Tag Archives: county

Photographs: Coastal Redwoods, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Late Winter Ferns, Muir Woods

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Late Winter Ferns, Muir Woods
Late Winter Ferns, Muir Woods

Late Winter Ferns, Muir Woods. Muir Woods National Monument, California. April 17, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Lush growth of late winter ferns in the redwood forest of Muir Woods National Monument, California.

This is a color version of the previously-posted photograph, cropped slightly differently. Among many specimens that mixed new lush green growth with older dead plants from the previous season, this sample was almost entirely green – the leaves were densely packed, overlapping and intertwined.

Sometimes I like a particular image in both monochrome and color versions, and this is one of those cases. The black and white version posted yesterday abstracts the shapes and textures of the leaves, while the color version more strongly suggests the wet and lush undergrowth of this redwood forest.

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.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L USM at 200mm
ISO 200, f/16, 4 seconds

keywords: lush, growth, fern, leaf, frond, branch, green, overlap, dense, winter, late, redwood, forest, coast, grove, foliage, flora, nature, scenic, travel, muir, woods, national, monument, golden gate, recreation, area, pattern, san francisco, california, usa, north america, marin, county, stock

Photographs: Coastal Redwoods, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Late Winter Ferns, Muir Woods (Black and White)

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Late Winter Ferns, Muir Woods (Black and White)
Late Winter Ferns, Muir Woods (Black and White)

Late Winter Ferns, Muir Woods (Black and White). Muir Woods National Monument, California. April 28, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Black and white photograph of lush leaves of late winter ferns in the redwood forest of Muir Woods National Monument, California.

On this late-winter visit to Muir Woods National Monument – a place I photograph often – I noticed the combination of lush growth for recent heavy rains and somewhat warmer temperatures indicating the approach of spring. Many of the forest floor plants were coming back to life and there was lots of greenery everywhere. (There were also plenty of wildflowers, though it seems that I missed the trillium bloom this season.)

Ferns grow throughout the groves in the bottom of the Redwood Creek canyon and there is a mixture of lush green ferns and the older dead growth underneath. One of my objectives was to shoot the older brown and gray ferns, but I couldn’t resist this pattern of the interlocking and overlapping leaves of these very green ferns – not that you can tell in this black and white rendition of the subject! (There is a color version of this photograph coming soon.)

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.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L USM at 200mm
ISO 200, f/16, 4 seconds

keywords: lush, growth, fern, leaf, frond, branch, green, overlap, dense, winter, late, redwood, forest, coast, grove, foliage, flora, nature, scenic, travel, muir, woods, national, monument, golden gate, recreation, area, pattern, san francisco, california, usa, north america, marin, county, stock, black and white, monochrome

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

White Globe Lilies and Grasses

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Chinese Lanterns and Grasses
White Globe Lilies and Grasses

White Globe Lilies and Grasses. Almaden Quicksilver Park, California. April 10, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Macro photograph of White globe lily flower and buds and spring grasses – Almaden Quicksliver Park, California.

This is one more photograph of the white globe lily flower I posted recently, this one in landscape mode rather than portrait mode. This is one of the first of the seasonal bloom of this flower along a favorite trail of mine at the Almaden Quicksilver County Park – the location of historic mercury mines along the edge of Santa Clara Valley. I photograph these flowers every April, and this photograph is from my first visit of the year.

Some of the challenges in making this shot included the need to use an extension tube and get very close – perhaps just a couple inches from the flower. Since this specimen grew on a steep bit of hillside I shot it handheld and used manual focus – I essentially picked a decent focus point and composition and then carefully moved forward and backward until the important parts of the flower were in focus. (The narrow DOF at this close distance made the zone of focus very small.)

By the middle of April there will probably be hundreds of these flowers in this small valley.

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.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM at 73mm with extension tube
ISO 400, f/8, 1/100 second

keywords: chinese lantern, flower, bloom, blossom, bud, wildflower, plant, leaf, grass, seed, stem, branch, blur, bokeh, green, white, pink, spring, season, almaden, quicksilver, county, park, santa clara, san jose, california, usa, north america, nature, close up, macro, foliage, flora, stock

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Purple Larkspur Flowers

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Purple Larkspur Flowers
Purple Larkspur Flowers

Purple Larkspur Flowers. Almaden Quicksilver County Park, California. April 10, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Purple larkspur spring blossoms at Almaden Quicksilver County Park, California.

I think I’ll post another spring wildflower photograph before resuming the Death Valley posts – who knows, maybe I’ll post a few more first!

I’m a bit weak on flower identification. Although I can tell you when certain flowers will come up, tell you exactly where to look for them, and even recognize the plants before the flowers bloom… I cannot always remember the common names, much less the Latin names. With that said, I’m reasonably certain that these are Larkspur blooms.

This patch is on a particular hillside along a particular sunny turn in a trail in the small “wildflower valley” at Almaden Quicksilver Park that I mentioned in an earlier post. At this spot the trail descend though a somewhat open area that faces west and the plants are in a boundary between some much more shaded forest and a bit of open grass-covered terrain. In a small area here that is perhaps no more than 20 feet across, right above a small oak tree set in the edge of the trail, I can always find a small group of these flowers right near the beginning of April.

They are not easy to photograph. The flowers are not terribly large and tripod placement is very tough on the steep hill where they grow. To make this photograph I added an extension tube to a 24-105mm image-stabilized lens and got down on my knees. I was quite close – a matter of a few inches from the flowers. Depth of field is very small, so the trick is to find a good angle that both provides the right kind of background and which puts the main flower roughly parallel to the sensor, to find an interesting composition of the flowers, and then to move the camera slightly back and forth until the primary subject comes into focus. (The camera won’t auto-focus very will with this setup.) The very dark colors of this flower also add to the challenge!

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.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM (with extension tube) at 73mm
ISO 400, f/4, 1/160 second

keywords: purple, flower, bloom, petal, larkspur, wild, wildflower, spring, green, grass, bokeh, almaden, quicksilver, county, park, santa clara, san jose, california, usa, north america, nature, foliage, season, stock