Announcements
by Michael Frye | Jan 4, 2011 | Announcements
Winter sunrise from Tunnel View, February 7th, 2010
Update, Friday, January 7th:
This afternoon I counted the votes and listed the top ten images in another post. I still welcome hearing about your picks—they just won’t count toward picking the top ten. Thanks for your participation everyone!
As I mentioned in my last entry, Dan Mitchell had a great idea: he posted about 50 of his best photographs from 2010, and asked his blog readers to help him pick out the best ones. Dan has some beautiful work, and you can see the final results here.
I liked this idea so much I thought I would, uh, borrow it—with Dan’s permission of course. So I’ve set up a page with 46 of my best images from 2010, and I’m asking for help in picking out the top ten. After you look through them you can post a comment with your favorites. Once I’ve narrowed it down I’ll post the top ten on this blog, and submit the finalists to Jim Goldstein’s blog project, where once again he’ll be showcasing the ten best images of the year from over 100 photographers.
The judging for the my final ten will be more like Dancing With the Stars than America Idol. That means that unlike Idol, where only the viewer’s votes count, the judge—me—gets a say too, so if one of my favorites gets panned by everyone else I may still include it. But as one of my photographer friends, Clinton Smith, once said, we don’t get to pick our best images—the world does. So your votes will carry a lot of weight.
So have at it! And thanks for your participation—I really appreciate your taking the time to give me your thoughts about these photographs. Here’s the link to those 46 images again.
by Michael Frye | Dec 31, 2010 | Announcements
Wildflowers in the Temblor Range, April 3rd, 2010
Thanks to all of you for your participation in this blog during 2010. Your readership and comments have helped make this a great year. Your thoughts and insights about landscape photography have added great depth to whatever I’ve written here. I feel like I’ve made many new friends, and connected with lots of people who share a passion for landscape photography.
Among the regular commenters, three recently had work accepted into the Yosemite Renaissance XXVI exhibit: Robin Black, Brent Gilstrap, and David Hoffman. Congratulations! The exhibit opens February 25th at the Yosemite Museum Gallery. The opening reception is always a lot of fun, so I hope to see some of you there.
Another frequent contributor is fellow blogger G Dan Mitchell. Dan just did something really interesting. Attempting to pick out his best photos from 2010, he invited his readers to help him make the selections. He just posted the final results last night, and it’s a great collection of images.
Highlights From the Past Year
I thought it might be appropriate to look back at some of the highlights of the past year. This is not a comprehensive list by any means, so if your favorite post is missing, I apologize! These are just a few things that jumped out at me as I looked back through the posts from 2010.
Critiques
In January I did my first photo critique, of Tim Parkin’s photograph that he called “That Damned Loch.” The critiques have become very popular; you can find them all by clicking on the Critiques Category at the bottom of the right-hand sidebar. Meanwhile Tim has gone on to launch a new online magazine called Great British Landscapes. This looks like a great resource for any landscape photographer, British or otherwise, and I wish Tim much success with this venture.
Podcast Interview
Also in January, popular photo blogger Jim Goldstein recorded a podcast interview with me. Jim really has his pulse on the latest trends in the ever-changing world of digital photography, and I highly recommend reading his blog and following him on Twitter.
The One That Got Away
On March 1st I wrote a post about a fantastic sunset in Yosemite Valley that I missed. In April I critiqued a beautiful photograph by Sudheendra Kadri. Well it turns out that Sudhi also captured a fantastic image of that sunset from Tunnel View on that day when I decided (much to my regret) to stay home. Nice one Sudhi!
Temblor Range Wildflowers
In early April I photographed the most amazing wildflower display I’ve ever seen in southern California’s Temblor Range. I posted one photo on this blog, and more on my 25 Years in Yosemite blog.
