Mono Lake: Suggestions for Good Photo Ops?

[Horoscope Fish]

The girlfriend and I are going to be spending a few days in Lee Vining, CA visiting and, of course, photographing Mono Lake. Neither of us have ever been there before so we're wondering if anyone here on the forums has been there and if so, could you suggest some specific locations or give us some advice on where to go to get some good shots. We love getting off the beaten path, if that can even be done at Mono lake, but we're open to anything. We're each taking a day off work in conjunction with the long holiday, so we'll have three full days to shoot.

Any suggestions mucho appreciated!

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[RocketCowboy]

I've only been out there via motorcycle, not intending to capture images. There is a ghost town up north of the lake as I recall...that could provide some great backdrops.

Seems the area had recently had wildfires when I was through, so lots of burned down forest to the southeast of the lake.


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[BackdoorArts]

We went out there when we were at Yosemite 3 years ago, but they had just opened Tioga Rd. and we weren't necessarily planning for much time out there and I need to revisit for all sorts or reasons (not least of which is that our first visit coincided with me starting to get back into SLR photography).

One suggestion would be to go to 500px and just put "Mono Lake" into the search box, find shots you like and then research the spots (many are attached to map points). You can also Google "Photographing Mono Lake" and there are several decent sites that give some good advice of where, when and how to shoot various places. Having 3 days will be great as some of the locations seem to be all about the light.

Color me jealous.

 

[Horoscope Fish]

There is a ghost town up north of the lake as I recall...that could provide some great backdrops. ... Seems the area had recently had wildfires when I was through, so lots of burned down forest to the southeast of the lake.

Good information there! Thank you.

One suggestion would be to go to 500px and just put "Mono Lake" into the search box, find shots you like and then research the spots (many are attached to map points). You can also Google "Photographing Mono Lake" and there are several decent sites that give some good advice of where, when and how to shoot various places. Having 3 days will be great as some of the locations seem to be all about the light.

D'oh! 500 Pix... Of course! Thank you...

Color me jealous.

You know, in all honesty I'm both very excited and at the same time I'm a little apprehensive. I'm at a point in my photography where I'm feeling frustrated. I feel I'm getting more good shots but at the same time I feel like I could be doing a lot better. Maybe I'm being overly critical but I'm a little nervous I'm going to be at this freaking *fantastic* location and I'm going to come with a lot of mediocre shots that I'm not happy with. I can't say how fortunate I feel we can we even do this, and then at the same time I'm worried I'm going to "blow" the opportunity.

You know what... You and DaveW need to come with Jessica and I and provide free guidance on shooting, post processing and all-around moral support. We can't pay you, cover your expenses or, really, even guarantee your safety (things... uh... happen to me a lot) but we're great, fun couple!

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[BackdoorArts]

You know, in all honesty I'm both very excited and at the same time I'm a little apprehensive. I'm at a point in my photography where I'm feeling frustrated. I feel I'm getting more good shots but at the same time I feel like I could be doing a lot better. Maybe I'm being overly critical but I'm a little nervous I'm going to be at this freaking *fantastic* location and I'm going to come with a lot of mediocre shots that I'm not happy with. I can't say how fortunate I feel we can we even do this, and then at the same time I'm worried I'm going to "blow" the opportunity.

You know what... You and DaveW need to come with Jessica and I and provide free guidance on shooting, post processing and all-around moral support. We can't pay you, cover your expenses or, really, even guarantee your safety (things... uh... happen to me a lot) but we're great, fun couple!

....

You short change yourself, but I appreciate the compliment and would absolutely LOVE to spend 3 days out there shooting with you and Dave.

Here's what you've got to tell yourself. One, you pretty much know how to take a good photograph. Two, your camera doesn't suck. So, assuming you check your work as you go along you're going to come back with images that should process well. The real question is, can you make the most out of them immediately? Given the discussions we've had on here about luminosity masks and whatnot the answer is a definite, "No!" But, the good news is that you can archive the files and come back to them as you learn new techniques and tweak them closer to where you would probably want them.

My recommendation to you would be to spend some time watching Jimmy McIntyre's videos on using luminosity masks and doing HDR-like image blending with them rather than typical HDR tools. He's got some great, free Actions that I've started using that have made a big difference in my images of late (a key for me is his Detail Enhancer, which takes a long time to run but bumps the details in an amazing way without being over the top like you might get with the Detail Extractor or Dynamic Contrast tools in Nik and onOne). Again, you can always save your work and come back to it down the road.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what you come up with. It's gonna be fun. And I suspect the lake will be somewhat start given the drought conditions out there. Seems it's currently 11 feet below the current managed levels (Mono Lake amidst a drought | The Mono-logue).

 

[BackdoorArts]

Oh, and if you don't have it, download The Photographer's Ephemeris before you go if you're doing sunrise and sunset shots so you can see precisely where the sun will be relative to where you are or plan to be.

