Aspen Trees and Boulders, Bishop Creek. Sierra Nevada, California. October 3, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
A row of aspens in full orange autumn color stands in front of a boulder field on a rainy evening, Bishop Creek, California.
I have visited this bunch of colorful trees before, but in the past have arrived just past the end of the prime color – but this time I think I hit the upper reaches of Bishop Canyon below South Lake at almost exactly the right time. Not only was the color at its peak, but the overcast, late day illumination, and light rain served to increase the intensity of the colors. I also feel that the background of large gray slabs and boulders provides a nice contrast to the very light tones of the aspen trunks and the gaudy colors of the leaves.
When it comes to fall color, each year seems to have its own personality. Some years feature brighter colors and others seem to be less striking; some seem to start early and others linger. Some years fall seems more like summer; but in others the weather seems to move quickly to winter. It is perhaps too soon to say for sure, but I have a feeling that this fall – at least the early weeks in the eastern Sierra – may go down as one of the most colorful and spectacular in a number of years.
I’ll mention a technical point about this photograph as well. For this image I used one of my favorite landscape lens, especially when I’m shooting more intimate details of the landscape, the Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 zoom. You’ll often hear people say that the best lens for landscape work is a wide angle lens. While the wides have their place, I think it is far too much of a generalization to say that any particular focal length is necessarily the most appropriate for landscape. Basically, any focal length that works with your subject and your concept of the subject is the right lens.
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.
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Thanks, Greg. On this last trip I ended up using a wide variety of lenses. For the first time in a while I actually used my 17-40 quite a bit, mostly for shooting inside dense aspen groves. I used the 24-105 for some relatively quick shots, but I also used a fair subset of my primes including a 50mm, 85mm and 135mm.
I tend to be a bit finicky about the “right lens” when I’m working from a car – as I was in the aspen country – than when I’m working while on the backpacking trail.
Dan
Dan – Yes, I’ve noticed your use of longer lenses through out your work, and you use it well, IMO.
Dan – Wonderful photo. Good color saturation with the overcast light and the gray boulders do make a nice backdrop, not only neutral in color, but it also simplfies the background, a makes the viewer concentrate on the aspens.
I’ll “third” your choice of lens. A 70 -200mm would be my choice for working the aspens, as it gives the perspective that I’m looking for, and adds a tiny bit of “compression” to the image elements (which I enjoy). I’d be interested too in trying a 300 to 400mm ranges to see if they give interesting views of the aspens.
Greg, thanks for your comment on the photo. I may have to think about how I could use even longer focal lengths with this subject. You may know that I do shoot landscapes with focal lengths as long as 400mm, and now that I think of it I can think of a particular subject that I may be shooting in a couple days that might work!
Dan
Thanks, Jack. This is, for me at least, a special spot since, as you point out, the backdrop of large boulders is a bit unusual.
Dan
Lovely image – great colors, and the boulder field keeps my eye moving around the image. I don’t think I’ve seen aspens against boulders before – nice combination!
I agree about the lens choices as well. Maybe it’s because there aren’t many opportunities for grand vista shots in my area, but I shoot most of my images in the standard-to-telephoto range. Horses for courses, and all that…
– Jack