Tag Archives: great

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

Great Blue Heron, Foggy Pasture

March 24, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A lone great blue heron overlooks a pasture in clearing fog, San Joaquin Valley, California

I photographed this critter on my first bird photography trip of the season in the Central Valley of California, during which I visited several wildlife refuges in the Merced area. In typical Central Valley form, the day started out very foggy – tule fog hugged the valley floor and obscured the view in many places. By late morning most of the fog had dissipated, and hazy light came through the still-humid cool-season atmosphere.

When I first arrived at this refuge, the fog was so thick that it was more or less impossible to photograph the birds – though I tried! Eventually I reconsidered and did some landscape photography in the mysterious atmosphere of the thick fog. As it finally began to clear, I turned my attention back to the migratory birds. I found this solitary blue heron in a pasture at the far corner of the refuge, and I used my car as a “blind” to eventually pull almost parallel to it on the gravel access road, then stopping to make a series of telephoto shots with the foggy pasture as the backdrop.

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: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Base of the Organ, Morning

December 3, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Autumn foliage begins to change along the base of the Organ and on the slopes of the Great White Throne, Zion Canyon

During three visits to Zion National Park and Zion Canyon during the past year, the area around “Big Bend” in the canyon has become a bit of a fixation for me. There is a lot to see and photograph here, and the lighting changes a lot during the course of the day. The bend in the canyon creates a sort of closed-in effect, and it is possible to focus both on the very small features and on the very large, including the canyon walls and more distant examples of vegetation climbing up the cliff walls.

Two major features make an appearance in this photograph. The near, darker columns are the base of a feature called “The Organ” that sits near the apex of the horseshoe bend that the canyon makes here as the Virgin River goes downstream. Beyond that are the huge walls of “The Great White Throne,” a towering feature in this portion of the canyon whose color is lighter than that of some of the other reddish rock cliffs nearby. I made this photograph fairly early in the morning before any direct sunlight had begun to affect the scene and when a certain amount of haze was still in the air. The foliage at the base of The Organ is just beginning to show the tiniest bit of autumn color, but higher on the cliffs of The Great White Throne there are trees that are well along on this transition.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Flight, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Wildlife

Great Blue Heron Taking Flight

November 27, 2012 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

A great blue heron takes flight from a foggy field at the Merced National Wildlife Refuge California

To retell a story I’ve shared before, I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that despite living in California for decades I had barely been aware of the astonishing winter migratory bird population of the state’s Central Valley until a chance encounter with a colleague led to a “wild goose chase” trip into an area south of Sacramento not so long ago. Now I’m now officially hooked! I’m certainly no expert on these birds – geese, herons, egrets, and more – but I’ve become very interested in seeing and photographing them.

While returning from another trip last month I saw a flock of geese over the Central Valley, and was reminded that this seasonal migration is again underway. I resolved to try to get out there earlier this year, and I made my first trip a few days after Thanksgiving. I drove over Pacheco Pass through Los Banos, entered the valley fog, and headed out to the Merced National Wildlife Refuge, a place I’m starting to know rather well. The fog was even thicker when I arrived at the refuge, and I could hear a lot more birds than I could really see, though I did catch a faint view of a flock of white Ross’s geese through the murk at one point. Eventually the fog began to thin a bit, and here and there muted sunlight began to shine through. As I circled the refuge I saw this lone great blue heron standing in a field in this transitional light. Using my car as a blind, I stopped a ways back and used my longest lens to make several photographs as the bird mostly stood there. Bit by bit, I was able to edge the car forward and continue to shoot from the driver’s seat, eventually being roughly parallel with the bird. I stopped and shut off the engine and continued to watch and make more photographs. Eventually, the heron apparently got bored with me and lifted off to find more interesting company, and I was able to get a couple of shots as this impressive bird took to the still-foggy air.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Bird, Flooded Fields

January 31, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 4 Comments

A bird wades in a flooded Central Valley winter field in front of a receding line of power poles and some farm buildings on a levee.

This is (yet another!) photograph of the flooded fields along a country road near the Cosumnes River in California’s Central Valley. I was shooting almost directly into the sun through remaining fog and haze near the middle of a winter day. The building sits on a levee between the fields and the bird was kind enough to pose for me while I made the photograph.

Given one of the subjects subject that I’ve been discussing at the blog during the past few days, it seems reasonable to point out that this image involved significant work during the post-processing phase – what we used to refer to as “the darkroom,” but which we now refer to as “photoshop.” I used a variety of techniques to push this image towards what I had in mind – a very high key interpretation that I hope evokes the sensation of looking into a backlit hazy atmosphere that is so bright that you can barely look at it. (In fact, it was very much like this when I made the photograph – as you can see it required a 1/1000 second exposure at f/8 and ISO 100. That’s bright!) In general I brought the overall brightness up to nearly pure white in the lightest portions of the image, and I employed some other techniques to lower the amount of contrast in the sky yet keep the building, the poles, and the levee fairly dark. Although all of this was accomplished in the “digital darkroom,” all of the processes are equivalent to those that might have been applied by photographers working in the traditional darkroom.

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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.

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