representation would have ruined the quiet feeling of this image.

I hope you have enjoyed looking at twelve of my best images from 2011; I certainly enjoyed pulling them together!

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As always, I welcome your feedback. Public (will appear on the website) feedback can be left using the form below. Private feedback can be sent via the contact page on my website.

I plan to write more frequently about my experiences with photography and to post more new work through the year. If you would like to be alerted, you can subscribe to my RSS feed by going to http://www.edgelightimages.com/feed/.

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Posted in Image Capture, New Images

My Favorite Images from 2011: Part I

Posted on January 5, 2012 by fafield | Leave a comment

As promised, I’d like to share my favorite images from 2011. This post includes six and my next post will include a second six images.

Endless March of Bluff Erosion, Sea Pine Beach, The Sea Ranch

“Endless March of Bluff Erosion” is part of a project to capture the continuously eroding sandstone bluffs of Northern California. This image is a stitch of four images, panning across the breadth of a pocket beach locally known as “Sea Pine Beach.” The composite image is 6758 x 3728 pixels (or about 25 MPx); the aspect ratio at 1.8:1 is very close to that used for HD television. I’ve tried to capture the power of the ocean waves and I think the detail in fallen blocks of sandstone and winter debris help to convey that message.

Morning Fog at the Bluff, The Sea Ranch

A major goal of my photography is to capture the quiet serenity of the North Coast, at the edge of the continent and away from urban areas. Our summer fog season really emphasizes the quietness of the coast and I made a effort to capture more images in 2011′s fog season. I think “Morning Fog at the Bluff” goes a long way toward my goal.

Minus Tide, Ohlson Beach, The Sea Ranch

Another ongoing project is to explore the inter-tidal zone, that band of the edge of the continent and edge of the ocean that lies between low- and high-tide marks. Minus tides expose an extra wide expanse of beach and I generally mark my calendar to be out with the camera when a minus tide occurs around dawn. “Fog, Minus Tide, Ohlson Beach” was also captured in the summer fog season. I think it is one of my better compositions with leading lines from the edge of the wave emanating from both lower corners and the exposed sandstone reasonably well separate from the background sandstone. One of my first black and white conversions.

Kelp, Minus Tide, Ohlson Beach

“Kelp, Minus Tide” is another image from the early-July, dawn/sunrise minus tides. I like the graphic simplicity of this image with the kelp about to be redistributed by the advancing water. This near-monochrome image is in color. I found that B&W conversion, removing the subtle reds and blues on the kelp and the yellow in the grains of sand, was much less appealing to me. As I noted in earlier posts, I have found that even very low saturation colors can add appeal to an image. Not all near-monochrome images are good candidates for B&W conversion!

Northlight Luminance, Sandstone Point at Minus Tide

“Northlight Luminance, Sandstone Point” was captured at a different morning minus-tide event. I really enjoy the subtle glow that indirect lighting can impart. I think it further emphasizes the quiet serenity of our coast. This particular north-facing sandstone bluff was illuminated only by skylight (scattered daylight). The s-curve defined by the sandstone/water edge adds appeal.

December Dusk, Del Mar Point

“December Dusk” was captured around the time of the Winter Solstice and was included in a recent post. Uplifted, eroding sandstone provides strong leading lines into the image and the colors of dusk always appeal to me. This image is a focus stack of four separate images, focused progressively farther into the image. I’ve found that focus stacking almost always provides greater depth of field than I can obtain with other techniques such as focusing at the hyper-focal point.

I hope you have enjoyed these images. I’ll discuss the second six images in my next post.

Click on any of the images to expand them to a larger size.

As always, I welcome your feedback. Public (will appear on the website) feedback can be left using the form below. Private feedback can be sent via the contact page on my website.

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Posted in New Images, Technique

Looking Back on 2011: The Journey Continues

Posted on January 5, 2012 by fafield | 3 Comments

Crossing Paths, Shell Beach, The Sea Ranch

I spent the last couple of days looking back through my Adobe Lightroom catalog, wishing to sum up my journey in photography in 2011, especially in the ways my photography evolved this past year. I clearly emphasized learning and applying new techniques. I wanted to extend the range of images I could capture while continuing to use DSLR cameras (versus medium and large format cameras). And, I wanted to improve my ability to optimize my best images so that the final print comes closer to expressing my original vision for the image.

