In the Field: Photo Blog by Richard Wong

Photography field reports by Richard Wong. Richard’s work has been published in magazines, books, advertising, and offers fine art prints of his work. Images may be licensed as rights-managed stock photos by contacting Richard directly at Richard@rwongphoto.com or (626) 422-6151. California stock photography, fine art prints, photo blog: www.rwongphoto.com

Mountain Light

Posted on | November 2, 2011 | 4 Comments

Upper Yosemite Falls in Late Afternoon Light, Yosemite National Park, California

Upper Yosemite Falls in Late Afternoon Light, Yosemite National Park, California

I was watching a photo processing tutorial recently by a popular online photographer, where he was making statements about how straight photography is boring and HDR (multi-image exposure composites) is more eye-catching. The beauty of the internet is that anyone can have an opinion and be an expert, no matter how ill-informed or absurd. I’d advise beginning photographers to take what you read or hear about online with a grain of salt and learn the basics of photography first then form your own opinions.

When I was first starting out, I spent countless hours studying books such as Mountain Light by Galen Rowell. The whole philosophy was about developing your eye to see natural light and putting yourself in the best possible position to capture it with a camera. The magic of photography is in capturing unique conditions and the essence of a subject. It has little to do with Photoshop wizardry but about putting in the blood, sweat and tears to eventually come away with photos that mean something to you.

I could tell you that I was driving through Yosemite Valley debating what to shoot for sunset when we saw the warm light only illuminating the trees with Yosemite Falls in deep shadow behind it and how I set up my tripod then shot a bunch of photos on f/16. But it’s more than that. Photos are the sum of your life’s experiences and all you’ve put into photography before that. Mountain light is something I’m interested in experiencing then photographing, not generating on a computer.

See more of my Yosemite photos.

Category: Opinion, Yosemite NP
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Comments

4 Responses to “Mountain Light”

  1. Derrick
    November 2nd, 2011 @ 7:13 pm

    To quote my friend David Hyde… “HDR sucks!”

    LOL.

    Great image, Richard. Very nicely done.

  2. Richard Wong
    November 2nd, 2011 @ 11:24 pm

    I didn’t say it but can’t say that I disagree either. :-)

    Thanks Derrick!

  3. Gary Crabbe / Enlightened Images
    November 3rd, 2011 @ 12:48 pm

    Love the point made in the last paragraph. Mountain Light….. sounds familiar….

  4. Richard Wong
    November 3rd, 2011 @ 1:03 pm

    Thanks Gary! I figured you would.

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