Category Archives: Landscape

Parc de Sceaux

By Harold Davis | Published May 1, 2013

Andre Le Notre is the Frederick Law Olmsted of France. Like Olmsted, Le Notre is the essential landscape designer of his country. In Olmsted’s case, much of the inspiration came from park-like wilderness such as the floor of Yosemite Valley, while Le Notre’s creations—including the gardens at Versaille, Fountainebleau and the Tuilleries—are formal, and involve long vistas with aisles of sight running to the vanishing point, as well as very regular and symmetrical shapes both small and large.

A lesser-known creation of Le Notre’s is the Parc de Sceaux, shown in the photo. The Parc de Sceaux lies on the periphery of Paris near the bedroom community of Bourg-la-Reine. It is one of Le Notre’s masterpieces.

Parc de Sceaux © Harold Davis

Also posted in Paris | 1 Comment

Windswept Sea

By Harold Davis | Published April 14, 2013

Last week I spent some time wandering on Point Reyes with my oldest son Julian (he was off from school for the week). The land and sea were swept by a strong wind, which made photography difficult, but we had a great time being out in the weather.

Windswept Sea © Harold Davis

Looking at these wind-tossed waves reminded me that soon I will be across a different ocean, and far from home. Next week I am leaving for France, where I am leading a workshop in Paris. I’ll try to keep images and stories coming to this blog.

To make this image I stacked two fast shutter speed captures (each was shot hand held at 1/640 of a second at f/13 and ISO 200). In the strong wind a tripod was hopeless, and I couldn’t hope to stack more than two hand held exposures. I next increased the contrast and tonal range by multi-processing the RAW files to add additional layers of light and dark.

I like the way the Windswept Sea image has become an abstraction, an alternating pattern of lights and darks, that only comes into resolution as the ocean when I shift my eyes away from the image, and then back again.

Please check out my Monochromatic Visions Kickstarter project, and if you are able to do so, I would greatly appreciate your support of my photographic goals.

Also posted in Monochrome | Leave a comment

Living at the border of immensity

By Harold Davis | Published April 2, 2013

I looked out over the vast Arizona plateau leading to the great canyon made by the Colorado Rover. The late autumn sun was setting quickly, creating shadows in the undulating up-country. If you look at the image sized larger it is easy to see tracks that extend across this apparently trackless waste. What would it be like to live here at the border of immensity?

Arizona Plateau at Sunset by Harold Davis

Arizona Plateau at Sunset © Harold Davis

Exposure data: 120mm, three exposures at shutter speeds between 1/80 of a second and 1/320 of a second, each exposure at f/8 and ISO 200, tripod mounted; exposures combined and converted to monochromatic in Photoshop.

Also posted in Monochrome | Leave a comment

Gnarled wood in the desert

By Harold Davis | Published March 19, 2013

In the desert life is harsh, and the intensity of light reflects the harshness of conditions. Photography is best at the fringes of the day—the “golden hour” leading up to sunset, the half hour just after sunset, and the half hour of comparatively serene light one finds at dawn.

Gnarled wood in the desert by Harold Davis

Gnarled Wood in the Desert © Harold Davis

I created this monochromatic HDR image shortly after sunrise in Glorieta Canyon, part of the Anza-Borrego Desert in southeastern California. To make the image I used my 200mm macro lens, and mounted my camera on a tripod. There were five exposures, shot at ISO 100 and f/16. Shutter speeds varied between 1/13 of a second (darkest) and 1.3 seconds (brightest).

The images were processed from the RAW using Adobe Camera RAW (ACR) and Nik HDR Efex Pro, then combined in Photoshop using layering. I used Photoshop, Nik Color Efex, Topaz Adjust, Topaz Simply, and PixelBender to enhance the image. Finally, I converted the image to monochromatic using Photoshop, Nik Silver Efex, and a “reserved” layer from the original HDR Efex monochromatic HDR processing.

Also posted in HDR, Monochrome | Leave a comment

Sunset from Sutro Baths

By Harold Davis | Published January 19, 2013

Sunset was spectacular here in the San Francisco Bay area yesterday. I shot west out to the Pacific Ocean from Sutro Baths, shown here with a long enough exposure (15 seconds) to calm the action of the waves.

