Tag Archives: california

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

Shoreline Trees and Mist

May 12, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Silhouettes of shoreline trees on a misty morning at Tomales Bay, California

This photograph was made along the shoreline of Tomales Bay, near Inverness, California and north of San Francisco very near to the Point Reyes National Seashore. I was there, in fact, to visit Point Reyes. As I passed through the Inverness area, the sun rose over the fog-shrouded hills of Marin County, and I decided to stop right there, short of my actual goal, and make some photographs in this interesting early morning light.

Looking to my left and toward the northern entrance to Tomales Bay, everything was front- or side-lit, the sun shone brightly, colors were intense, and the fog was clearing. Looking to my right, I was facing directly into the rising sun and seeing it through the misty remnants of fog along the Marin hills, and the colors were washed out by the atmosphere and bright light. I used a long lens to pick out this row of shoreline trees from the larger landscape and to be able to make a photograph that excluded the sun itself. But it was still very bright. Mist rises off of the foreground water of the bay and a bit of fog still lurks beyond the trees. To look at this photograph you might think you are seeing a monochrome image that has been sepia toned… but this is the actual color of the light in these conditions.

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Evening Forest, Yosemite Valley

May 10, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Early evening light filters through forest, Yosemite Valley, California.

I’m probably not alone in loving the early evening forest light, as the sun’s light filters horizontally between the trees just prior to dropping below the horizon or nearby ridges. As I wandered along looking for dogwood blooms, I passed a section where the forest thinned a bit beyond the nearest trees, and allowed a bit more light to hit the trees. I only had a few moments to make this photograph before the light ended.

This is one of many examples of how the light changes everything. In the middle of the day these trees would seem gray and the light would be harsh – dark shadows would make it very difficult to photograph in an interesting way. But here the light coming from behind the dogwood leaves and brush makes it glow, and the late-day warm color of the light turns those gray trees all sorts of interesting shades of brown.

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

Fog and Forested Ridges

May 9, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Winter fog envelops forested ridges near Mount Tamalpais on the Pacific coast north of San Francisco

I photographed this scene on an early February day when the atmosphere was especially murky north of San Francisco. I had traveled this way for the day with some very general ideas about photographic subjects, but once I got “there” quite a few of those ideas looked a lot less promising. I had initially thought about photographing inside the coastal redwood forest, but when I arrived at my intended location I found that everything was gray, gray, gray! The atmosphere was hazy and murky and high clouds blocked any interesting light from the sun. So figured I might try for something moody along the coast, but there I found the same very difficult light.

I finally headed back up into the Marin hills, hoping that I might get up above the thickest of the gray and possibly get some light filtered through the high clouds and perhaps some longer views. As I entered the Mount Tamalpais State Park and started to ascend the road toward the peak, I finally came out of the coastal fog – though the overhead clouds remained. As I went up this road I looked for spots with some sort of longer view of the fog bank from which I had just emerged, and I finally found it along a bend where the road passed an area of open meadows and rolling hills. Here there was a line of sight back toward the ocean – completely obscured by fog – and the bits of lower hills that were poking through the tops of the clouds. On a technical note, this is not a monochrome or black and white photograph. It is, however, somewhat desaturated. One of the side effects of this difficult atmosphere was a very blue quality to the light that became much more apparent in the photograph than it appeared to a viewer on the scene. I knew I would have to deal with this in post in order to get an effect that seemed appropriate and believable. My initial thinking was to actually make it a black and white photograph, but as I worked with the image I came to feel that it worked better if some degree of muted color was retained.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Dogwood Flowers, Merced River

May 8, 2013 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Flower-laden spring dogwood branches above the rushing water of the Merced River, Yosemite National Park.

It seems that everyone needs a photograph of white dogwood flowers and green leaves against the backdrop of the waters of the Merced River – and here is mine! I made this photograph on a one-day quick trip to the Valley timed to coincide with the peak of the dogwood blooms. This was a spectacular dogwood blossom season! I had heard reports of larger than usual numbers of the flowers, but I was still very surprised to see how thickly the flowers covered many, many trees. I’ve seen quite a few dogwood blooms in Yosemite Valley, and this had to rank among the most impressive.

The challenges of the “dogwood over water” photographs are several. The first it to find a branch hanging over or near the Merced. This isn’t as easy at is might seem. Such branches aren’t exactly everywhere along the banks of the river, and in many places the flowers face away from the bank – not such an appealing image – or might appear against water that is too rough and provides a distracting background. Often dogwood flowers that catch your attention with their start white shapes turn out to be less than pristine close up – they might have brown tips, holds in the petals, or be discolored – and it can take a bit of looking to find some that are in great shape. Ideally there will be something high above the opposite bank the provides a bit of color to the water. Then there are the conflicting desires to use a long exposure to blur the water a bit while trying to capture a sharply delineated image of the flowers… which sit at the end of long, flexible branches that move in the slightest breeze! With patience, the breezes may eventually pause, and careful timing helps time the exposure between periods of motion.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: california

Shoreline Trees and Mist

Evening Forest, Yosemite Valley

Dogwood Flowers, Merced River

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