El Capitan and the Merced River after an autumn snowstorm, Yosemite NP, CA, USA

El Capitan and the Merced River after an autumn snowstorm, Yosemite NP, CA, USA



Many people have been asking me for a sequel to Light & Land, my first eBook about processing landscape photographs. Well I’m very pleased to announce that it will be coming soon – this week in fact!

This photograph of El Capitan is one of the examples in the new eBook. It was a high-contrast scene; you can see the original, unprocessed Raw file below, with its inky shadows and washed-out highlights. In the past, a scene like this might have required using HDR, or blending exposures manually in Photoshop.

But I didn’t use HDR, or any kind of exposure blending, to make the final image you see here; it’s just one image, processed entirely in Lightroom. In the new eBook I show you exactly how I went from that original Raw file to the finished version – and how you can do that with your own photographs.

There are more step-by-step examples in the eBook, and a lot of other exciting features. I’ll tell you all about it soon – stay tuned!

In the meantime, if you haven’t seen it yet, you might want to watch the video I made last year about the tone controls in Lightroom. It’s been very popular, with over 36,000 views on YouTube — an amazing total for a 25-minute how-to video about such a specialized subject. Thanks to all of you who’ve watched; I really appreciate the support!

— Michael Frye

Michael Frye is a professional photographer specializing in landscapes and nature. He is the author and photographer of The Photographer’s Guide to YosemiteYosemite Meditations, and Digital Landscape Photography: In the Footsteps of Ansel Adams and the Great Masters, plus the eBooks Light & Land: Landscapes in the Digital Darkroom, and Exposure for Outdoor Photography. He has written numerous magazine articles on the art and technique of photography, and his images have been published in over thirty countries around the world. Michael has lived either in or near Yosemite National Park since 1983, currently residing just outside the park in Mariposa, California.

The original, unprocessed Raw file of the image shown above

The original, unprocessed Raw file of the image shown above