Here is a summary of the new capabilities I’ve been able to apply.

While I previously used only the capabilities in Lightroom to optimize my images, 2011 brought increasing adoption of Photoshop CS5 to optimize my best images, producing images that are better to my eye than I could produce in Lightroom alone. I especially thank George Barr whose writing and photography provided the motivation.
I started to apply image stitching for the first time and used it both to capture panoramas and to produce high resolution images with more usual aspect ratios. Another thanks to the motivation from George Barr.
2011 was the year in which I learned to apply focus-stacking to increase the overall depth of field. While stacking is difficult (usually impossible) to use when there is subject motion, when I can apply it I’m able to shoot at moderate apertures (say f/8), avoiding diffraction issues and providing a generally sharper image while stacking buys back depth of field.
Lastly, I began a journey to explore black and white images and the conversion of digital images (which are shot in color, by definition) to monochrome. I’m fascinated by monochrome and especially want to take that exploration much further.

I think each of these has brought a new dimension to my photography and I look forward to continue exploring use of these capabilities to help me capture and produce compelling images that express the landscape in the way I see it.

A popular technique I’ve yet to adopt in my photography is High Dynamic Range (HDR). I’ve certainly tried using HDR on a number of images but I’m not exactly attracted to the “HDR-look” one sees in so many images today. I may change my mind some time in the future.

In my next two posts, I will share my twelve favorite images from 2011. I’ll try to comment a bit about each image, focusing on what I especially like about the image. Some of the images have appeared in earlier posts, but most have not been posted (a good reminder that I need to update my gallery!).

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Posted in Craft of Photography, Image Capture, Post Processing, Technique

Sun and Moon Data

Posted on December 30, 2011 by fafield | Leave a comment

In a recent post, I wrote about the wonderful, low, angular light for a period of eight to twelve weeks, centered on the winter solstice. A landscape photographer is dependent on solid information about daily sunrise, sunset, moonrise, moonset and so on.

I use data from the U.S. Naval Observatory. This particular landing page provides access to data on the sun and moon for one day for over 20, 000 locations in the U.S. and more worldwide. There is a wealth of other data. Click on the link “Data Services” in the left hand column and you will find links for information about sun and moon azimuth and altitude throughout the day. Just a couple of cautions. Some pages list time only in standard time (even when daylight time is in effect) while others convert to daylight time. Azimuths are stated in degrees relative to true north. If you are using a magnetic compass in the field, don’t forget to correct for local magnetic declination.

Using data from the Naval Observatory, I constructed the following to compare the altitude of the sun on with winter solstice (December 21, 2011) and the last summer solstice (June 21, 2011). The data is for Point Arena, California, located at 38 °55′ North latitude and I have rounded times to the nearest 10 minutes and angles to the nearest degree. Finally, the sun’s altitude is measured in degrees above the horizon. 0 deg is on the horizon and 90 deg is straight overhead.

Time of Day	Altitude of Sun on 12/21/2011	Altitude of Sun on 6/21/2011
Sunrise	0 °	0 °
Sunrise + 60 minutes	9 °	10 °
Sunrise + 150 minutes	20 °	27 °
Solar Transit (sun due south and maximum altitude)	28 °	75 °
Sunset – 150 minutes	20 °	27 °
Sunset – 60 minutes	8 °	10 °
Sunset	0 °	0 °

Interesting! The first and last hour daylight is about the same in June and December – the sun is not more than 10 ° above the horizon. But, at the summer solstice, the sun climbs rapidly to 75 ° above the horizon — nearly overhead — while at the winter solstice, the sun does not rise above 28 ° above the horizon providing that angular light that is also much softer as it filters through more atmosphere.

I encourage you to visit the Naval Observatory site and explore the wealth of data useful to landscape photographers. Most importantly, get out in the field and take advantage of this great light while it lasts!

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Posted in Craft of Photography, Technique

December Morning Light

Posted on December 27, 2011 by fafield | Leave a comment

December Morning Light, Eroding Bluff, The Sea Ranch

In a recent post, I wrote about the low, angular light that we enjoy for eight to twelve weeks centered on the winter solstice.

