Tag Archives: clear

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Fog and Morning Light

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Fog and Morning Light
Tule fog covers a Pacific Flyway wetlands pond as morning sun begins to break through high clouds.

Fog and Morning Light. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Tule fog covers a Pacific Flyway wetlands pond as morning sun begins to break through high clouds.

This was one of the foggier mornings I’ve spent out along the Pacific Flyway, and that wasn’t the only unusual thing about the weather. Driving out here hours before dawn, most of the route was clear of any fog. But when I turned off the highway onto a narrow country road the fog was instantly so thick I could barely see to drive. As I continued it varied, sometimes thinning a bit, but always shallow enough that I could look up and see the setting full moon. I arrived at my destination if foggy darkness and headed out to make photographs.

On a typical morning, even when it is quite foggy, the light changes when sunrise colors arrive a one the fog. But high clouds kept this morning kept the light at bay and it remained gray. Eventually the tule fog thinned enough in a few spots that the higher clouds occasionally became visible for a moment, and weak sunlight sometimes made it though the murk. I made this quiet photograph during one of those moments when the fog began to glow just a bit.

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: Ocean & Coast

Dark Headland, Big Sur Coast

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A dark headland cliff rises directly above the Pacific along the Big Sur coast as fog clears from distant mountains.

Dark Headland, Big Sur Coast. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A dark headland cliff rises directly above the Pacific along the Big Sur coast as fog clears from distant mountains.

Recently we spent some time photographing along the far Northern California coast. One thing leads to another, and before long I found myself looking back through raw file archives from previous coastal photography, including subjects from up and down the entire coast of the state. One set of older files came from a one-day jaunt about halfway down the Big Sur coast on a day when the weather was shifting from clear and sunny to windier and (potentially) wetter as a large Pacific front was working its way down the coast.

The light was quite amazing on this day. Although clouds were approaching from the north (behind my camera position in this photograph), to the south it was still quite sunny — so bright, in fact, that it was hard to look directly at the surface of the ocean here. At the same time the morning coastal fog was thinning and drifting away from the mountains as they curved to the south and southeast. I made several photographs from this spot, all of them featuring the tall and steep dark headland in the foreground. In this one I opened up the scene a bit wider to include the curving sweep on the coastline as it continued to the south.

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

Morning Fog, Rugged Shoreline

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Morning Fog, Rugged Shoreline
Morning fog clears from coastal mountains above the rugged Big Sur shoreline.

Morning Fog, Rugged Shoreline. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning fog clears from coastal mountains above the rugged Big Sur shoreline.

This photograph (and a few others from this trip) illustrate how sometimes a combination of planning and luck come together… and even overcome a bad decision or two. I had checked the forecast the previous evening and it looked like there would be fog along the coast, making a quick visit potentially rewarding. I decided that I’d get up early and head that way. But in the morning one thing led to another, and I was quite late (by photographer standards) getting out the door and on the road. I wondered if perhaps I had missed the timing, and I even considered heading somewhere else.

As I approached the coast I saw that the fog was obstinately sticking around, and it was foggier than I had expected! I headed south, looking for places where the fog was beginning to thin, and this was my first serious stop. Here the rugged coast was already clear, but the fog was just offshore and still covering the taller hills, including the far peak above the distant peninsula. I made a few photographs here and then headed on to a few more spots before returning when the light became too harsh. (As I turned around and headed home I noticed that the influx of tourists was just starting… and that the best light and conditions had passed while they were enjoying breakfast!)

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

Flock of Cranes in Flight

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Flock of Cranes in Flight
A flock of sandhill cranes in flight against clear blue sky.

Flock of Cranes in Flight. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A flock of sandhill cranes in flight against clear blue sky.

Today’s post gives me an excuse to explore a few technical (and aesthetic) considerations about photographing birds, so I’m sharing this photograph both as an image and as an illustration of a few things I’ll mention below. I made the photograph in the morning (contrary to a possibly erroneous bit of EXIF data in the file), when the rising sun was still low and the light was muted a bit by thin fog. I positioned myself in a spot that groups of cranes were crossing, and I simply waited for them to approach.

There’s a lot going on inside a dynamic flock like this one. Some things are at least partially subject to decisions by the photographer, while others must simply be accepted as “what is.” Even those that are subject to photographer decisions improve the odds rather than producing certainty. I identified a spot over which groups of birds were flying. I chose to position myself on the “sunny side” of that point so that passing birds would get some direct illumination. This is important, since backlit birds against a back sky are… challenging. The second issue has to do with the positions of the birds in the frame and relative to one another. With practice one can become better at framing the flying birds in desirable ways. More difficult is keeping track of how the birds interact with one another in flight. Ideally you probably want them close together, but you don’t want one bird obscuring the head of a nearby bird. The birds rarely understand this! But you can increase the odds by developing your ability to watch this positional interplay among the birds. You learnt to avoid triggering the shutter when the positions aren’t great and (to some extent) time your shots for when they are. In the end, as in this photograph, while all of these intentional acts help, there are still significant elements of chance in the result… and here it worked and not a single bird’s head is blocked by another in the group.

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.