Tag Archives: late

Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Wall, Stairway, and Late Afternoon Shadows

January 4, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Late afternoon shadows cast by a stairway cross a beige stucco and wooden wall.

This is another in the wandering about with only a 50mm prime series shot on Christmas eve afternoon. I have photographed this wall and stairway before, but here the strong diagonal lines of the shadows from the stairs cut across the horizontals and verticals in the image and almost seem disorienting to me. I swore that the lines in the photo were tilted until I checked them against an on-screen grid – and they still look out of kilter to me even though I know they are not.

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.

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Dry Creek and Late-Season Meadow

December 11, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Morning light illuminates a dry creek bed winding though late season meadow grasses and trees near Fletcher Lake, Yosemite National Park, California.

As the trail at Fletcher Lake heads upward to begin the climb towards Evelyn Lake there is an area in the meadow to the left of the trail where small trees have begun to infiltrate the meadow and there is now a “mini-forest” of sorts. I’ve photographed this spot – this exact spot, actually! – before, and I often like to shoot it in the morning light when the low angle sun first hits the meadow. Here a dry seasonal runoff creek winds between the trees in this section of mixed meadow and young forest.

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.

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

Late Season Subalpine Meadow and Creek

December 9, 2009 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

A dry creekbed meanders through a boulder-filled golden late-season Sierra Nevada meadow at sunset near Evelyn Lake, Yosemite National Park, California.

This is another view of the “backyard” of my solo-backpacking camp site near Evelyn Lake back in early September of this year. Dusk has fallen across the meadow and the twisting creekbed leading to the lake, but a bit of alpenglow lingers on the clouds beyond the tree-lined ridge.

This photograph is evidence of the early onset of “fall” in the high country. Although the equinox was still nearly two weeks away, the plants here had lost their summer appearance – the meadow was almost entirely brown or golden and the small creek, which would contribute to the flooding of this lakeside meadow earlier in the season had already stopped flowing.

(By starting my “fall” season in late summer in the high country I can manage to experience fall colors for at least three months every year!. I often see the first hints of the change in the highest country even earlier than the date of this photograph. Then by late September and early October the Sierra aspen color show is in full swing. By the end of the month I can find great colors at lower elevations on the west side of the range, such as in Yosemite Valley. After that the colors continue to develop through November in the coastal areas of central and northern California, and here in the SF Bay Area there are still a lot of fall colors to be seen.)

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.

keywords: dry, brown, golden, creek, bed, meander, curve, twist, boulder, rock, filled, late, season, summer, autumn, fall, meadow, sub, alpine, brush, bush, plant, flora, foliage, sierra, nevada, mountain, range, sunset, dusk, evelyn, lake, backpack, camp, hike, wilderness, nature, landscape, sky, forest, grove, yosemite, national, park, california, usa, cloud, pink, stock

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

Meadow, Oak Forest, and Cliffs – Autumn, Yosemite Valley

November 18, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Autumn color on meadow, forest, and cliffs at Yosemite Valley, California.

If it isn’t clear by now… I really like photographing the “treescape” of Yosemite Valley – at any time of the year but especially in the fall.

This was a technically challenging photograph to produce. Several things attracted me to the scene including the color of the shaded oak in the right foreground, the subtle light on the tree trunks coming from the reflection from a cliff that is far out of the frame to the left, the very yellow tree just left of the center of the frame, and the sunlit slopes of the Valley walls beyond, carpeted with trees. In addition to finding the right spot to “see” all of this, the exposure issues were challenging.

Dynamic range was obviously one issue. The foreground oak and certain other elements are in relatively dark shade, yet these areas include important details. At the same time, the far cliff is in full sun and – to add to the fun – includes some very reflective sections of rock that are extremely bright. The solution for me was to make two exposures – one for the shaded foreground areas and another for the distant and very bright cliff. The two images were then blended in post-production using masks. (For those who know the term “HDR,” this is not HDR.)

The second problem had to do with color balance and/or color perception. Though you might not “see” it while standing there looking at the scene, there are some very complex issues here with the color of the light. On one hand there are elements that naturally have very warm tones, including parts of the meadow in the sun and that small very yellow oak tree left of center. But other elements are actually very blue – the foreground, shaded vegetation and parts of the meadow because they are illuminated primarily by the very blue open sky above, and the distant hillside because of the haze in the Valley. Our eyes and brain “correct” for this when we are on the scene and we don’t recognize these color issues – to us it just “looks the way it looks” when we are standing there. However, put this lighting in a photograph “as is” and it looks quite wrong! So I had to make some selective color adjustments to move these areas a bit away from the blue tones and in the case of the far cliff to desaturate a bit. Some of this could be done in a general way, but other parts of it had to be done bit by bit using masks.

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.

keywords: forest, grove, pine, fir, oak, season, fall, autumn, color, yellow, gold, orange, meadow, grass, stump, snag, tree, trunk, branch, leaf, leaves, light, cliff, nature, landscape, scenic, travel, midday, late, morning, haze, atmosphere, recession, tall, rock, sierra, nevada, mountain, range, stock

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