Redwood Grove Panorama. Muir Woods National Monument, California. May 8, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
Panoramic photograph of light transitioning to deep shade in a redwood grove near Hillside Trail at Muir Woods National Monument, California.
I just had the morning free on this day so I was up early to head to Muir Woods National Monument in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area north of San Francisco. I got there so early that I snagged the first parking space closest to the park center. (Those who know the park and the crowds it draws, understand the significance of that achievement!)
I walked up the usual trail into the main grove with several photo ideas in mind. One of them was to do a bit more work on my idea of creating very wide and high quality panoramas that include the redwood groves, and I was thinking about trying at least one from an elevated location where I could shoot straight on at the sections of the tree trunks some yard above the ground. With this in mind I eventually headed up the “Hillside Trail” just beyond the old Bohemian Grove location, where I found several places that would give me the perspective I was looking for.
This photograph was made not far from the start of the trail, and I was perhaps 20-30 feet higher than the bottom of Redwood Creek Canyon. One thing I like about this scene is the transition from a bit of open, sunlit forest at the very far left, through the grove of redwood trees and the massive vertical forms of their trunks, and on to the softer and darker area of deciduous trees on the right side.
The photograph is a stitch of six 21mp photographs shot in vertical format. The resulting image has a tremendous amount of detail (which is obviously not visible in small web jpg) and should be printable with good results at very large sizes – at least ten feet wide.
This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.
G Dan Mitchell Photography | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email
Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L USM at 118mm
ISO 200, f/16, .5 second
stitched from six portrait-orientation 21mp images
keywords: redwood, sequoia, sempervirens, coast, grove, tree, trunk, creek, forest, maple, leaf, branch, silhouette, light, shade, shadow, deep, panorama, stitched, muir, woods, national, monument, golden gate, recreation, area, morning, nature, flora, foliage, plants, landscape, marin, county, california, usa, north america, stock
Dan, it continually mystifies me how you’re able to get such interesting compositions in the forest . . . Shooting trees like this is, in my experience, on of the hardest things there is to do
well.
Thanks, Jeff – I appreciate your kind words!
It can be tricky to shoot in the forest. I’m trying to think of how to define/describe how I approach it. One thing that I often start with is “what I like” – I ask myself, “What do I like looking at in this forest?” and think of as many different aspects of the places that appeal to me as possible, ranging from the smallest (patterns of individual leaves) to types of views (through a clearing, ranks of tree trunks, etc.) to types of light (soft and diffused, filtering through the canopy, a spot of light, angled light early/late in the day). Then I walk slowly – often very slowly – though the forest that I hope to photograph, and I just look. Often it may be a while before I unpack the camera and think about shooting, but eventually something catches my attention as a photograph.
I’ll have to think more about this and, at some point, see if I can articulate it more clearly.
Dan
Stunning..
very nice Dan!