Part of my homework for the first week of the Mastering Manual photography class I am taking is to practice shooting in manual using an f/18 or f/22 aperture to get the entire image in focus and sharp. So we headed to Convict Lake in the morning to check out the views and try to get in some shots of the mountains reflecting off the water while things were still calm.
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| 24 mm, ISO 400, f/22, SS 1/100 |
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| 24 mm, ISO 400, f/22, SS 1/125 |
In the evening, we drove to Mono Lake to try to capture some sunset images of these cool rock formations called "tufas". Honestly, I struggled with lighting in these so much! I couldn't get the dynamic colors of the sky without totally darkening the rock formations that were sort of the whole point of the shoot. Argh. Anyway, it was at least a good experience to practice and try to implement some of the things I have been learning about light metering and aperture settings, even if I didn't get what I was hoping for. And the tufas were so beautiful and odd and otherworldly that it was amazing to see and we will definitely try to go back again some day.
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| 24 mm, ISO 400, f/22, SS 1/15 |
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| 32 mm, ISO 400, f/22, SS 1/6 |
I really like these! I think you did a great job balancing for the sky and the rocks together. Have you downloaded Lightroom yet? If so, you can expose for the rocks and leave the sky more blown out, then darken the sky using the selective adjustment brush in Lightroom. Just a thought though, because these are seriously gorgeous! How far are these lakes from your house?
ReplyDeleteYes, I just barely downloaded it. But I haven't had a chance to try it out yet! And to be honest, I'm feeling intimidated! But I plan to get into it this week and see what I can figure out and then bug you when I get stuck. :) And I definitely want to try it out to fix some of the skies, which were super dynamic at Mono Lake. The drive was about 5 1/2 hours from our house. Mono Lake is about 30 minutes from Mammoth Lakes, and right by Lee Vining, which is the tiny town at one of the entrances to Yosemite. In fact, I'm almost positive that you have driven right past it. Paul had been there lots of times but never explored down by the Tufas though so this was a first for him and it was seriously awesome and otherworldly. You would love it.
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