Mono Lake blue hour Photo

Photographer’s Note

Mono Lake, a volcanic lake located on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada mountains just outside Yosemite NP, is a must-see for anyone visiting the American southwest and is renowned in particular for its fascinating tufa deposits.
Light during the day tends to be quite harsh, so the best time to shoot is around sunrise and sunset.
Although I also took a lot of more conventional shots of the lake and the tufa deposits, I decided to post this fisheye blue hour shot as it's a little different from the usual Mono Lake pictures, although I realise it may not be to everyone's taste!
Taken from the South Tufa area. The millions of black specks swarming over the beach are hopping/flying insects.

More info on Mono Lake from Wikipedia:
Mono Lake is believed to have formed at least 760,000 years ago, dating back to the Long Valley eruption. Sediments located below the ash layer hint that Mono Lake could be a remnant of a larger and older lake that once covered a large part of Nevada and Utah, making it among the oldest lakes in North America.
Mono Lake is a terminal lake in a watershed fed from melting runoff with no outlet. Dissolved salts in the runoff thus remain in the lake and raise the pH and the salt concentration.
Mono Lake is in a geologically active area at the north end of the Mono-Inyo Crater volcanic chain of the Long Valley Caldera. The geological activity is caused by faulting at the base of the Sierra Nevada, and is associated with the crustal stretching of the Basin and Range Province.
Volcanic activity continues in the Mono Lake vicinity: the most recent eruption occurred 250 years ago at Negit Island in Mono Lake. Panum Crater (on the south shore of the lake) is an excellent example of a combined rhyolite dome and cinder cone.

Bartolomeus, carper, Floydian, Lukasso, npecanhuk, cherryripe, Wanda1, SteveH, hispic, jorgi, sevy, wishlist, crhieatt, kiks has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

baclama (4579) 2008-10-13 7:53

waou!!!
wonderful colors!!!very good framing and reflexion...
I hope to go in july 2009 and i hope to see this marvel...
TFS
vero

Bartolomeus (681) 2008-10-13 7:58

Hey John,
This is truly beautiful landscape! Good choice for fish eye lenses also...
Thanks for sharing!
Bartosz

carper (64706) 2008-10-13 7:59

it's a pleasant shot John,
nice to see your photo here, it gives me a wide feeling, very nice pov, good quality, fine photojob here John, have anice day.
regard jaap

brandstaetter (14076) 2008-10-13 8:12

Hi John,
for me Mono lake = Pink Floyd. The music of my first two albums I bought in my life fits perfectly to your photo.
I like it, it´s different.
Compliments, chris

Floydian (30970) 2008-10-13 8:15

Hi John,

Man what do you bring up here? We have seen so many shots from Mono Lake (inlcluding my own) and in a way they all look the same and when it is done properly you can make great shots from there.

I have also seen very large professional prints made by 4x5 inch camera's...stunning work, mine do not even come close....but still, they all look the same.

And now this...this is something i've never seen before. What a grea idea, what a great shot with this lens, what a great creative mind in making it like this.
Deep respect for making something complete new...at least for my eyes.

We stood both on South Tufa beach, an amzing place don't you think.
When i ever go back to California i will go there again, it can be very impressive....just as impressive as you show us here.

Regards, Henk

Lukasso (644) 2008-10-13 8:27

Whoa, that's strong, makes me a bit dizzy. The idea and the final effect are trully good.

serkan_senturk (188) 2008-10-13 8:38

çok güzel bir balıkgözü çalışması atmosfer müthiş elinize sağlık...

mark_mk (246) 2008-10-13 8:39

Hi John,
man you`re making me jealous, another place I missed during my Caliornia trip this year. Your capture is really awesome, your 10mm lens gave you this great wide angle and these colors... beatiful! Great shot, many thanks for sharing!

Take care
Mark

yaya13baut (2289) 2008-10-13 8:58

Hi John,
impressive circular composition thanks to the wide angle.
great light too.
Yannis

wolfy75 (446) 2008-10-13 9:16

Salut John
Great work, wise choice of using the fish eye. Gives this photo an entirely different perspective. I love this time of day and the blues at the edge of the sunlight, you've captured the colors perfectly.
Cheers

derek3755 (2341) 2008-10-13 9:43

Hi John

the extreme wide angle certainly brings some originalty to your image. great POV & colours.

