As I do every year when the race returns to California, I have just created a Flickr group for the 2010 Amgen Tour of California professional bicycle race. The event starts in about a week in Northern California and travels around the state before ending a week later in Southern California. International pro bicycle racing teams compete, and a lot of big names in pro cycling take part including Lance Armstrong.
So, whether you want to see up to the minute photos from the stages of the race or post your own photographs, consider joining the group.
Macro photograph of a beetle on spring California wildflowers.
I think I’m posting this one more or less because… I can! I was out last month trying to get to know a new piece of equipment, an extension tube. I’ve been experimenting to find out which of my lenses work most effectively with it, and trying to understand the best ways to use it in the field. On this day I figured out a few interesting and useful things. First, contrary to my expectations, the best way to shoot these subjects was to use manual focus and a 24-105 zoom lens. I would have thought that AF would have been more effective, but I found I could manually focus, then move slightly forward and backward with the shutter half depressed, and watch for the AF confirmation lights to come on. One of the biggest surprises was that this lens, which is not exactly known for its wonderful bokeh, turns out to produce really nice blurred backgrounds at large apertures with the extension tube. Who’d have guessed!?
So, a photograph of some anonymous beetle was one of the results.
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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him.
Spring larkspur flowers against a soft background of sunlit spring greenery, Almaden Quicksilver Park, California.
I made this photograph back in early April as spring flowers were just starting to really blossom in my favorite flower-filled gully at the Almaden Quicksilver Park near San Jose, California. The larkspur flowers often blossom early and pass quickly through their prime phase, and seem to be pretty delicate flowers to begin with – so I was glad to get there at the right time to photograph these specimens.
I photographed them against a background of grasses with the scene lit by sunlight filtered through high clouds. Using the maximum aperture of f/4 on the 24-105mm zoom (with an extension tube) made for very narrow depth of field and allowed me to throw almost everything in the frame other than the central flower out of focus.
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.
Morning sun backlights receding eroded ridges and boulder in the coastal mountains of California’s Big Sur coast.
I now am not quite certain where this exact spot was… but somewhere along the Big Sur coast in the area of Garrapata State Park – there is a pretty good chance that it is just a bit north of Rocky Creek bridge and just south of the actually Rock Creek. (Where there is a restaurant which has, or so I hear, a wonderful view and very high prices.) As I probably mentioned in photos I posted earlier from this May 1 shoot, one subject that I was pursuing was the morning light from the sun as it just barely topped the high and steep mountains along the coast highway. This creates at least two interesting conditions, and both are present in this photograph: diffused and hazy light as the sun shine though very thin fog rising up the canyons from the ocean, and thin lines of light along the tops of ridges and peaks.
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: big, sur, eroded, ridge, grass, light, edge, atmospheric, recession, diagonal, lines, flora, plants, foliage, rock, boulder, landscape, nature, scenic, travel, california, usa, north america, haze, fog, morning, spring, gully, mountain, hill, valley, gully, stock
Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
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