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Trailside Ferns, Spring

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Trailside Ferns, Spring

Trailside Ferns, Spring. Quicksilver Hills, California. March 28, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

New spring ferns grow on an embankment along a trail in the Almaden Quicksilver Hills, California.

I photographed these ferns on the shortest hike I know, on the trail closest to my home. But this trail holds a small valley that contains an incredible number of wildflowers and lush growth every spring. Today the wildflowers seemed to just be getting started, but everything was in that brief California spring phase when the earth is still wet and plants are growing like crazy – it only lasts a short time, and a few weeks from now everything will be dry once again. I spotted these small ferns growing in a rocky embankment right next to the trail, and right at the spot where I had to stop and turn around. (The other thing that spring brings is yard work, and I had an afternoon date with the yard. ;-)

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: almaden, quicksilver, county, park, san jose, santa clara, california, usa, spring, hike, trail, bank, fern green, leaf, foliage, new, sun, light, embankment, hills, valley, shade, new, scenic, stock

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Redwood Forest

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Redwood Forest

Redwood Forest. Muir Woods National Monument, California. March 21, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Towering trees in the redwood forest of Muir Woods National Monument, California.

This photograph was made very near to the site of the previously-posted photograph of a fern along the creek bank – I moved the tripod to the other side of the creek for this one. It features the wonderful diffused light coming through the overcast of an incoming storm and then being filtered through the canopy of the redwood forest.

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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: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Oregon Oxalis

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Oregon Oxalis

Oregon Oxalis. Muir Woods National Monument, California. February 28, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Bright leaves of Oregon oxalis carpet the forest floor under the redwood trees at Muir Woods National Monument, California.

I suppose this might more accurately be titled “More Oregon Oxalis” since I posted similar photograph in landscape orientation earlier. When I make a photograph like this one I often try to get versions in both portrait (vertical) and landscape (horizontal) orientation – partly because I think the subject looks interesting both way and partly for more practical reasons. By the way, I understand that the plant is also known as “redwood sorrell.”

Earlier today someone posted a comment on another of my photographs of this subject and pointed out that the plant also produces very pretty little pink flowers. I think they were just beginning to appear when I shot this – I saw a few of them, and a bud is barely visible near the center of this photo. I may return to Muir Woods soon, and the next time I’ll keep an eye out specifically for the flowers.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: muir, woods, national, monument, park, marin, forest, nature, california, usa, oxalis, oregon, oreganas, redwood, tree, sorrell, bright, leaf, leaves, carpet, floor, marin county, water, drop, rain, dew, morning, foliage, nature, scenic, travel, trail, hike, stock, green, clover

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Steps, Ocean View Trail

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Steps, Ocean View Trail. Muir Woods National Monument. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.
Steps, Ocean View Trail. Muir Woods National Monument. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

Steps, Ocean View Trail. Muir Woods National Monument, California. February 28, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Steps ascend a steep hill through the redwoods near the start of the Ocean View Trail, Muir Woods National Monument, California.

This is a scene that I have photographed before – in particular I recall photographing these steps early in the evening before one of the winter solstice events at Muir Woods, when the trails through the grove are lit by candles. On the last day of February this year I visited again, but this time very early in the morning before many other visitors had arrived. I was thinking “color” when I made this photograph (and I may still post the color version eventually) but I ended up liking this black and white version quite a bit. I like the diagonal division between the upper left half which mostly includes the vertical forms of the redwood trees and the lower right section which includes the steps leading in to the trees.

This was actually a somewhat tricky scene to photograph. While the dynamic range was quite huge, ranging from the deep shadows on the sides of the trees at the left to the almost sunlit foliage beyond the trees, overall the scene was quite dim. Because I needed great depth of field I shot at f/16. Because I wanted the cleanest image possible I shot at ISO 100. All of this meant that I ended up making a 2.5 second exposure! Still there were post-processing challenges, including bringing up a bit of detail in the darker areas of the scene while at the same time being careful to not increase the brightness in the bright spots. And after paying attention to the extremes some work had to be done on the middle tones to get some life back there.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.keywords: muir, woods, national, monument, park, marin, forest, nature, california, usa, steps, stairs, railing, fence, trail, ocean, view, redwood, grove, trees, ferns, clover, oregon oxalis, redwood sorrell, green, canopy, light, filtered, trunk, landscape, scenic, travel, outdoor, hike, stock