Tag Archives: fog

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Punta de los Lobos Marinos

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Punta de los Lobos Marinos

Punta de los Lobos Marinos. Point Lobos, California. November 30, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Black and white photograph of winter surf at Punta de los Lobos Marinos, Point Lobos, California.

This photograph was made this past weekend, on a morning when giant surf was rolling into the central California coast, and at times overtopping the offshore rocks of the Punta de los Lobos Marinos at Point Lobos, south of Carmel, California. The is a very long daytime exposure, made possible by using a 9-stop ND filter on a very long lens.

Regarding that, some interesting – and unusual for landscape, I think – technical details. Used a Canon 5D with the 100-400mm lens at 365mm and f/22. (I didn’t worry much about the diffraction blur since blur is sort of the point. ;-) Exposure time was 20 seconds.

For a variety of reasons, I think that this is one of the best places in California to watch the impressive winter surf close up. This peninsula of rocks extends a good distance into the coastal waters and takes the full force of the incoming swell.

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Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Fog and Surf, Point Lobos

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Fog and Surf, Point Lobos

Fog and Surf, Point Lobos. Point Lobos State Reserve, California. November 30, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Black and white photograph of winter surf, fog, and coastal hills at Point Lobos, California.

When I heard that there would be huge surf along the coast today I headed straight for the Monterey Peninsula and Point Lobos. I was not disappointed! The first – for me at least – winter surf of the year brought huge offshore swells that crashed against and over the rocky shoreline at Point Lobos. A light coastal fog, augmented by spray from the surf, completed the picture.

I used a 9-stop neutral density filter and a polarizing filter on a long focal length lens so that I could get a very long exposure that would allow the waves and surf to diffuse to produce the misty effect you see here.

Obviously, our eyes don’t get to make 10 second exposures during the daylight! I think of a photograph like this one as being “subjectively accurate” rather than objectively accurate. In other words, while this exact image can’t exist in our real world experience, I think it evokes something about our response to such a scene that is true.

keywords: point lobos, fog, mist, cloud, surf, wave, ocean, sea, bay, rock, stacks, hill, mountain, forest, shore, state, park, preserve, reserve, california, usa, monterey, peninsula, big sur, coast, landscape, seascape, scenic, travel, stock, black and white

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Oak Branches and Rain, Yosemite Valley

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Oak Branches and Rain, Yosemite Valley

Oak Branches and Rain, Yosemite Valley. Yosemite National Park, California. November 2, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Colorful fall foliage on branches of a Yosemite Valley oak tree with walls of the valley seen faintly though rain.

This tree is an often photographed landmark in the meadow just to the north of Curry Village and along the roadway to the campgrounds in upper Yosemite Valley. I stopped here initially to photograph the tree with Yosemite Falls very faintly visible through the rain and mist beyond. Finishing that, I decided to try a few detail photograph of the tree itself. Here the upper edge of the Valley walls are just barely visible through the light rain.

I think this will be the last – at least for awhile – in the long series of photographs from my early November rainy weekend in Yosemite Valley earlier this year.

keywords: oak, tree, meadow, leaf, leaves, branch, cliff, wall, mountain, face, fog, cloud, rain, mist, yellow, gold, fall, autumn, season, yosemite, valley, national park, california, usa, landscape, scenic, travel, nature, foliage, stock

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Autumn Oak Grove, El Capitan Meadow

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Autumn Oak Grove, El Capitan Meadow

Autumn Oak Grove, El Capitan Meadow. Yosemite Valley, California. November 2. 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Autumn colors come to the oak groves in El Capitan Meadow with Cathedral Rocks in the distance – Yosemite Valley, California.

I think I hit this meadow at pretty much the peak of the fall color this year when I visited during the first week of November. The light rain that was falling also helped saturate the colors. El Capitan Meadow is near the base of El Capitan and is full of beautiful, large oak trees and meadow grasses and plants. Beyond the edge of the meadow the lower face of Cathedral Rocks (on the south side of the Valley, opposite El Capitan) is visible.

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