Tag Archives: blur

Photographs: Nature

Bluedicks Flower

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Bluedicks Flower
Springtime bluedicks flower in the Central California oak-grasslands.

Bluedicks Flower. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Springtime bluedicks flower in the Central California oak-grasslands.

This is a surprisingly common wildflower in my part of California, and in the springtime I frequently run into them all around the Bay Area on hikes, typically in warmer and sunnier areas. The flowers are striking — the cluster sits on the end of a long, slender step, and the colors can stand out against the other foliage. Technically, I suppose that I should tie “flowers” rather than “flower” here, since it is a cluster of smaller individual flowers. The unusual name apparently comes from a shorthand for the Latin name of the plant, though I have recently been told that the plant has been reclassified and that it should now be “blue dips.”

Although I like to travel to do my outdoor photography, I also spend a lot of time in the field not far from where I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, often hiking some of the nearby trails. (In fact, I’ve been doing more of that recently as I try to work myself into condition for an upcoming backcountry trip by hiking hilly routes. It gets harder every year!) Although I had hiked the trails where I photographed this specimen, I had not really paid enough attention to the wildflowers there until recently… when I discovered several large populations of this flower.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Boulder and Cascade

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Boulder and Cascade
A subalpine brook cascades over rocks and past a small boulder.

Boulder and Cascade. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A subalpine brook cascades over rocks and past a small boulder.

No landscape photographer I know is quite able to completely resist the lure of photographing moving water cascading over rocks. I can imagine quite a few reasons for this. The miniature landscapes in Sierra creeks like this one hold an infinity of potential compositions. Unlike so much of the landscape, the water is in constant motion, to the point that one almost needs to make many exposures to get it just right. There are interesting technical questions to resolve, including just how much blur is the right amount.

Beyond all of that photographic stuff, these streams are just fun places to spend some time. Many years ago I still took fishing gear into the backcountry. I stopped once I realized that I didn’t need the excuse of fishing in order to justify time spend wandering up and down these creeks, with their attractions of wildflowers, green plants, and the constant sound of moving water.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Goose Bedlam

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Goose Bedlam
A large flock of geese in twilight flight above California’s Central Valley.

Goose Bedlam. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A large flock of geese in twilight flight above California’s Central Valley.

Today I’m back from what will likely be my last opportunity of the season to photograph seasonal migratory geese here in California. I know that I photographed them on about this date last year… and that about a week later (on March 13, 2020) when I went to look for them they had left. I remember that date well, as it was the last such trip I took for a long time, as California was in the process of entering a fairly hard lockdown as the trajectory of the pandemic became clearer. In any case, these geese should be heading back to the arctic for the warm month any day now.

Near the end of their California visit they seem to become increasingly active, and that was the case this week. Although they did spend time on the ground feeding or settled on ponds, they were frequently in the air. As darkness approached a huge group of them — snow, Ross’s, white-fronted, and probably other geese — was in constant motion in an area of recently cleared fields. I like to photograph them at slower shutter speeds in the twilight since it seems to me that the motion blurring effect may suggest this wild activity better than pure stop-motion.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Cranes in Motion

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A flock of sandhill cranes taking flight above wetlands on a Central Valley autumn morning.

Cranes in Motion. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A flock of sandhill cranes taking flight above wetlands on a Central Valley autumn morning.

This photograph follows one that I shared a few days ago. In that photo a group of sandhill cranes was standing in and along the edge of a pond, and I mentioned that their upright positions suggested that they were preparing to take to the air and depart. I wrote that without looking at the files that followed. Now I have looked at those other files, and I realize that I was correct — the small flock rose into the air almost immediately after that photograph and then traversed across the scene from left to right. I made this photograph as they departed.

You may notice that there is a lot of motion blur in this photograph. We often try to capture sharp photographs of birds, including those in flight, by hoping for sufficient light and then learning to track them as they fly. That’s not always an easy thing to do, and there’s nothing wrong with a sharp photograph of birds! But sometimes I feel that including some blur may better express the motion of this subject and the speed and suddenness of the birds’ flight.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.