Regards
Derek

TopGeo (21723) 2008-10-13 9:50

Hi John! Marvellous picture and splendid POV. I like this is truly beautiful landscape! You have given a impressive prospect and the colours of hour also Amazing moment and composition with details and clarity. Well work
Georgios

cherryripe (18973) 2008-10-13 9:56

Hi John
The wide-angle effect is fantastic, almost fish eye. The texture of the foreground is excellent. The clouds animate the sky so well. I would have just erased the mark (bit of moon ?) in the left hand corner.
Regards
Nikki

Wanda1 (10935) 2008-10-13 10:20

Hi John,
This is a pretty awesome shot with your super wide angle making the whole lake and foreground area join in circles. Love those silhouetted outcrops and the light and colours not only in the sky but reflected upon the water as well. Beautiful!
Regards
Wanda

grigand (12620) 2008-10-13 13:35

Ciao John,
Stupendo anche questo scatto, ottimi i colori ma soprattutto la visuale quasi a 360°, spettacolare.
Ciao
andrea

SteveH (3899) 2008-10-13 14:41

Hi John, Beautiful shot, from the metallic looking light off the water to the detail in the small cloud in the centre. Central horizon is good in this shot, with attractive elements in both the sky and FG. The horizontal framing works well too. cheers, Steve

sergio_leitao7 (1229) 2008-10-13 15:52

Hi Jonh, fantastic shot, i already knew this out-of-this-world place from pictures in google earth, and you capture it perfectly, the ultra wide angle gives this shot a very beautifull sense of space, thanks so much for sharing.

Sergio Leitao

alexisborel (751) 2008-10-14 0:30

Hi John
So you made a stop here too.
Nice picture at beginning of blue hour, excellent perspective of Mono lake even if i'm not fisheye fan. I made on from south east near road to Lee vining. I wait for others
Have a good day

Alexis

hispic (7399) 2008-10-14 2:49

Ciao John,
Rendering by the fish-eye lens has well fitted this scene indeed. The reflection on the water is especially fantastic. It seems it's better that sharpness is not applied to the clouds and the bottom of image. The rich tone of the sky is excellent.
Have a nice day, Hisashi

jorgi (3798) 2008-10-14 2:58

Hi John,

well it is deffinitely for my taste! :) It feels to me like a bowl with a water just about to pour out. Probably because of reflective ponds surrounding it...they give the lake a feeling of floating above the surface. And probably because of the use of fisheye. I was curious and searched for other images of this place and boy how yours is different. I just love your creativity, always amazing me with fresh approach.

Warm regards,
Jeri

npecanhuk (13753) 2008-10-14 3:46

Hello John!
Very nice and interesting photograph!
I like very much the round shape of the beach (semi-circle), the colors in the sky, the rock formations in the water and the silhouettes of high mountains in the background: everything composes a very beautiful and pleasant image!
Excellent photo job!
Thanks for sharing - Congratulations!
Warmest regards,
Neyvan

lespicaros (5518) 2008-10-14 4:09

Quel superbe endroit
Je me souviens de ces mouches ...
Très belle photo avec cette vue au grand angle
bravo et bonne continuation
Lespicaros

sevy (13348) 2008-10-14 5:15

Hello John,

You are playing with your fisheye lens, 2 following shots with it, it should be a new bought lens?
With the horizon put in the middle, the distortion is quite not visible, but we are still feeling the wide space with the large angle view.
Very good use of the shore to build the composition, it is working well.
In fact, with this kind of landscape, we could think we are on an other planet. Nice to discover strange landscape through TE.

Yves.

wishlist (4133) 2008-10-14 11:39

Hi my friend,
with all the deepest respect but..what on earth do you want as a critique here? Should we talk about sharpness, or compo, or perfect timing, or great use of the fisheye or......to be honest with you I don't know, I prefer to enjoy the stunning beauty you delivered here. Thanks for sharing it.
Take care,

Igor

rgarrigus (0) 2008-10-14 11:42

Hi John,

What a fascinating and creative use of the fisheye lens. This would be wonderful with a normal landscape presentation but your creativity has elevated this and offered a very unique portrayal of this oft photographed location. Much respect and admiration.

Cheers!

Bob G.

crhieatt (5143) 2008-10-14 14:20

John,

Unbelievable!!! A Mono Lake image we haven't seen before - and that's a real treat for sure!

I like this effect, it's got an odd ambiguity, the water almost appears to sit higher than the surrounding land, like a drop of water on a flat surface.

Excellent, and yes, I remember all those flies.

Regards
colin

Clementi (43895) 2008-10-16 6:01

Ciao John,
spettacolare foto a 360 gradi, un lavoro eccezionale come sempre riesci a fare tu, quel punto bianco in alto e' la luna?
Giorgio

Dyerco (9058) 2008-10-23 20:50

Hey John
I wish I'd had the 10-22 lens when I was there last year. You make excellent use of the fish eye here. Defintely a different perspective.
Good shooting.
Phil

kiks (6053) 2008-10-28 2:51

Fantastic shot John! The blueour colors are beautiful and you manage it perfectly but at my opinion is the use of the fisheye that make it exceptional The distortion seems so natural creating a bay. LOvely.
Best regards
KIKs