Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III__EF16-35mm f/2.8L II USM___ISO 100

During my recent trip to Zion, I met up with my friend and former assistant John O’Connor to take a hike up the Narrows of the Virgin River.  We were so caught up with making images of all the wonderful reflections and other canyon details, we didn’t get very far, not even to the Orderville Canyon fork.  Oh well, next time!  Just when we decided to head back down river, I stopped dead in my tracks, in the middle of the river, when I saw these wonderful rapids and reflections.  This image was created with Nik HDR Efex Pro, using five exposures that were each one stop apart.

This river hike reminds of many years ago when I hiked down the Paria River, not photographing much walking downstream.  When turning the opposite direction, I started seeing photographs everywhere!  By the time, I came out of the canyon, it was pitch dark.  It took me about half an hour to find the trailhead parking area.  The image below, made with my 4×5 camera in 1985, became one of my first posters published in the late 1980s, and one of my best-selling fine art prints sold throughout the country by The Nature Company.

Reflections, Paria River, Paria Canyon/Vermillion Cliffs Wilderness Area, Utah 1985

Both photographs were made while standing in the cold rapids.  I used a longer exposure in the 1985 image, and so the reflections are smoothed over like a watercolor wash.  I cropped out the sunlit cliffs above each frame to avoid the extreme contrast and simplify the composition.  The results in both photos focus the viewer on the colors and textures in the river’s water.

I have many more new images to polish up in post-processing, so stay tuned for more from my southwest trip. Next up, slot canyons!

Enjoy, William Neill

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Finally, I am excited to announce my new Affiliate Program for my ebook series!  If you review the ebook or place the affiliate link in your blog or website, you will receive 30% of the sales that you send our way.  We are just starting up this program, but I wanted you to know right at the beginning. I hope to have a new ebook or two ready to launch in the next fews months, and having the Affiliate program should help launch the sales!  Click here for more details.  Thanks for supporting my photography!

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III__TS-E90mm f/2.8__1/8 sec at f / 13__ISO 320 + Canon 2X Extender

I made this image yesterday.  I’ve been driving by this spot almost daily and had decided that I would need my Tilt Shift lens to achieve sharpness from front to back.  The morning was overcast so now I had the light I wanted.  Adding the 2X Extender to my 90mm T/S, I isolated these layers of color and texture.  There was a breeze, which made catching a sharp frame tough.  I spent 30 minutes in one spot, especially watching the tall composite flowers for when they stopped moving, to capture 2-3 sharp images.

This image will add nicely to my Morning Light series.

Enjoy!

Bill

If you haven’t seen my ebooks, check them out.  If you have one or more, share with your friends!

Rock and Water, Cascade Falls, Yosemite National Park, California 2011 / Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III__EF70-200mm f/2.8L USM__1/2 sec at f / 27__ISO 320

On a recent trip to Yosemite Valley, I spent some time photographing waterfalls.  The water levels are still very high for this time of year, but they are down quite a bit from the highest levels earlier this spring.  I had been stuck in my office for far too long, working for about two weeks straight catching up with orders.  I desperately needed this water therapy!

I had the idea of finding some water details and abstracts here at Cascade Falls.  I wanted to see what variations I might come up with like the detail shown below using a fast shutter speed made in 2005.  I worked with bright sunlight again but doubted I had any worthwhile images, so I did my errands and came back in the evening.

These two image are of the same section of the falls, the smaller 2005 image being a detail within the area of the larger image along the center left edge.  One of the reasons for showing this is to show how vastly different two interpretations can be.  I also want to mention how much I photographed in both these sessions.  My long time friend of 27 years, Michael Frye, posted an excellent comment recently about how many frames he made to find the best combo of texture and pattern in his waterfall image: Why Am I Taking Forty Frames of the Same Thing? It happens that his photograph was of this section of waterfalls on Cascade Creek, but of Lower Cascades Falls just over the cliff from where I made these frames.  He made a critical point about why he makes many variations of one composition, with the same camera settings, to find one frame that stood out above the rest.  Even with the same shutter speed, each of 40 frames was different.  Doing the work paid off for Michael, and it will for you too.

I use the same approach, especially with photographs showing moving water.  Not only do I make many frames with the same settings, I also “bracket” my shutter speeds.  I have been photographing moving water for a long time, but I am never quite sure which shutter speed will give the best effect for a given scene.  I watch the water carefully, looking for prime moments of action, like especially high leaps of spray.  I make a burst of frames, and when I think I’ve caught a good moment, I’ll move on to another shutter speed.  For the Rock and Water image here, I made around 100 frames total using about 6-7 shutter speeds.  When editing my images from this one day, I had 450 frames made at several locations.  For each composition, I had to view each frame, with Lightroom’s Compare View tool, to slowly edit down to the best expression of what I saw and felt.  Each exposure had subtle differences.  The larger image was made with a 1/2 sec exposure, the 2005 image at 1/1000.  My point is that it takes this kind of extra effort to push one’s work to the next level.

One final note: I have made a great effort to avoid photographing icons and cliches in Yosemite for the past 34 years.  When I made this recent image, I was aware that this rock and waterfall combo had been photographed before.  As when photographing Half Dome, I could only hope to add my own creative take to a common subject like Cascade Falls.  Whether or not I have succeeded , I do not know.  In any case, I had a great time in my favorite sanctuary – Yosemite.  Let me know your thoughts, and enjoy!