I captured this image this morning (December 27) about 90 minutes after sunrise. The sun backlights the image. The low angle of the sun creates rim lighting that defines the two protruding arms of the sandstone bluff, setting them apart from the background and defining their shape. The backlight also illuminates the ocean spray as a wave crashes against the bluff. It would be impossible to capture this image at a different time of the year

The most important thing we can do to improve our photography is to get out in the field, shoot more images and shoot more often. Light makes or breaks an image and only by being there can we seize the opportunities afforded by the wonderful angular light this time of year.

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Posted in Craft of Photography, Image Capture, New Images, Technique

December Sunset

Posted on December 26, 2011 by fafield | Leave a comment

December Dusk, Del Mar Point

The time around the winter solstice is my favorite time of year to photograph. The magic hours of dawn and dusk occur at more convenient times (no 4:00 a.m. alarm clock!). The sun remains low in the sky. At my latitude of about 39 deg N, the sun’s maximum altitude is only 28 degrees above the horizon, making for nice side-lighting through much of the day. Lastly, winter brings more interesting cloud formations to our coastal Northern California skies.

This image was captured about 10 minutes after sunset on December 19. It was taken at Del Mar Point in northern Sonoma County. The Point exposes uplifted blocks of sandstone that provide strong leading lines into the image. The soft light of dusk helps to convey a quiet serenity to the image, something that I especially seek to capture. Lastly, a long exposure time (almost 1 sec), helps to smooth out the waves, further contributing to that sense of quiet serenity.

The period starting about four to six weeks before the solstice and continuing until about four to six weeks after the solstice provides especially nice lighting for landscape photographers. Take your camera and tripod and get out in the field and enjoy winter light while it lasts.

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Posted in Craft of Photography, Image Capture, New Images, Technique

Winter Exhibition at Scharffenberger Cellars

Posted on November 29, 2011 by fafield | Leave a comment

Beginning December 2 and running through February 23, 2012, work from the members of the Artists Collective in Elk will be featured in the tasting room of Scharffenberger Cellars. Located in the heart of the Anderson Valley, Scharffenberger Cellars was founded in 1981 with the commitment to making ultra premium sparkling wines, which are today established among America’s finest.

The holiday season is a great time for a visit to the Anderson Valley and can be combined with a trip to the villages of Mendocino and Elk. Why not take the opportunity to stock up on wines for holiday gifts and celebrations while also finding some unique art for special gifts?

Scharffenberger Cellars is located at 8501 Highway 128, Philo. Opening reception for the exhibition is Saturday, December 3, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.. Please see their website for tasting room hours.

The gallery in Elk has a large selection of great gifts for your holiday shopping. Located at 6031 S. Highway 1 in Elk, the gallery is open seven days a week from 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m..

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Posted in Galleries and Shows

Sandstone Details: Color or Monochrome?

Posted on August 30, 2011 by fafield | Leave a comment

I’ve turned to one of my favorite subjects from the North Coast of California, sandstone, to continue my investigation of color and monochrome images.

Here are two recent images of eroding sandstone exposed at the ocean bluff at Del Mar Point in northern Sonoma County.

: Fractured Sandstone (Color)

: Fractured Sandstone (Monochrome)

: Eroding Sandstone (Color)

: Eroding Sandstone (Monochrome)

(Click on any image to expand; use arrow keys to navigate among images.)

Both images are details of the layered, eroding sandstone at the bluff. As details, they are somewhat abstract. My intent was to capture graphic images with strong lines and images that also reveal the gritty texture of the sandstone.

In both cases I prefer the monochrome images. Removal of color information increases the abstraction and I think strengthens the images. Both become more graphic to my eyes.

A secondary reason for favoring the monochromatic images has to do with the total lack of color management in most web browsers. I’ve noticed that yellows, in particular, do not translate well from my color calibrated and managed environment in Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom to the non-color managed environment of a web browser. Viewed in a color-managed application, I still tend to favor the monochrome images tho by a narrower margin.

As always, your comments and feedback are welcomed!

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Posted in Post Processing, Technique

Frank Field Photography

Remnant Sea Stack at Dawn

The Magic of Dawn

My Favorite Images from 2011: Part II

My Favorite Images from 2011: Part I

Looking Back on 2011: The Journey Continues

Sun and Moon Data

December Morning Light

December Sunset

Winter Exhibition at Scharffenberger Cellars

Sandstone Details: Color or Monochrome?

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