In the Moment:
Michael Frye's Landscape Photography Blog

Could We Finally Get Some Rain?

Sunbeams and mist along the Merced River, Yosemite NP, CA, USA

Sunbeams and mist along the Merced River, Yosemite

For many places in California, 2013 was the driest year on record. And so far this winter (our usual rainy season) has brought almost no precipitation. January has brought a procession of sunny days, with temperatures in the 60s or even low 70s at my house at 2700 feet in the Sierra foothills. It’s pleasant weather, but weird, and a little scary, as it seems like it will never rain again.

But finally the forecast is calling for rain and higher-elevation snow this week. It’s not supposed to be a big storm, but we’ll take what we can get. The main pulse of this system is due to arrive Thursday, but showers might linger into Friday or even Saturday. Snow levels are expected to stay at around 7,000 feet on Thursday, but may drop to 4,000 feet on Saturday, so it’s possible, though not likely, that Yosemite Valley could get a dusting of snow.

(more…)

A Trip Through the Central Valley

Sunbeams and fog in a Sacramento Valley orchard, CA, USA

Sunbeams and fog in a Sacramento Valley orchard, California

The last few winters I’ve spent some time in California’s San Joaquin Valley photographing migrating birds – mostly snow geese, Ross’s geese, and sandhill cranes. Last week Claudia and I ventured further north, into the Sacramento Valley (the northern half of California’s Great Central Valley), exploring some of the backroads and wildlife refuges there.

One morning, while driving an obscure little road in the Sacramento Valley, Claudia and I stumbled upon an orchard filled with fog. As far as we could tell there was no other fog within 50 miles, because there’s very little moisture anywhere, but for some reason this one spot had fog – possibly because the trees had been watered recently, creating moisture that condensed in the cool morning air.

Seeing the sunbeams cutting through the mist underneath the trees, I grabbed my camera and tripod, and quickly framed a few compositions, one of which is shown above. Within five minutes the fog had burned off, leaving us with yet another clear, warm, dry January day.

(more…)

Moonrise From Tunnel View

Moonrise from Tunnel View, Yosemite NP, CA, USA

Moonrise from Tunnel View, Yosemite NP, CA, USA

During my Landscapes in the Digital Darkroom workshop last week for The Ansel Adams Gallery we photographed two moonrises, including this one on Tuesday from Tunnel View. The moon appeared right over Cloud’s Rest, between Half Dome and El Capitan, just before sunset – a spectacular sight. I’ve included two versions here: a black-and-white image just as the moon climbed into view (below), and a color version when the moon rose a little higher (above).

(more…)

PhotoPills Winners

We had a great response to the PhotoPills giveaway, with nearly 300 people putting their names into the hat. We assigned each person who entered a number, and used a random number generator to select the five winners. And the winners are…

John (email starts with jwtrone)
Mike Lynch
Dk Tanaka
Howard Snyder
Susan Markovic

Congratulations to the winners! You’ll each receive an email shortly from Claudia with a code for downloading a free copy of PhotoPills. And if you didn’t get lucky this time, the app is only $9.99, and well worth the price.

Thanks to all of you who participated, and good luck with your moon photos!

— Michael Frye

PhotoPills Giveaway!

Moonrise, Sierra foothills, Mariposa Country, CA, USA

Moonrise, Sierra foothills, Mariposa Country, CA, USA

In my December post Moonstruck I talked about the two best apps for figuring out sun and moon positions: PhotoPills and The Photographer’s Ephemeris.

I’ve relied on The Photographer’s Ephemeris for many years; it’s a great tool. PhotoPills is newer, but as I’ve become more familiar with it I’ve used it more and more. PhotoPills has a couple of very useful extra features, like it’s Augmented Reality mode, which allows you to superimpose the future path of the sun, moon, or other celestial object over a live picture (on your iPhone) of the scene in front of you. Even better, if you want to photograph the sun or moon lined up with a certain object – a building, or a mountain, for example – you can search for the times when that will happen, and see a list of results which includes moon phases, and the days when your desired alignment corresponds with the “magic” hour.

How to Win a Free Copy of PhotoPills:

This app is normally only $9.99, but Rafael Pons at PhotoPills has generously offered to give away five copies of this app to my readers. To have a chance to win, just post a comment below saying you’re interested. There’s one catch: you must own an iPhone or iPod Touch! PhotoPills is only available for the iPhone so far. (A universal app formatted for the iPad is in the works, but not available yet.) You have until midnight tomorrow (Monday, January 13th) Pacific time to post a comment and have a chance to win.

(more…)