 

[Horoscope Fish]

You short change yourself, but I appreciate the compliment and would absolutely LOVE to spend 3 days out there shooting with you and Dave.

Here's what you've got to tell yourself. One, you pretty much know how to take a good photograph. Two, your camera doesn't suck. So, assuming you check your work as you go along you're going to come back with images that should process well. The real question is, can you make the most out of them immediately? Given the discussions we've had on here about luminosity masks and whatnot the answer is a definite, "No!" But, the good news is that you can archive the files and come back to them as you learn new techniques and tweak them closer to where you would probably want them.

My recommendation to you would be to spend some time watching Jimmy McIntyre's videos on using luminosity masks and doing HDR-like image blending with them rather than typical HDR tools. He's got some great, free Actions that I've started using that have made a big difference in my images of late (a key for me is his Detail Enhancer, which takes a long time to run but bumps the details in an amazing way without being over the top like you might get with the Detail Extractor or Dynamic Contrast tools in Nik and onOne). Again, you can always save your work and come back to it down the road.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what you come up with. It's gonna be fun. And I suspect the lake will be somewhat start given the drought conditions out there. Seems it's currently 11 feet below the current managed levels (Mono Lake amidst a drought | The Mono-logue).

Thank you... You make some excellent points and I appreciate your insight.

I searched and found Jimmy McIntyre's videos on YouTube. I'm looking at his Art of Digital Blending course as well. You think this is a good course? The price is ($45) I can't argue with...

Knowing as little as I do about HDR, and image blending in general, would you suggest I shoot with this in mind; meaning bracketing shots in anticipation of blending them later? If that's the case I might need another set of memory cards.

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[BackdoorArts]

Have you downloaded his free PS Action package (I forget what it's called)? With it you get access to a couple videos that go a long way to explaining what he does and how. $45 isn't a lot to get in deeper, but I'd watch those vids first (they're are part of the entire package) and see where you want to go from there.

I would not suggest you formally "bracket" your exposures, but I would recommend taking multiple exposures in varied lighting, particularly if you're shooting from a tripod, exposing for both the dark and light areas, with the anticipation of blending them if you can't produce something from a single exposure. And even if you can, I suspect that as you learn this stuff you'll be happy you have them.

 

[Horoscope Fish]

Have you downloaded his free PS Action package (I forget what it's called)? With it you get access to a couple videos that go a long way to explaining what he does and how. $45 isn't a lot to get in deeper, but I'd watch those vids first (they're are part of the entire package) and see where you want to go from there.

I would not suggest you formally "bracket" your exposures, but I would recommend taking multiple exposures in varied lighting, particularly if you're shooting from a tripod, exposing for both the dark and light areas, with the anticipation of blending them if you can't produce something from a single exposure. And even if you can, I suspect that as you learn this stuff you'll be happy you have them.

Awesome as always... Thanks Jake.

Edit: For anyone who might be interested...

I found the Mask Action Set Jake references in his post on Jimmy's Facebook page: Free Luminosity Mask Action Set for Photoshop. You'll have to surrender your email address to get the download link. These are Photoshop *only*, not compatible with Elements, etc.


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[BackdoorArts]

Here's a direct link for those who don't want to go to Facebook first. Easy Panel Download For Photoshop - TSL - Post-Processing & HDR BlogTSL ? Post-Processing & HDR Blog

Sorry I didn't link this first - was about to dive head first into a conference call.

 

[BackdoorArts]

And adding to the Jimmy McIntyre thread (lol), here's a tutorial he did on digital blending w/o HDR software for 500px. This is the stuff I want to get into as soon as I have some heads-down time.

500px ISO » » Digital Blending Tutorial: Creating Clean & Natural HDR Images Without HDR Software

 

[Horoscope Fish]

And adding to the Jimmy McIntyre thread (lol), here's a tutorial he did on digital blending w/o HDR software for 500px. This is the stuff I want to get into as soon as I have some heads-down time.

500px ISO » » Digital Blending Tutorial: Creating Clean & Natural HDR Images Without HDR Software

All of this is a lot for me to absorb, but I'm getting it. And holy cow Action Packs are awesome (Detail Enhancer!!).

Luminosity Masks could be the biggest "thing" I've learned about digital image editing since I started learning Photoshop itself.

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[BackdoorArts]

All of this is a lot for me to absorb, but I'm getting it. And holy cow Action Packs are awesome (Detail Enhancer!!).
..

Right?! It somehow, magically pulls out the things you knew were there but just could get to show up.

One tip, when I've resized an image on export, particularly at 1000px or less, and lose crispness, I find that many of them bounce back if I edit the jpeg in PS, use the Detail Extractor and change the mode to Soft Light and then adjust the opacity until it adds just enough detail back without looking overly sharpened. Doesn't always work, but it's another tool.