Detail of dense growth of a white bark pine tree in the high country near Tioga Pass, Yosemite National Park.
I photographed this dense growth of white bark pine in a high meadow not far from Tioga Pass, after venturing out into (and around, given the wet conditions!) this area very early in the morning. Although it isn’t apparent in this very close-up photograph, this was a rather unique tree. It had grown up around a large boulder and taken on the boulder’s shape since the branches followed the outline of the boulder almost exactly – it almost looked like the boulder was covered with a “tree blanket.”
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.
A wide panoramic view of morning light in a dense redwood grove at Muir Woods National Monument, California.
Up next in the stitched panorama parade… a photograph make in the vicinity of Bohemian Grove at Muir Woods National Monument in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, California. This grove is high on the list of popular places in the central and well-known section of the park, and the loop trail that many visitors hike travels right through it.
There are, it seems to me, a huge number of ways to photograph these very tall trees. Interesting effects of light filtering down from above are often a possibility. There are lots of small subjects that can be shot close up. But their sheer height is often difficult to capture. You can shoot straight up, but that creates some issues. You can (and I have) shoot in vertical format to try to include the vertical size. You can try to shoot from further back, but then the scale of the trees diminishes – plus it is very hard to get a clear line of site on these trees from any distance… unless, perhaps, you are at the edge of an area that has been logged.
So, I’ve been thinking about shooting very wide panoramas of groves of parallel vertical forms of the massive trunks. I think that this has two effects that work for me. First, when you stand before these trees and look around you mostly are seeing just the lower sections of the trees – so for me this depiction is true to the experience of being in the forest. Second, the fact that you cannot see the full height of the trees doesn’t mean that you aren’t aware of it! Focusing on these massive trunks might cause you to project the rest of the trees and the great height that isn’t included within the frame. (This isn’t the first time I’ve done this, and I’m certainly not the first person to do it.)
By the way, because the image is stitched from multiple high-resolution full-frame images, it has the potential to be printed very large at some point.
Beams of morning sunlight stream between the trees of the redwood forest at Muir Woods National Monument, California.
This is another photograph of the wonderful morning sunlight during my late October visit to Muir Woods National Monument. I usually visit and photograph Muir Woods in softer cloudy or foggy conditions which are, to be honest, easier to photograph. That diffused light lights the shadows and reduces the overall dynamic range of the scenes. However on this morning the sun was out and the light was magical, streaming through the forest canopy and between the giant trees to light up the air and the forest floor.
I perhaps mentioned that the previous photograph I posted from Muir Woods required me to merge two exposures to deal with this huge dynamic range – but this one required three exposures separated from each other by 2-stop brackets! The brightest exposure captured some detail in the trunks of the trees and the plants near the bottom of the frame, while the darkest exposure let me retain a bit of the branch detail in the very bright area where the light comes through between the trees.
This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.
A new redwood tree shoot emerges from the base of a mature tree, Muir Woods National Monument, California.
This small, green shoot is the potential start of a new redwood tree at Muir Woods National Monument. Its bright green color contrasts with the browns and reds of the dark forest floor and the shaded bark of the tree.
This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.
Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
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