Sutro Sunset © Harold Davis

Also posted in Photography, San Francisco Area | Leave a comment

On Duxbury Reef

By Harold Davis | Published December 25, 2012

A monster low tide occurred at the same time as the early winter sunset. Taking advantage of this conjunction, a friend and I wandered out on Duxbury Reef. Duxbury Reef, shown in the linked story from above, is one of the largest shale reefs in North America. It lies west of Bolinas in Marin County on California’s north central coast, and north of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, within Point Reyes National Seashore.

On Duxbury Reef © Harold Davis

Like Atlantis lost beneath the waves, the landscape you see in this image is usually far beneath the water. In fact, as sunset quickly turned to darkness we hurried off Duxbury Reef ahead of the massive oncoming tidal surge. Our route off the reef took us through arched tunnels normally hidden by the ocean, and past the feet of massive cliffs to the footpath at Agate Beach Park.

Exposure data: 35mm, four exposures at shutter speeds from 2 seconds to 2 minutes, each exposure at f/22 and ISO 100, tripod mounted; exposures combined in Photoshop.

Comment: I used the 2 second exposure to capture the sunset colors, and the 2 minute exposure to capture the much darker foreground of the reef. The exposures were combined using layers, a layer mask, and a gradient. The longer exposure also allowed me to create the attractive fog-like effect, derived from the action of the water in motion.

Also posted in Photography, Point Reyes | Leave a comment

Opposites

By Harold Davis | Published November 12, 2012

When it comes to image conception and post-processing these days I seem to be thinking in opposites. In my image of the Triumph of the Wave (below) the breaking surf reforms against the adamant of a rock-bound shore. Wild and peaceful. Violent and tranquil.

Triumph of the Wave © Harold Davis—Click to view larger

There’s something like the Hegelian triad in operation: thesis and antithesis yields synthesis. Nowhere is this more apt than in post-production, where effective practice means repetitive application of opposites: sharpening and blurring, increasing contrast and reducing contrast, saturating and desaturating, and so on.

The key is to be selective. Blurring and sharpening the same pixel makes no sense because you get back where you started. But blurring and sharpening adjacent pixels can be very effective.

Technique should always be in the service of vision. The moving anarchy of the surf is in opposition to the static solidity of the rocks. Synthesis in subject and process can yield an image that is meditative—and a call to action, both calm and exciting.

Also posted in Monochrome, Photoshop Techniques | Leave a comment

Foundation of all those fables

By Harold Davis | Published November 11, 2012

Wandering on the slopes of Mount Tamalpais, high above Stinson Beach, the Bolinas lagoon, Duxbury Reef, and the open Pacific the seascape below was cloud-covered. As the sun began to set, thermals opened an area offshore and I was reminded of a quote from Thoreau of Walden fame: “Who has not seen in imagination, when looking into the sunset sky…the foundation of all those fables?”

Sunset from Bolinas Ridge by Harold Davis

Sunset from Bolinas Ridge © Harold Davis—Click to view larger

There’s magic in the sunset sky, yet we’re scared to succumb to such a simple infatuation. Beauty can make us grumpy, and put us in mind of postcards. Actor Dustin Hoffman cynically put it this way: “I envy people who can just look at a sunset. I wonder how you can shoot it. There is nothing more grotesque to me.”

Photography can be many things. I’m here to tell you it is okay to shoot sunsets. Personally, I cannot look at one without being moved, and recognizing the foundation of fables as day turns to night.

Also posted in HDR, Photography | 1 Comment

Land’s End

By Harold Davis | Published October 26, 2012

The past few days have been spectacular in the San Francisco Bay area. Night rain has alternated with crystal clear days. The days themselves have vibrated with clarifying autumn light, while exotic cloud formations have been on almost constant display.

Land’s End © Harold Davis

As a photographer with a great love for landscape as a subject I couldn’t ignore this opportunity even though I am supposedly heads-down getting a book done. So with my oldest son Julian out of school early, we drove over to the Marin Headlands.

A short, steep, and sweet hike to us to the top of Slacker Ridge. I mounted my camera on my tripod, and started shooting across the Golden Gate strait. Land’s End is in the mid-ground of this image, but the point of the image is of course the extravagant cloud show over the open Pacific.

In making the exposures that went into this image I want to be sure to get the sun fully resolved. So I underexposed relative to the overall scene (1/8000 of a second at f/9 and ISO 200, using a Polarizer). At these shutter speeds, at least one doesn’t have to worry about motion blur!

