Tag Archives: flora

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

Manroot Blossoms

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Manroot Blossoms
Manroot Blossoms

Manroot Blossoms. Muir Woods National Park, California. May 8, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Manroot flowers blossom in the redwood forest at Muir Woods National Monument, Caifornia.

I hope I have the right ID on this flower. I’m noted before that I’m no expert on these things – I often can’t identify by name flowers that I am very familiar with. As near as I can tell, this is a “manroot” flower, also known as Marah fabecus. I photographed it in the forest of Muir Woods along Redwood Creek, where the plant grows in a vinelike manner among other plants.

The flowers are striking in the shaded forest, and especially since they seem to grow against a background of darker plants. I used an extension tube to make this photograph, shooting very close to the small flowers.

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 tubes
ISO 400, f/4, 1/15 second

keywords: manroot, cucumber, Marah fabeceus, plant, flower, wildflower, spring, season, flora, foliage, blossom, bloom, muir, woods, national, monument, golden, gate, recreation, area, marin, county, california, usa, north america, nature, scenic, travel, white, green, bud, branch, bokeh, redwood, grove, forest, shade, stock

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

Spring Ferns, Muir Woods

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Spring Ferns, Muir Woods
Spring Ferns, Muir Woods

Spring Ferns, Muir Woods. Muir Woods National Monument, California. May 8, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Black and white photograph of spring ferns growing in the redwood forest at Muir Woods National Monument, California.

I barely caught this bunch of ferns alongside Redwood Creek as the morning sun was approaching them. As I set up and started to shoot the ferns were in shade but picking up some diffused light starting to come through the forest canopy. I probably got no more than a minute of shooting time before a beam of sun poked through and illuminated the right part of the scene… far too brightly!

I considered sharing this as a color image – it is full of rich green from the deep forest light on the spring leaves in this moist place. However, the more I worked with it the more I felt that the textures and patterns of the fern leaves and the gradations of light and shadow would be overpowered by the intense green of the color rendition.

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 149mm
ISO 400, f/16, .6 second

keywords: spring, fern, frond, plant, leaf, branch, nature, foliage, flora, muir, woods, national, monument, golden, gate, recreation, area, park, forest, grove, redwood, sequoia, sempervirens, coastal, black and white, monochrome, light, shadow, overlap, scenic, travel, marin, county, california, usa, north america, stock

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

Redwood Grove Panorama

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Redwood Grove Panorama
Redwood Grove Panorama

Redwood Grove Panorama. Muir Woods National Monument, California. May 8, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Panoramic photograph of light transitioning to deep shade in a redwood grove near Hillside Trail at Muir Woods National Monument, California.

I just had the morning free on this day so I was up early to head to Muir Woods National Monument in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area north of San Francisco. I got there so early that I snagged the first parking space closest to the park center. (Those who know the park and the crowds it draws, understand the significance of that achievement!)

I walked up the usual trail into the main grove with several photo ideas in mind. One of them was to do a bit more work on my idea of creating very wide and high quality panoramas that include the redwood groves, and I was thinking about trying at least one from an elevated location where I could shoot straight on at the sections of the tree trunks some yard above the ground. With this in mind I eventually headed up the “Hillside Trail” just beyond the old Bohemian Grove location, where I found several places that would give me the perspective I was looking for.

This photograph was made not far from the start of the trail, and I was perhaps 20-30 feet higher than the bottom of Redwood Creek Canyon. One thing I like about this scene is the transition from a bit of open, sunlit forest at the very far left, through the grove of redwood trees and the massive vertical forms of their trunks, and on to the softer and darker area of deciduous trees on the right side.

The photograph is a stitch of six 21mp photographs shot in vertical format. The resulting image has a tremendous amount of detail (which is obviously not visible in small web jpg) and should be printable with good results at very large sizes – at least ten feet wide.

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 118mm
ISO 200, f/16, .5 second
stitched from six portrait-orientation 21mp images

keywords: redwood, sequoia, sempervirens, coast, grove, tree, trunk, creek, forest, maple, leaf, branch, silhouette, light, shade, shadow, deep, panorama, stitched, muir, woods, national, monument, golden gate, recreation, area, morning, nature, flora, foliage, plants, landscape, marin, county, california, usa, north america, stock

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Spring Oaks and Santa Cruz Mountains – Castle Rock State Park

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Spring Oaks and Santa Cruz Mountains. Castle Rock State Park, California. April 24. 2010.

Spring Oaks and Santa Cruz Mountains - Castle Rock State Park
Spring Oaks and Santa Cruz Mountains - Castle Rock State Park

© Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Spring Oaks and Santa Cruz Mountains. Castle Rock State Park, California. April 24. 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Panoramic photograph of oak trees with new spring growth above the Santa Cruz Mountains descending towards Monterey Bay – Castle Rock State Park.

This is the first (in order of posting) of a few stitched panoramas I made last month. I’ve thought about this shot for a while. It is from at the top of a staircase section of trail at Castle Rock State Park in California, alongside Goat Rock. From this spot you can see all the way to Santa Cruz, the Monterey Bay, and the Monterey Peninsula hills beyond. On this early spring morning the oak trees were just getting their new leaves, so it was still possible to shoot between the branches and see the distant scene where fog filled the bay.

One idea I’m currently working with – among many others – is creating very wide panoramic stitched images of subjects that would usually be shot in a taller format – especially trees. Instead of photographing the entire tree, this feels to me more like looking through the trees at the scene beyond, closer to how I might actually look at this scene if I were there.

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 131mm
ISO 100, f/16, 1/60 second
three image stitched panorama

keywords: oak, tree, grove, forest, trunk, branch, silhouette, spring, season, growth, new, leaves, santa cruz, monterey, mountains, hills, ridge, valley, summit, county, bay, distance, haze, goat, rock, castle, state, park, california, usa, red, green, nature, scenic, travel, stock, landscape, flora, foliage, plant, north america, west, coast, bay, area, stitched, panorama