The Daily Photograph™

But it's nice to dream about

It’s cold in January

And snowy, too. But today was far to hot and the light too harsh for any photographic expedition, even one to the front porch. I took the easy way out and visited another day. It’s not inspired, nor even very good, but at least its cold.

And it's got us all ensnared

Beauty is symmetry

And mystery and balance and dynamic flow. And when they all combine in the same place at the same time, the artist doesn’t really have much to do beyond not screwing it up.

We've never made wine

This vine is nearly 50 years old

And we’ve cared for it for half of that time, but we have never gotten a good crop of grapes from it. The reason, as Beth gently tells me, below, is that it is a Virgina Creeper and not a grapevine, at all. Wyoming is just too dry in the late summer, even when we water. The birds, however, think it is just keen. 50mm f4 1/125s

She sometimes shows her bones

These Bones are near Silver City, New Mexico

An area that’s full of mining history, not only for silver, but for copper, lead, gold and other metals. In the notch below is what I think is the remains of an old mine. There are plenty of them around the area.

At the edge of the night

I hope this one works on the internet

It looks real good on my slick and precise monitor, but not many have one like it. The color gradient is subtle and the clouds are only faintly lit. It looks terrific, if understated, on paper.

Amid the dying of the light

Some people won’t believe the color here

And I wouldn’t either, if I hadn’t been there, myself. This lasted long enough for me to see, swivel the camera, set the exposure and make one click. Maybe 15 seconds in all. The sky above the clouds was dusk gray, very little blue, and I am thankful I did not over-expose it too much.

Tonight is full moon. This is from last night.

I almost missed this display

Having forgotten about the full moon approaching. When I looked out the window, I erupted into furious activity. The sunset color only lasts maybe fifteen minutes before it fades to gray. f11 1/8s 250mm

It's big and brighter here than most

Partial color images are not usually my thing

I think they are too often gimmicky, but. Here, I wanted to diminish the foreground, which was full of deep greens and golds, and yet keep the framing. I desaturated, never finding the sweet spot until the foreground was all the way to black & white.

This is one of those effects that can be done with film but seldom is because it’s not easy. Digital development makes it almost too simple.

It's much higher than it looks

It’s unusual to talk about the ‘end’ of a mountain

But Casper Mountain is something like ten miles long, from East to West, and rises abruptly almost 3000 feet from the flatlands at it’s foot. Wikipedia says it’s so long and wide that it is visible from space, at the height the Shuttle and International Space Station fly. I’d like to test that personally, someday.

A sky so blue, a land so rich

Here’s why the exposure details are worthless

To any other photographer but the one making the exposure. The ‘exposure value’ of the clouds here is ’16′. I’m shooting an nominal ISO of 100, focused at infinity. I could be shooting at f11, f16, or f22 with my 50mm lens, depending on the shutter speed.

Which was it? Can you tell?

The most important thing a photographer can learn is the proper level of exposure. This is given by the ‘exposure value’ or absolute level of light reflected from the brightest object in the frame, exclusive of specular highlights, as from waves or chrome. This value, in conjunction with the ISO of the medium, then determines the range of shutter speed/aperture settings that will expose the medium properly.

A light meter, whether internal to the camera or hand-held, reads the EV and does the math for you. The photographer then makes subjective judgments about depth of field or the degree of motion smear, or the higher or lower tonal values desired.

The actual lens/shutter settings will therefore vary from one person to another, from one situation to another, and will be specific to the moment and situation. There are times the photographer ignores the ‘right’ EV and exposes higher or lower in order to make a good photograph. In this particular case, I followed my light meter.