by Michael Frye | Jan 5, 2023 | Announcements
The votes are all in and counted, and here are my top photographs of 2022!
We had a great response this year: 672 people looked through my initial selection of 42 images and voted for their favorites. That’s the second-highest total ever! (The most was 728 votes in 2016; I’ve been doing this every year since 2010.) A big thank you to everyone who took the time to look through these photographs and voice your opinions! I also really appreciate the kind words so many people posted in the comments or sent by email. I wish I could respond to everyone, but please know that I’ve read them all and am very grateful for all your support.
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by Michael Frye | Dec 31, 2022 | Announcements
Once again I’m inviting you to help me choose my best photographs from the past year! I’ve posted 42 of my favorite images from 2022 below, in chronological order. After you look through these, please use the form at the bottom of this post to list your ten favorites.
Please don’t post your votes in the comments, or send them by email, because they won’t be counted! Use the form at the bottom of this post instead.
The voting is closed! I’ll be posting the results soon.
You don’t have to list your ten favorites in any order; just pick up to ten images. (The numbers are in the captions underneath the photographs. Also, you can click on the images to see them larger.) Once the votes are in I’ll post the top ten or twelve on this blog.
The voting deadline is Wednesday, January 4th, at midnight Pacific time.
As always, I reserve the right to override the votes if one of my favorites gets panned. But I’ve rarely had to exercise this power because my readers have excellent taste. 🙂
Thanks for your input — I appreciate your help!
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by Michael Frye | Dec 18, 2022 | Announcements, Digital Darkroom
Sun setting over an alpine lake, Yosemite
I’m pleased to be joining the Winter Speaker Series on Nic Stover’s Nature Photography Classes site. The Winter Speaker Series will be focused on image processing, and includes online presentations by David Kingham, Nick Page, Sean Bagshaw, and me.
My talk will be about the Masking Panel and local adjustments in Lightroom Classic. The Masking Panel is incredibly powerful, allowing you make and combine selections in almost infinite ways, and add sophisticated touches to your images that you previously needed Photoshop for.
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by Michael Frye | Dec 11, 2022 | Light and Weather, Vision and Creativity
Crashing wave in late-afternoon light, Oregon coast. We had to deal with off-and-on rain while trying to photograph large waves crashing against the shore. But then the sun broke through for about five minutes late in the afternoon, bathing this scene in beautiful light. Luckily we caught a few big wave splashes during those five minutes. 70mm, 1/500 sec. at f/8, ISO 160.
After returning from New Zealand I made a trip to the Oregon Coast for our annual workshop. This part of the world is very different from my usual mountain haunts, which might be why I enjoy it so much. There’s a wild, rugged grandeur to this coastline, and if you’re lucky enough to encounter some big waves that just adds to the sense of awe.
And we did experience some big waves. Watching – and hearing – those monsters crash ashore was an experience none of us will soon forget. But even under calmer conditions this area offers wonderful opportunities to capture moody scenes of fog, or stormy skies.
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by Michael Frye | Nov 20, 2022 | Light and Weather, Vision and Creativity
Tree shadows, rainbow, and waterfall, California. Claudia and I photographed this waterfall in soft light the evening before, but I came back the next morning hoping to see tree shadows when the sun got high enough. And sure enough, eventually trees cast beautiful striped shadows across the fall, creating a sunbeam-like effect. But I didn’t expect to also see a rainbow interspersed with the tree shadows – a nice bonus. I used a telephoto lens to fill the frame with the most eye-catching part of the scene, a polarizer to enhance the rainbow, and a neutral-density filter to slow down the shutter speed and give the water a soft, silky appearance. 135mm, 3 seconds at f/16, ISO 100, polarizer, ND filter (probably a 7-stop filter).
I love waterfalls. Who doesn’t? Besides their beauty, large waterfalls cast negative ions into the air, and negative ions supposedly have health benefits – making people feel refreshed and renewed, helping regulate sleep patterns and mood, reducing stress, and boosting the immune system. Or not; the scientific evidence is mixed at best. But whatever the reason, people seem magnetically drawn to waterfalls.
And of course waterfalls are quite photogenic. Over the past year I’ve had the opportunity to visit several waterfalls I’ve never photographed before. And while soft light usually works for waterfalls, I tried to seek out more unusual lighting conditions that could give the photographs a different look and feeling. That meant using sunlight, but waterfalls usually reside in basins and canyons, so they don’t often get that warm, low-angle light that we’re often looking for. And when the sun does get high enough to strike the fall, it’s often filtered through trees, creating splotchy light. Splotchy light can be harsh and downright awful, but sometimes, under the right circumstances, it can work. And – again, under the right circumstances – backlight can highlight a waterfall’s spray. And while front light is usually flat and boring, with waterfalls it can create rainbows.
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