
UPCOMING 2010 WORKSHOPS:
Spring Big Sur Photo Workshop - March 29 - April 1, 2010 (Sold Out - Waiting List Only)
Northern Arizona: Grand Canyon, Upper Antelope Canyon, Horseshoe Bend, and Sedona Photo Workshop - May 3-7, 2010 (Sold Out - Waiting List Only)
Redwoods and Mendocino Coast Photo Workshop - June 15-18, 2010 (space available)
Kauai, Hawaii Photo Workshop - July 12-16, 2010 (space available)
Big Sur Photo Workshop Summer August, 17-20, 2010 JUST ADDED! (space available)
Arches/Canyonlands Photo Workshop November 3-7, 2010 (space available)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Article on my Website: Focus on Singh-Ray Filters
Join me as I am now of Facebook: Don Smith Photography on Facebook
My preferred filters: Singh-Ray Filters
Books Available for Purchase on my Website:
Refined Vision: 50 Lessons Designed to Improve Your Digital Landscape Photography (e-book and printed versions - 160 pages)
The Photographer's Guide to the Big Sur Coast (e-book version - 102 pages)
On the Edge (printed version - softcover and hardcover - 120 pages)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have always loved the quiet serenity one feels when in the desert before sunrise. Earlier in my career, I would spend parts of February and March in Arizona covering Major League Baseball's Spring Training. Some of my favorite memories were not from photographing the actual games themselves, but the quiet times I would roam the desert in search of that elusive light that comes when the desert is sleeping, the temperatures are low, and the air is clear.
Fast forward to this stage in my photographic journey, which happened to find me once again in the desert, this time in Death Valley National Park, assisting Gary Hart with a winter workshop group. We were on the Mesquite Dunes, perhaps the most visited dunes of any desert, awaiting sunrise. As the last ounce of darkness began to drain from the sky, the horizon began to glow with the warmth from the approaching sun. What I love most about photographing in Death Valley in January is the complete lack of humanity. It is very hard to find pristine dunes unless a wind storm was present the night before. We were not that fortunate, but nevertheless, I was able to find virgin sand due to the lack of crowds.
To my eyes, I could see the subtle tones and colors beginning to emerge from the landscape, but I knew that the camera, which sees the world with a much more limited tonal range, would not be able to record this palette. I decided the light was approaching much too fast to attempt using a split neutral density filter (though it would have been a viable option), so I opted to bracket 5 exposures at one-stop shutter speeds and put together the resulting frame in Photoshop CS4 with layer-blending techniques that you can read about here: HDR - The Old Fashioned Way.
My ultimate goal with this image was to parlay the serene feeling I was experiencing while witnessing this scene. I firmly believe that if one cannot feel something from the scene in front of the lens, then it is perhaps best not to capture it. One cannot expect a viewer of the resulting image to be moved if they themselves were not moved while capturing it. This is where the photographer's emotions become an important part of the art being created.
My Website: "how to" articles, 2020 WORKSHOP LISTINGS, galleries, stock photos, and more...
www.donsmithphotography.com