First Video
June brought my first video tutorial, called The Power of Curves. Since then I’ve posted several more videos about the digital darkroom, and these have also become a popular feature on the blog. To see them all, scroll down to Categories at the bottom of the right-hand sidebar, and click on Video Tutorials.
Photographs That Inspire
One of the most popular and most re-tweeted posts from 2010 was called Photographs That Inspirefrom September 29th. This was a subject that I’d been thinking about for a long time, so it was great to see such a positive response—thanks!
What’s Ahead in 2011
I want to make this blog an even better resource for people who love landscape photography. I’m planning many new features in 2011, which I’ll announce… at the appropriate time. Stay tuned! And please invite your friends to join the conversation. The more ideas we share, the more we all learn.
Thanks again for helping to make 2010 a great year!
by Michael Frye | Dec 24, 2010 | Announcements
To all who celebrate it, I wish you a very Merry Christmas. To everyone, I hope you’re warm and safe, enjoying the beauty of the season and the company of family and friends.
by Michael Frye | Dec 19, 2010 | Announcements, Digital Darkroom
Today is the last chance to get a discount on Craft & Vision eBooks, including my new one, Light & Land: Landscapes in the Digital Darkroom.
Use the code LAND4 at checkout to get my book for only $4, or buy any five Craft & Vision eBooks and get 20 percent off by using the code LAND20. The offer expires at midnight tonight Pacific time.
There are lots of great titles in the C&V collection, so even if you’ve already bought Light & Land you can still easily find five other titles to inspire you to greater creative heights. I haven’t read them all, but really like David duChemin’s two-part series The Inspired Eye, and Andrew Gibson’s three-part series on The Magic of Black and White.
Click here to see all the titles.
by Michael Frye | Dec 16, 2010 | Announcements, Digital Darkroom
It’s easy to find information about Photoshop, Lightroom, or just about any other aspect of the digital darkroom. But too often this information consists of random tips and tricks.
So I asked myself how I could help people put it all together. How could I help photographers develop a simple, powerful workflow, learn to make good decisions about how their photographs should look, and convey their original inspiration?
And that’s when I had the idea for this book.
In Light & Land: Landscapes in the Digital Darkroom I’ll take you step-by-step through each decision as I process five different images in Adobe Lightroom. You’ll see my workflow in action, and I’ll explain why I use particular techniques in a particular order. But more importantly, you’ll come to understand the esthetic judgements behind each decision—how a certain amount of contrast conveyed my vision, or why too much saturation muddied the color rather than enhanced it. As you look over my shoulder you’ll gain insights about how to convey your own unique vision, and how to squeeze every ounce of beauty, emotion, and inspiration out of your photographs.
While I use Lightroom for these examples, the basic principles apply to any software. Learning how to make good decisions and find the right balance is more important than learning any particular tool or technique.
This eBook is published in conjunction with Craft & Vision, David duChemin’s great photography eBook site. Like all their eBooks, Light & Land is normally only five dollars. But for the next four days you can get it for only four dollars. Just use the code LAND4 at checkout. Or use the code LAND20 to get 20 percent off if you buy five or more Craft & Vision eBooks.
Click here to order your copy!
by Michael Frye | Dec 9, 2010 | Announcements, Digital Darkroom
My first eBook, Light & Land: Landscapes in the Digital Darkroom, will be released next week on December 15th.
Light & Land is a natural successor to my last book, Digital Landscape Photography: In the Footsteps of Ansel Adams and the Great Masters. In the last chapter of that volume I talk about the fundamental tenets of the digital darkroom, like workflow, creating a master file, curves, and dodging and burning. In Light & Land I delve into more detail, discussing every decision about processing five different images, demonstrating the workflow from beginning to end, and, most importantly, showing you how you can use your original idea, your inspiration for pressing the shutter, to guide you as you work in the digital darkroom.
It’s published in conjunction with Craft & Vision, David duChemin’s great photography eBook site. Like all their eBooks, Light & Land will be only five dollars.
Stay tuned for more details!
