michael.mcmahan

Shoreline of Santa Barbara , exceptionally low tide with clearing storm.

Often a great location for low tide and sunset photos.

Advise and comments welcome,

Michael

Nice image.

I like the low angle you chose, the timing of the sunset in the background, the low tide, the dof. 

The little things that add up to avery nice photo !!!

My best 

Michael

A deft hand with this image. You take a location that's been shot many times and come up with a unique and pleasing result. It's the little adjustments and care that makes this a quality photo !!I The contrast of sky and tufa spires makes the composition. 

My Best Michael

Larry

This is a very nice image. i love the declining light and the shallow reflections from the sky.

I've sometimes had the same issue in that area- high contrast area. Some times to avoid it I will use a layer mask and adjust the sky and foreground separately. 

Tofino is on my visit list and you've underscored that  ambition.

Thanks for your comment on my Cannon Beach image.

Best

Michael 

Minh

Well done.

Nice conception and an exceptional outcome .

Not easy to accomplish a night exposure as well as this one.

Best

Michael

Daniel

Anybody who loves mountains would get goose bumps over this photo and your other recent photos from Patagonia.

I originally had been struck by the beauty of Chile described in the poems of

Pablo Neruda, so much so that such a photo is its own enchanting poem.

Must go save up my money for this trip !!!

Daisy field shot from a high bluff above the Palouse.

Constructive criticism welcome.

Thanks for looking

Michael

Jim

I love the color palette here.

Nice work on a subtle subject- say that 5 times fast !

Best 

Michael

Hello

Multiple exposure time sequence - first 3 shots at sunset, night time long

exposure following . Assembled in Photomatix and PS.

Thank you for your constructive comments welcome.

Hi

Slot canyon, Utah style in the Colombia Gorge area. Rather difficult access

but well worth it. Narrow and dark with dynamic extremes.

Singh Ray Polarizer very helpful in these lighting conditions, yet lengthened

exposure. Tripod a must even if a pain to lug in.

Your constructive critiques are very welcome .

Cheers

After a vivid sunset , the sky settled into an eerie blue that enchanted me ,

reminiscent of early sunrises . Summer in Juneau meant this was taken

quite late in the evening.

Taken from the deck of a boat, camera was braced but not on a tripod, long

exposure, Singh Ray Vari-duo made use of to smooth waves and gather

light, high iso , using a new , to me, lens the sigma 85 f 1.4

Simple image that I hope is enjoyable.

Thanks for your suggestions and responses ,

Michael

Thank you for your kind remarks Raymond, Ernest and Curtis.

Greatly appreciated coming from such accomplished photographers. 

Daniel- I wonder if the sci fi feel you remark about has to do with the 'bowling balls' which can remind me of alien pods ???? BTW This spot is about 60 miles north of Hitchcock's famous location, Bodega Bay, for The Birds.

Hi Carlos

Happy Spring.

I like the grotto- very atmospheric, good timing for the water flow- silky, not milky.

I'd have been inclined to either crop the rocks- the blur distracts, or exposure stack with a sharp exposure throughout . I imagine with a polarizer you'd bring out some good detail  there although the cropped photo might still be better overall.

Your thinking ?

Michael 

Hi Martin

Nice photo- dramatic skies , nice reflections. A beautiful lake shore .

Michael

Hi

This is a variation (experiment !) of Bowling Ball Beach shots .

I've desaturated and used an IR setting to render the photo in this manner.

Comments and constructive criticism welcome.

Thanks for looking .

Michael

The Lost Coast of Northern California is a few short miles north of here.

Access gets more difficult but between there and Fort Bragg there are

wonderful beaches which are less photographed but very scenic.

Low tide shot,morning, using polarizer to enhance beach reflections.

Thanks for your thoughts and comments .

michael

These are quite unusual geological features. Large round boulders that are

invisible except at low tide, I visited this area on several occasions finding a

variance in the exposure of the rocks and quality of sunset.

The tide is medium low here, lower tide totally exposes the rocks without

the water surge underneath

This photo is a blend of two exposures to increase the dynamic range.

All somewhat complicated by long exposure( Singh Ray Vari-duo filter) for

the rocks to smooth the water, while my tripod is poised upon rocks as

steady as possible.

Several long shots ruined by errant waves jigging the tripod legs .

Comments and constructive criticism encouraged

Monument Valley overlook. Triple exposure with polarizer , tone mapped in

processing.

Comments and constructive suggestions welcome.

Michael

November sunset from Green River Overlook, Canyonlands NP. Three

exposures tone-mapped and then converted BW. My opinion is that the

rugged undulating terrain translated better through bW than through color.

Green River winds through the upper right .

After leaving the  Whitney Portal without anything worthwhile as Whitney was locked into 50 shades of Gray., I came to a bend before the Alabama Hills which provided a nice vista of the long stretches of the dry empty Owens Valley with a storm system moving through, the winding road breaking up the seemingly natural  landscape 

 Thanks for your constructive criticisms and comments .

Michael 

Yet another memorable image.

I respect that your images are so creative and yet not bound to representative realism. Such an image allows a nice play of fantasy although staying true to its photographic origins. :) 

Michael

Patrick I appreciate your comments.

I think the second point is, aesthetically, important.

The first point I don't quite understand because this is a photo of a lake with a logjam and the middle left void your ever to is the lake, the lake which isa good  part of the subject, otherwise i don't see a 'void'.

The photo is shot close up with a wide angle, attempting to stay sharp on the logs and grab their detail . With the brightness of sky, f stop, and prime focus, this made for a fairly shallow depth of field, so the background didn't get the qualities pixels that the foreground did. I worked with that a bit by dodge, burn, and sharpening, but that has its limits. I think if the aesthetic point would be to have sharp focus all the way to the background, stacking exposures with varying foci might do the job. In my own mind, minds eye actually, I tend to linger on the foreground more than the background but certainly would not a background that detracted from the rest of the work. 

I've been in this area before and I'd have to say that it requires a changing game plan throughout the day. Late early morning is a better time for the background because you can pick up AlpenGlow and detail doesn't matter as much, but you may also need to cope with foreground shadows. 

Nice image- I like the overall exposure and that nothing is over saturated. I also very much like the feeling of movement in the clouds

Re 'straightness' -Been thinking of this same issue with my own photos of the Golden Gate. i'm not sure that there's one correct answer- as it seems the experience is subjective depending upon which horizontal line the eye keys upon to orient to the photo. 

My best,

Michael 

High Sierra lake in late summer- Little Lakes area near Bishop, California.

Thanks for comments.

Michael