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Don Smith Photography's Blog
UPCOMING 2010 WORKSHOPS:
Arches/Canyonlands Photo Workshop - November 3-7, 2010 (Workshop Sold Out)
Winter Big Sur Photo Workshop - Magic Light and The Pfeiffer Beach Arch - January 11-14, 2011 (only 1 spot remaining)
Northern Arizona Photo Workshop - Grand Canyon, Upper Antelope Canyon, Horseshoe Bend and Sedona - March 16-20, 2011
(Workshop Sold Out)
Spring Big Sur Workshop - 4th Annual Wildflowers and Color - April 17-20, 2011 (space available)
Springtime in Lake Tahoe and the Mokelumne Wilderness Photo Workshop - May 14-17, 2011 (space available)
Northern California - 3rd Annual Redwoods and Mendocino Photo Workshop - May 23-26, 2011 (space available)
Second Annual Garden Isle and Tropical Paradise - Kauai Photo Workshop - July 8-12, 2011 (hurry - only 5 spots remaining)
Summer Big Sur - 3rd Annual Mystical Fog and Colorful Headlands Photo Workshop - August 23-26, 2011 (just added)
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New Articles on my Website: Combining Beauty With Beauty - Photographing An Athlete In Big Sur With The Help Of Smart Flashes And Pocket Wizard Flex TT5 Remotes and Behind the Scenes at NHL and NBA Media Days
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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)
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Each fall I look forward to my annual visit to the beautiful eastern Sierra, especially the canyons west of Highway 395. One of my favorites is Bishop Canyon located due west from the Mountain Light Gallery in downtown Bishop. A couple miles below North Lake is this incredible grand view of Bishop Canyon offering a rugged sloping hillside leading the the eastern Sierra crest and dotted with aspens displaying various stages of fall color.
To access this particular viewpoint requires a bit of off-road hiking but is well worth the effort. I photographed this scene in late September just as the sun doused the high peaks with first light of the morning. I used a Singh-Ray 3-stop hard edge grad to hold back the exposure on the sky and peaks and allow the deep canyon ample exposure. I then evened-out the transition line in Photoshop CS5 with the help of the dodge and burn tools.
The early fall color was some of most vivid I have seen since 2005. I love the blend of yellows and greens as opposed to a uniform spread of color. Higher up in the canyon (and perhaps not visible at this resolution) were some vivid oranges and even some rare reds. Soon after I captured this image, the first snows of the season fell across the entire scene (with the base of this image roughly at 8500 feet elevation).
Many ingredients go into the mix for vivid fall colors, but all the experts agree that warm days followed by cold nights is the main impetus for the stoppage of chlorophyll production and the yellows and oranges (carotene usually masked by the greens) begin to show. It's a beautiful show as long as there is not a disruption to this pattern. Wind is the main enemy for bringing fall color to an abrupt stoppage.
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www.donsmithphotography.com