In processing the image I layered in lighter exposures to capture the cloud formations and highlights on the water—while making sure to leave the shapes of the hills in the foreground silhouetted and dark.

You can click on the image to view it larger.

Also posted in Monochrome, San Francisco Area | Leave a comment

Storm in Upper New York Bay

By Harold Davis | Published October 9, 2012

The day I had for shooting on the water in New York was the one day it rained. But light during stormy weather can make for interesting images. Photographer Hank Gans and I braved the storm and proceeded as planned despite the seriously squally weather.

Storm in New York Upper Harbor (with texture) by Harold Davis

Storm in New York Upper Harbor (with texture) © Harold Davis

This image shows upper New York Bay, often simply called New York Harbor with the lower Manhattan skyline in the background. Upper New York Bay is fed by the Hudson River, which is connected to the shipping channels out to the Atlantic Ocean via the Narrows and Lower New York Bay, and to Long Island Sound via the East River (which despite the name is actually a tidal strait).

In this image you can see a Staten Island Ferry plowing through the waves in front of the inaptly-named Freedom Tower, which is going up near the World Trade Memorial.

Storm in New York Upper Harbor (black & white) by Harold Davis

Storm in New York Upper Harbor (black & white) © Harold Davis

The three versions of Storm in Upper New York Harbor in this story are shown in reverse of the order in which I made them during post-production. The actual RAW image file is fairly flat, so I processed the color image to add contrast and drama (below).

Once I was happy with the color version I used Nik Silver Efex 2 to convert the image to monochromatic (above). At that point, I thought I was done—but the idea of playing with textures called out to me, hence the painterly version at the top of this story.

Storm in New York Upper Harbor (color version) by Harold Davis

Storm in New York Upper Harbor (color version) © Harold Davis

Also posted in New York | 3 Comments

Star Circles in the Patriarch Grove

By Harold Davis | Published August 31, 2012

Bristlecone Pines are the world’s oldest living things. They have witnessed thousands of passing turns of the earth in the heavens—and, therefore, the stars turning relative to the earth. I feel awe and thanks that I’ve got to share this cosmic show from the Patriarch Grove high in the White Mountains in eastern California near the Nevada border.

Star Circles int he Patriarch Grove by Harold Davis

Star Circles in the Patriarch Grove © Harold Davis

I shot this image while preparing for a workshop I was teaching in the Patriarch Grove. I positioned my camera to capture a north-facing landscape, and used an extremely wide-angle lens.

The foreground was shot before it got fully dark at 1/250 of a second, f/8, and ISO 200. Without moving the camera on the tripod I waited until after dark and shot 35 images at 4 minutes, f/2.8, and ISO 400 to capture the stars.

To render the stars whirling in the skies I stacked all the four minute exposures together using the Photoshop Statistics action, then blended in the foreground image to make the Bristlecone Pines and the details of the Patriarch Grove visible.

For more about the Bristlecones and the Patriarch Grove see My Favorite Bristlecone and Distant Night Storm.

Also posted in Digital Night | 1 Comment

My Favorite Bristlecone

By Harold Davis | Published August 10, 2012

I am very excited to be heading back to the Bristlecone Pine groves of the White Mountains in California near the Nevada border next week. These trees, among the oldest of all living things, grow high in the desert mountain range east of the Sierras. They are very beautiful in their gnarled and twisted ancientness.

Communing with nature in the Patriarch Grove of Bristlecone Pines is one of my favorite activities, and the tree shown in the two images below is one of my favorite trees among the Patriarchs. In fact, one friend of mine has claimed that I was “in love” with this tree. Certainly, I have spent much time gazing at it and waiting for my long HDR exposures to complete. One could certainly do worse in picking an inamorata!

In the Patriarch Grove © Harold Davis

I am looking forward to leading a night photography workshop in the Patriarch Grove, and also of course pursuing my own work in this incredibly gorgeous landscape.

You may be interested in some of my other stories on my blog about the Bristlecones, most ancient of all trees. Check out Seeking Methuselah; Touching the Rainbow; Distant Night Storm; and When Workshops Collide.

