Tag Archives: golden

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Cascade, Reflected Sunlight

February 12, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 4 Comments

Sunlight reflects on granite ledges next to cascades on Tenaya Creek.

In this iteration of the “blurry-fast-moving-water-in-Sierra-creek” photograph, I was looking to cram a variety of elements into the frame – as you can see, the entire photograph is not filled with water. There is a transition from white water with flashes of sunlit light at the tops of the waves, through the water with smaller areas of foam, to water reflecting the golden late afternoon light from a cliff face on the other side of the creek, to some bits of streamside granite slabs along the lower right edge of the frame. To me, these areas of shallow water and wet rock reflecting more distant light almost have a molten quality.

One of the trickiest things about this photograph for me was dealing with the strong contrast between very blue tones in the shaded parts of the water and the very warm tones of the reflections. As every photographer knows, the light in shade can be very blue, especially when the subject is supposed to be white and is lit almost entirely by the blue sky, as is the case in parts of the turbulent water. Adjustments are necessary in order to make it look realistic and conform with the colors that our eyes tell are are there. (Our vision system is remarkable… but it is not objectively accurate!) But adjustments to the blue water, if applied to the warm tones of the reflecting granite, can end up looking bizarre and overdone in the opposite direction!

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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Golden Gate and Bay Bridges, Morning Haze

February 7, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

Black and white photograph of Golden Gate Bridge north tower, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, and the East Bay Hills in morning haze.

I sometimes enjoy playing the juxtaposition game, going up into the Marin Headlands and using a long lens to juxtapose elements of the Golden Gate Bridge with other elements of the landscape, human and natural, of San Francisco Bay. One of the most iconic examples of such photographs is the one that many have shot (including me!) that centers the tip of the Transamerica building within a frame formed by the north tower of the bridge. But there are many other possibilities that might be at least as interesting, and which may depend more on the changing and often very interesting conditions of atmosphere and light over the bay.

This photograph was made from a point very close to that from which the Transamerica building photograph can be made, but a bit higher on the road up into the headlands. When I arrived just before dawn in the general area there were quite a few other photographers who I presume were there to photograph the dawn scene. (This is a difficult task, as it requires you to shoot essentially directly into the sun if you want San Francisco in your shot.) I was surprised when essentially all of the other photographers packed up and left a few minutes after the sun came up! (In their defense, it was windy up there – so windy that it made shooting with a long lens quite a challenge!) The sunrise wasn’t all that amazing, at least not if you know this area pretty well. But the low haze/fog over the east bay hills and some overhead clouds filtering the light a bit created the potential for some interesting and moody light – at least if I used a long lens to isolate small sections of the scene.

I’m almost a bit embarrassed to admit that I picked my first shooting location not based on the scene but rather on trying to avoid the wind! I went up the road to a spot where I could shoot in the lee of a hill side. After getting that out of my system, I went the other way and entered a very windy area along the road below the parking lot. I eventually found a spot that lined up the two great bridges of San Francisco Bay – the north tower of the Golden Gate Bridge in the foreground and two towers and a central span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge in the distance, both backed by that low fog and haze and beyond the East Bay Hills.

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

Redwood Forest Ferns

January 7, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

A dense growth of ferns grows beneath the coast redwood trees at Muir Woods National Monument, California.

I continue my year end (though it new extends into the new “year beginning”) review of all of the past year’s raw files with this photograph from May 2010. In this part of California, May is a time of transition. Although the calendar still says spring, in the moderate climate of coastal California the wild growth of early spring is over, and many annual plants have reached maturity. To see these ferns in growth mode you would have to visit the redwood forest earlier. But by May, especially here where the forest holds the moisture longer and keeps the temperatures cooler, many plants have reached their peak of growth. These ferns were growing alongside one of the trails through the main, popular section of the park – though I avoid the crowds of tourists coming across the Golden Gate bridge from San Francisco and get the soft and beautiful morning light by arriving at Muir Woods very early.

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.

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco

Fog, San Francisco, Dawn

December 20, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 4 Comments

Winter fog illuminated by dawn light engulfs the skyline of San Francisco.

The conditions changed radically during the half hour or so during which I stopped on my way to Muir Woods to photograph the San Francisco skyline from above the Golden Gate Bridge. I was initially concerned that the morning would be too clear, since I am usually more interested in scenes with varied atmosphere. When I arrived it was mostly clear, though there was a bit of low fog out over the bay and some low clouds clustered above San Francisco, especially the downtown area where the tops of buildings were in the clouds.

I made a series of photographs of the skyline using my longest lens – others may appear here before long. This was one of the last ones I was able to make as the clouds thickened and eventually blocked my view completely. (What had started as a largely bright and clear early morning eventually evolved into a very foggy scene.)

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.

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.