Tag Archives: bluff

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Wildlife

Two Pelicans in Flight

May 30, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Two pelicans in flight along high bluffs above the Pacific Ocean coast north of Santa Cruz, California.

More pelicans… These were photographed along the bluff just south of Waddell Beach, the coastal section of Big Basin Redwoods State Park. I’ve observed the pelicans – and other birds – skim past very close to the edge of the bluff and then descend to the outlet of Waddell Creek on the beach.

The light on this day was not especially conducive to landscape photography – it had been a sort of murky, gray morning – so I thought I’d use the softer light (with its tendency to reduce blown highlights and to bring out shadow detail) to try to photograph these great birds. The pelicans are often seen along the coast in California, though their numbers had seemed to decrease over the winter. On this morning it seemed like they might be increasing once again.

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.

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM at 400mm
ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/1600 second

keywords: pelican, pelagic, bird, sea, shore, sky, cloud, two, nature, wildlife, bif, santa cruz, county, davenport, california, usa, north america, fly, flight, wing, beak, flock, group, wild, highway, one, pacific, ocean, bluff, stock, northern

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Headlands Near Davenport

May 25, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Foggy sky along the coastal headlands near Davenport, California.

I stopped along the edge of the bluff at a spot on the California Coast Highway (highway 1) where I know that I can photograph seabirds as they cruise just feet away from the top of the cliff. Although my attention was first on the birds, I was also aware of the expansive views of the coastline from this high spot on the road, and I thought that the glowing fog-filled sky to the southwest might be worth photographing. I decided to place the horizon very low in the frame and expose so that the thin line of coastal bluffs extending into the frame from the left would be much darker than the water or the sky.

While I had a pretty good idea that this would end up as a black and white photograph – the colors in the foggy and gray conditions were not that special – I wasn’t certain when I made the exposure of just what I would do with it in post. As soon as I opened the file though I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to do. In the end, for an image that might seem so simple, this photograph required quite a bit of post-processing work.

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.

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L USM at 200mm
ISO 100, f/11, 1/120 second

keywords: davenport, california, usa, north america, headlands, bluff, coast, shore, surf, wave, horizon, fog, clouds, cliff, rocky, ocean, sea, shoreline, highway, one, black and white, monochrome, landscape, seascape, travel, scenic, nature, beach, shoal, minimal, sky, stock

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Big Sur Coastline Near Soberanes Canyon

May 7, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Black and white photograph of rugged Big Sur coastline rocks and surf near Soberanes Canyon, Garrapata State Park, California.

One more rugged shoreline photograph from my May 1 visit to the Big Sur coastline. This area is within the confines of Garrapata State Park, and very close to Soberanes Canyon. (Those who know the Soberanes Canyon trail may recognize the old barn seen faintly through the foggy haze near the upper right corner of the frame.)

I love to follow the ridgelines of these coastal mountains all the way down to the surf. Them begin high up on the steep but rounded slopes and gradually become sharper as they descend toward the ocean, being cut deeply by the streams in the bottoms of their canyons. Just above the ocean the canyons are often quite steep, though there can be a bluff right above the drop-off to the water, too. Then, at the very lowest ends of these ridges, the ocean has its effect and the softer dirt and gravel that gives them their folded forms higher up is stripped away, leaving the broken and rugged underlying rocks and they disappear into the surf.

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.

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM at 400mm
ISO 200, f/16, 1/160 second

keywords: big, sur, coast, coastline, soberanes, canyon, creek, black and white, monochrome, rugged, rough, rock, surf, wave, foam, garrapata, state, park, california, usa, north america, bird, gull, barn, highway, cliff, bluff, island, seascape, sea, ocean, pacific, shore, shoreline, landscape, nature, scenic, travel, monterey, carmel, stock

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Cliff House, Pacific Winter Surf and Fog

February 10, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Black and white photograph of Pacific Ocean fog and winter surf beating against shoreline below the Cliff House, San Francisco, California.

There is an overlook just north of the ruins of the Sutro Baths that provides a clear view of the historic (and iconic) Cliff House Restaurant atop the cliffs near Ocean Beach in San Francisco, California. On a day like this one, the surf from winter Pacific Ocean storms pounds the base of the cliffs. At the lower left a bit of the old ruins of the Sutro Baths can be seen – it is hard to imagine how anyone constructed the walls and platforms and then the buildings of this facility.

(I posted a possibly more dramatic vertical format version of this scene a few days ago.)

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.

keywords: san francisco, california, usa, sutro, baths, cliff, ocean, sea, coast, shore, pacific, surf, travel, scenic, fog, cloud, wave, rocks, beat, pacific, house, giant, camera, restaurant, sky, bright, mist, spray, black and white, monochrome, landscape, seascape, nature, bluff, hill, building, structure, historic, ruins, sutro, baths, stock

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.