Tag Archives: grove

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Autumn Trees, Yosemite Valley

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Autumn Trees, Yosemite Valley
“Autumn Trees, Yosemite Valley” — Yosemite Valley trees with colorful autumn foliage.

this spot had some of the best autumn color I encountered on my end-of-October two-day photography visit to Yosemite Valley. In much of the Valley the colors of autumn are subtle — meadows with golden-brown grasses, riverside plants turning yellow, and in some places deciduous trees with fall foliage. But if you look closely you’ll see fall color almost everywhere in this scene, including at the base of the distant cliffs.

This clearing is a bit unusual in Yosemite Valley. Most of the Valley is covered with coniferous forests, and where it is more open it is typically in meadow terrain. Here I think the thinner trees may be due to the very rocky ground, places where the Merced River overflows seasonally.

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G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email


All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Cottonwood Grove, Evening

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Cottonwood Grove, Evening
“Cottonwood Grove, Evening” — Late-day light shines into a cottonwood grove along the Merced River, Yosemite Valley.

At the end of October I spent a couple of days photographing fall color in Yosemite Valley. Previously I posted about “three” main sources of fall foliage int he valley, listing big leaf maple, dogwood, and black oaks. But I left out another important tree, the cottonwood. This photograph was made within a grove of cottonwoods growing along a quiet section of the Merced River.

This particular spot is one that I’ve photographed quite a few times in the past. It is a little trickier to get there these days, since the park has limited access points in order to discourage visitors from trampling fragile locations that were once accessible. I had to search a bit to find a way to get here that didn’t violate the protected zones. Once I did, I walked along the river bank in later afternoon to this spot, where the trees grow thickly near the water.

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G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email


All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Tall Aspens, Fall Color

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Tall Aspens, Fall Color
“Tall Aspens, Fall Color” — A large grove of big aspen trees with autumn color, on an Eastern Sierra Nevada hillside.

This is a type of autumn aspen photograph that I think of as a “wall of color.” Here there are more of the tall and straight trees than we see in many places in the Sierra, and the entire grove is at or near its fall peak. It helps that I had a somewhat elevated vantage point to make the photograph, part of what lets me fill the frame with color.

To look at this photograph you might imagine a scene almost like New England fall colors. However, while such colors there can go on for miles and cover successive mountains (hills, really) and valleys, in the Sierra the color is more concentrated. Groves, many of which are small, can stand out brilliantly against the predominant background of dark conifer trees or rocks or sagebrush.

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G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Aspen Transition

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Aspen Transition
“Aspen Transition” — Autumn aspen trees begin their seasonal color transition in the Eastern Sierra Nevada.

The colors of autumn aspen trees are so impressive that you might think that photographing them is simple. But there are challenges, at least not if you want the best possible photographs. The intense fall colors present a challenge to modern digital cameras. Very intense colors,like the yellows, reds, and oranges of these trees, can “blow out” the image if you use a “normal” exposure. The color is very intense, especially if the leaves are in direct sunlight. That’s why I often prefer to photograph these trees in soft, filtered light ore even in shade.

These trees are part of a very large grove on the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada. In this frame you can see trees at almost every stage of the transition, from green leaves to a few that are almost bare. In this case the combination of the Sierra crest to the west (right) and some scattered clouds served to make the light more gentle.

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G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.