Tag Archives: large

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

Ross’s Geese in Flight, Central Valley Evening

February 15, 2012 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

A large flock of Ross’s geese takes flight in the sunset sky above Central Valley ponds, California.

Yes. More geese. And I’m sure that before the season ends there will be yet more still. (I have some images tucked away in my mind that I would like to try to convert into actual photographs this year if I can get back out to the Central Valley in the right sort of conditions.) The object here was to try to capture the rising flock filling the sky in this beautiful early evening light.

I think I admitted recently that I’m a newcomer when it comes to these birds. Although I’ve spend years in the outdoors of California, I somehow managed to almost completely miss the annual bird migration much less get a remote sense of its scale and beauty. At some point in the past decade or so I had my first real encounter with the birds that gave me a clue that something I needed to know about was going on. It was an early winter evening – I believe it was on the first evening of a long November drive up highway 5 to Seattle. I was well up the Sacramento Valley as twilight arrived, and for some reason I had stopped – probably pulled out at one of the roadside rest stops. I heard the sound and looked up and saw giant flocks of birds (of what type I hadn’t a clue) stretched out against the sky, and that moment stuck with me. Then last year a chance meeting with a colleague at the espresso stand at my college led me to look for the birds more seriously. As we stood in line, my friend mentioned that she had seen my photography and said something about the birds. I asked where they were, if I recall correctly, and she gave me directions to a place a ways south of Sacramento. I had originally had different plans, but the next morning I headed up there very early, arrived to a completely fogged-in road, but the sound of the birds all around me and occasional misty glimpses of sandhill cranes throughout the fog had me hooked. This year I’ve already been out there several times and I’m ready to go again!

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.

Deals and Sales, Equipment

New Canon ‘Instant Rebate’ – Lenses and Speedlites

November 28, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 3 Comments

11/28/11 – New Canon ‘Instant Rebate’ Prices at B&H

(Note: Check the “Deals” page on this blog for more on this promotion, news about deals from ThinkTank Photo, and other periodic updates.)

UPDATE: Canon extended the ‘instant rebate’ promotion into early February. If you are going to purchase from B&H, the last full day to do so is FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012!

The Canon ‘Instant Rebate’ promotion at site sponsor B&H features a lot of interesting gear at even lower prices than were available during a late 2011 promotion. In fact, the selection of lenses and electronic flashes and the size of the discounts seem unusually large.

Click the link to You may purchase directly through the following links to B&H (and help support this blog in the process) or click this link to see the full list of eligible equipment and/or purchase from B&H. It runs from November 27 through FEBRUARY 4. (Note that B&H has very limited ordering hours on the final day of the promotion.)

Lenses (Note: This is an exceptional list of lenses and the discounts are larger than usual)

Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM Autofocus Lens (save $90)
Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM Autofocus Lens (save $170)
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM Lens (save $60)

Canon Super Wide Angle EF 14mm f/2.8L II USM Autofocus Lens (save $240)
Canon Super Wide Angle EF 20mm f/2.8 USM Autofocus Lens (save $60)
Canon EF 24mm f/1.4L II USM Autofocus Lens (save $180)
Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L USM Wide-Angle Autofocus Lens (save $150)

Canon EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM Lens (save $100)
Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM Zoom Lens (save $120)
Canon Zoom Wide Angle-Telephoto EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM Autofocus Lens (save $120)

Canon Normal EF 50mm f/1.2L USM Autofocus Lens USM (save $180)
Canon 50mm f/1.4 USM Autofocus Lens (save $40)
Canon Normal EF 50mm f/1.8 II Autofocus Lens (save $15)
Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM Autofocus Lens (save $230)
Canon 85mm f/1.8 EF USM Autofocus Lens (save $40)
Canon Telephoto EF 100mm f/2.0 USM Autofocus Lens (save $50)

Canon 50mm f/2.5 Compact Macro Autofocus Lens (save $30)
Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM Lens (save $60)
Canon Macro Photo MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x Manual Focus Lens (save $110)
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM Lens (save $110)
Canon 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro Autofocus Lens (save $60)
Canon Telephoto EF 180mm f/3.5L Macro USM Autofocus Lens (save $170)

