Beyond Puppy Love

Coleman Valley Road Sunset, Sonoma County CA

Somehow I’ve come to be identified among my photo friends with sunstars.  Some folks even tease me a bit about it.  Really, though, it’s often not the sunstars that I love so much as the backlight.  

For those of you who are not obsessive outdoor photographers, the direction of light has a vast influence on the character of images.  Backlight, as you have no doubt guessed, comes from behind the subject, more or less directly at the photographer.  This kind of light can be tricky to render well but offers stupendous rewards.  There can also be an opportunity to include a sunstar (sometimes called a starburst) if a bright light source is included in the frame.  I’ve written about the mechanics of making this happen in another post.

Orange Glow near Jenner CA

I popped off a comment in a social media post from Sonoma County last week, saying that I have a bit of a crush on backlight.  Now, near the end of a two-week road trip, I see that many of my favorite images from this trip are back-lighted.  This may, by now, have progressed beyond puppy love.

The Sonoma Coast was breathtaking.  I’m so grateful to Jerry Dodrill for sharing

the beauty of his home turf, for the opportunity to boondock in his backyard, and for the generous flow of ideas.  The humid air there creates an entirely different quality of light.

Sunrise over Lake Tahoe

After a brief overnight with a friend in Napa, I was on to Lake Tahoe, joining Instructors Jerry & Todd Pickering, and 15 or so other students for the Sierra Nevada College Summer Art Workshop in photography.

Thanks for stopping by.  May I suggest checking out summer in Northern California?

More from the road trip are in the Northern California Gallery on the website.

Mule Ear