To see more of my Yosemite work, check out my PFD ebook or new iPad app!  William Neill’s YOSEMITE:
VOLUME ONE

Cascades Falls, 2005

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III__TS-E90mm f/2.8__1/30 sec at f / 22__ISO 200

Practice, practice…

I’ve been very frustrated lately because I haven’t been able to get out of the office and up to Yosemite for waterfalls, reflections in the meadow, corn lilies in the high country.  Fortunately, my water lilies are in bloom and I check them out every day.  We had an amazing rain storm Tuesday night and the next morning, and so I took a lunch break on my patio.  My water lilies had been washed clean and were gleaming with water drops.  I used my trusty 90mm Tilt Shift lens, making two frames to merge into this square composition using Photo Merge in Photoshop CS5.  The storm was starting to clear, with the sun on the edge of a cloud which gives this image a fresh and sparkling mood.

So when I finally get up to Yosemite Valley next week, I’ll have had recent practice.  Practice seeing every day, get your camera out whenever and wherever you get inspired, and be ready for the next opportunity.  Oh yes, and it might just happen in your back yard!

Enjoy,  Bill

William Neill’s Yosemite Volume One

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III__EF70-200mm f/2.8L USM__2.0 sec at f / 19__ISO 100

I have been very overwhelmed with work and thus have a large backlog of images to process.  I made this image last month at Happy Isle in Yosemite, which is an amazing place anytime but especially during high water.  This subtle image is part of my ongoing efforts to reveal the Inner Yosemite!  I hope you enjoy it and also hope to post more new work soon.

New App – William Neill’s Yosemite Volume One

William Neill's Yosemite: Volume One iPad App

William Neill’s Yosemite: Volume One iPad App

I am happy to announce that my first app for the iPad is now available in the iTunes Store! Check it out, and perhaps post a review if you buy it! Share with your FB or Twitter friends. To see more screenshots, visit my William Neill Photography Facebook page.

Here is a set of screenshots of the iPad app.  The ebook is an app version of my latest ebook: William Neill’s Yosemite: Volume One. Lots of cool interactivity, including connections to Facebook and Twitter. Anyone interested? It will cost only $4.99! Please share with your friends…

My app was made by Jim Goldstein. For more info on his App offerings: ePhotobook App Inquiry Form: http://www.jmg-galleries.com/blog/ipad-app/

Thanks, and Ride the Light!

Bill

William Neill’s Yosemite: Volume One iPad App

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III__EF70-200mm f/2.8L USM__3.0 sec at f / 32__ISO 400

Here is my favorite image from  Saturday May 7th in Yosemite. The dogwood were beautiful, and I had a blast! More to come!  I posted this image on FB earlier but loaded the wrong jpg.

Enjoy, and please give me your feedback!  Bill

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III__EF70-200mm f/2.8L USM__1/4 sec at f / 4.5__ISO 100__FILTER: Singh Ray Vari-ND

Here is a newly processed image, made in March, from the same Coarsegold, CA location I’ve earlier posted on my blog: http://bit.ly/fJHRRw.  I made the image above with low-angle sunlight on the first morning, then returned the next morning when the light was flatter.  Below is the image from the second morning.  Which one do you like better?

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III__EF70-200mm f/2.8L USM__0.7 sec at f / 9.5__ISO 100

Enjoy, and let me know your thoughts, Bill

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III__EF70-200mm f/2.8L USM__1.5 sec at f / 22__ISO 100

For the past couple of months, I have been watching this calla plant growing in my living/dining room area.  The light comes through two different windows to light the leaves to various effect.  This past Sunday, I finally saw a composition worth setting up for.  I hung up my black piece of velvet on the wall behind these leaves.  I left my camera set up and made frames when I saw interesting light. I downloaded the images, looked at the new images, and was not particularly inspired by the results.

Yesterday, four days later, I looked at the images again with Lightroom.  Then it hit me that there was real potential here, made several adjustments to this image, including converting the image to BW.  Bingo!  I polished up the file this morning in Photoshop this morning.  Here is the result!

Enjoy,  Bill

For more of my BW work, see my Meditations in Monochrome ebook!

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III__EF70-200mm f/2.8L USM__1/45 sec at f / 16__ISO 400

Aspen and approaching storm, Conway Summit, California  2010

I have been spending time today catching up with post-processing my images from last weekend.  My style leans strongly towards making detailed and intimate views of the landscape.  Giving the conditions of an approaching Sierra storm, I widened out to include trees, mountains and clouds.  I experienced amazing light here at Conway Summit, as well as at sunrise on Mono Lake

The image made here was made last Friday, with two exposures blended in PS5.  The highlights on the clouds were just too bright to record with just a “normal” exposure of the aspens.

I will be posting more new images from last weekend soon.  I can’t remember when I made so many new images that I am excited about, especially on a short 24 hour trip over to Mono Lake.  We drove over the pass on Friday morning, and had to head back again Saturday morning in order to get through Tioga Pass just as the snowstorm closed the road.

Enjoy!  Stay tuned for some new Impressions of Light images of aspen and Mono Lake!

Bill

William Neill’s Yosemite: Volume One