A gentle reminder about my autumn workshops in Berkeley, CA:

An early-bird special is in place for these workshops until the end of August 2012. If you are interested in these workshops please consider taking advantage of the discount—particularly as based on past experience we expect the workshops may fill by mid-September:

HDR (High Dynamic Range) Photography Bootcamp with Harold Davis: Saturday October 6

Digital Black & White Master Class: Full Day Workshop with Harold Davis: Saturday November 3

Photographing Flowers for Transparency with Harold Davis: Saturday December 1

Comments from those who have attended my workshops:

“He was very giving of his talents and time. The course was very organized and thorough. Loved it! Learned so much! ”

“Very creative and a marvelous instructor.”

“AWESOME…instructor and photographer.”

“Harold’s techniques as demonstrated through his many books have revolutionized my approach to photography and has accelerated my abilities in a very short period of time. I appreciate that he is so accessible and giving of his time.”

“I think that Harold’s passion for teaching about photography is only second to doing photography in a creative way. ”

“Harold is a peach. Great skill, without the ego of most master photographers.”

If you are in the Southeast near Richmond, VA please keep in mind my full-day workshop. The cost is $60 ($72 with lunch) and the goal is to inspire you to creatively take your photography up a notch. Click here for information and registration.

Also posted in Photography, Workshops | 5 Comments

Slot Canyon

By Harold Davis | Published July 14, 2012

My Slot Canyon image was created using hand-HDR layering from four exposures, as I explain in my original blog posting about the color version and in my forthcoming book Creating HDR Photos: The Complete Guide to High Dynamic Range Photography. The color version is reproduced on page 67 on the section on using a tripod.

The placement of the photo in the section of my book discussing tripod tips and techniques is apt, because in an environment like a slot canyon finding a way to keep camera and tripod stable through a sequence of shots—and keeping one’s gear sand free—is a very real issue.

It is easy to getting bogged down in the physics and physicality—the tyranny of the world of “things”—and forget to look for the ethereal magic than can make a photographic composition really sing.

With Slot Canyon the play of light coming down the narrow cleft in the rocks was pretty exciting. So far so good. But I kept looking for something more, something to elevate and contrast with the textures in the stone. When I spotted the tumbleweed bush on the right, momentarily lit by a sunbeam, I knew I had found my key.

I was lucky to be able to get set up and make my four exposures before the light changed.

If you are interested, here’s the exposure data: 50mm, 4 exposures at shutter speeds 0.8 of a second, 1.3 seconds, 2.5 seconds, and 4 seconds, each exposure at f/29 and ISO 200, tripod mounted.

Also posted in Monochrome, Photography | Leave a comment

Aisle of Sight

By Harold Davis | Published July 3, 2012

Driving across the great central valley of California on my way to Yosemite, a fierce wind kicked up dust and limited my visibility. Then I noticed that the hazy light was selectively clearing with sunshine coming through. The light was definitely odd, but interesting and varied. A high wind was whistling the dust all around me.

I stopped at a long aisle of trees. I liked the painterly effect of the dusty light in the tress beside the road, and the distant perspective looking down the trees.

Without thinking too much about exposures or anything else I pulled out my camera, and snapped a photo. The next minute the dust had closed in again and the light was gone.

Exposure data: 62mm, 1/160 of a second at f/11 and ISO 200, hand held.

Also posted in Photography | 1 Comment

Golden Gate Moonrise

By Harold Davis | Published June 4, 2012

Capturing a dynamic range that includes detail in both the moon and the night landscape is essentially an unsolvable problem. The moon is as bright as daylight and the the night is as dark as night. So even if you create a bracketed sequence that covers this roughly 20EV light-to-dark spread you’ll come up with an image that looks unrealistic to people. Photo-compositing in the moon is even worse: unless you are very careful and unless you get the astronomy right it simply looks fake.

When the problem is unsolvable, the answer is usually to compromise. With this image of the moon rising behind the Golden Gate Bridge I bracketed for HDR in a short dynamic range. The image is comprised of three exposures, shot at five seconds, ten seconds, and twenty seconds. I used a tripod and an 18mm focal length, setting the ISO to 200 and the aperture to f/6.3. I processed the images by hand in Adobe Camera RAW and Photoshop, and partially blended in a layer created from the three exposures in Nik HDR Efex Pro.

In no respect does the image capture the entire dynamic range between the moon and the dark night landscape in the foreground and to the right. But there is far more suggestion of color and details across the dynamic range than there would have been in any single shot.

Also posted in Digital Night, HDR, Photography, San Francisco Area | 1 Comment