Canon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6L IS USM Autofocus Lens (save $270)
Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM Telephoto Zoom Lens (save $300)
Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM Telephoto Zoom Lens (save $150)
Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM Lens (save $150)
Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM Lens (save $75)
Canon EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM Lens (save $140)
Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM Telephoto Lens (save $150)
Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM Autofocus Lens (save $170)

Canon Telephoto EF 135mm f/2.0L USM Autofocus Lens (save $110)
Canon Telephoto EF 300mm f/4.0L IS Image Stabilizer USM Autofocus Lens (save $140)

Canon 400mm f/5.6L USM Autofocus Lens (save $130)

Canon Wide Tilt/Shift TS-E 17mm f/4L Manual Focus Lens (save $260)
Canon TS-E 24mm f/3.5L II Tilt-Shift Manual Focus Lens (save $230)
Canon TS-E 45mm f/2.8 Normal Tilt Shift Manual Focus Lens (save $150)
Canon Telephoto Tilt Shift TS-E 90mm f/2.8 Manual Focus Lens (save $150)

Speedlites

Canon Speedlite 580EX II (save $50)
Canon 430EX II Speedlite (save $30)
Canon Speedlite 320EX (save $25)
Canon Speedlite 270EX II (save $15)
Canon MT-24EX Macro Twin Lite Ringlite Flash (save $60)
Canon MR-14EX TTL Macro Ring Lite Flash (save $45)

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

Trees and Granite Bowl

November 21, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A variety of trees grow on a shallow layer of sandy soil in the middle of a large granite bowl, Yosemite National Park.

While the small, stunted and contorted trees that grow in impossibly small and barren cracks in the granite are amazing examples of how life can thrive with minimal support and against all odds, in some ways these groves of larger trees are at least as surprising. This group includes some very large and old specimens, yet they are growing in what cannot be much more than a foot or so of sandy soil washed down the surface of this glaciated granite slab – which elsewhere within its area supports nothing this extensive. In what must be the lowest part of the descending surface of the bowl, where perhaps more moisture is found and more sand and gravel transported, this “soil” – largely sand mixed with rocks and boulders – has collected and somehow these trees have managed to put down roots that allow them to grow and fill out a small grove.

I made the photograph in the very late afternoon as the sun was heading toward real evening light. The light is coming in at a low angle from the left and is just beginning to take on the warm coloration of evening. Because it was partly cloudy, I waited until the shadow from a thin cloud muted the light on the granite surface of the bowl in the background.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Aspen Grove, Boulders

October 26, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A grove of autumn aspen trees among large boulders, Bishop Creek, California.

There is something special and perhaps hard to define about the light inside an aspen grove as the leaves change color in the autumn. It is a visually complex place in many ways – various colorful leaves are overhead, more leaves are dropping constantly to the ground, the ground itself is littered with layers of leaves ranging from brand now and colorful to old and black, other materials such as rocks and grasses and brush may grow between the trees, and the interlocking branches of the closely spaced trees can make progress difficult to nearly impossible. And every grove seems to have its own unique personality. Some will be full of tall and straight trees, and may allow more light in. Others may consist of trees barely taller than a person, and thin-truck trees may be packed closely together. Some have been affected by difficult soil or heavy snow and are full of bent and twisted trees.

This grove is almost within a small campground in the south fork of Bishop Creek. I have shot in this area in the past since a nearby section of the grove often seems to suddenly drop masses of colorful leaves very quickly, so it can be a good place to shoot leaves on the ground. This time, though, I wandered in a different direction and ended up in this area where smallish and seemingly stunted trees grew among large rocks and boulders. The challenge was to try to find a composition in this very busy scene. The first challenge is finding a spot that is open enough to show an expanse of the grove, followed by then moving the camera – sometimes by fractions on an inch – to try to come up with some reasonable alignment of trees and boulders, all the while trying to avoid letting the overly bright sky end up in the frame.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.

(Basic EXIF data may be available by “mousing over” large images in posts when this page is viewed on the web. Leave a comment if you want to know more.)

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