Tag Archives: macro

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

Aspen Leaves, Autumn Color

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Aspen Leaves, Autumn Color
Eastern Sierra Nevada aspen leaves at their peak of fall color.

Aspen Leaves, Autumn Color. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Eastern Sierra Nevada aspen leaves at their peak of fall color.

Most of the time I tend to treat aspen trees as part of the larger landscape, perhaps with a grove or a few trees as the subject, or even including some trees of a larger scene. But every so often I get the urge to wander inside a grove and photograph individual leaves up close. I spent an hour or so doing just that at an Eastern Sierra grove that was full of leaves spanning the full spectrum of aspen color, from green through yellow and orange to red.

I photographed the subjects in this series using a handheld camera and a macro lens. (Typically I would use a tripod and put a zoom lens on the camera.) By shooting handheld I was able to explore a wide range of composition spontaneously. That is useful with this subject since even very small changes in camera position can produce entirely different juxtapositions of foreground leaves and the beautiful blur of background color and light.

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.

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Photographs: Nature

Tidy Tips Flower

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Tidy Tips Flower
A spring tidy tips flower

Tidy Tips Flower. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A spring tidy tips flower.

This photographs takes me back just a few months to this past April, when a wetter-than-normal winter produced a spectacular wildflower bloom all over California. The state’s late-winter and spring transition is always special, but in these wet years it can astound. Places that are dry and brown most of the year are magically transformed — with fields of lush grasses and wildflowers everywhere.

In early April we made a weeklong trip to some of these typically dry areas to photograph the brief display. We spent a couple of days in the hills located roughly between the coast and the Central Valley. As we headed east, into increasingly drier climates, we stopped at one remarkable valley carpeted with wildflowers, the place where I made this photograph.

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

Photographs: Nature

Love-In-A-Mist Flower

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Love-In-A-Mist Flower
The flower of “love-in-a-mist,” or nigella damascena.

Love-In-A-Mist Flower. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The flower of “love-in-a-mist,” or nigella damascena.

When it comes to flowers, I’m somewhat unsophisticated. It has always been this way, even with wildflowers that I have encountered for years. I only know the names of a few of them and the Latin names of virtually none. On the other hand, I often do “know” them by appearance, by location, by the annual time of their appearance, and more.

I’m perhaps even worse when it comes to domesticated flowers! I know a rose when I see one, but identify what type of rose? Nope. And there are a lot of flowers that are, to me… simply flowers. This love-in-a mist flower is in that category. I had not heard of it, so I got to have the fun experience of “discovering” it on a recent visit to a botanical garden. Everything about this flower surprises me — the blue petals, the green and purple near its center, and the wild shapes it holds.

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

Photographs: Nature

Triteleia Flowers

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Triteleia Flowers
Triteleia (“pretty face”) wildflowers, Pinnacles National Park

Triteleia Flowers. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Triteleia (“pretty face”) wildflowers, Pinnacles National Park.

I encountered this lovely batch of flowers on a long day-hike at Pinnacles National Park in mid-April. I arrived in the early morning on this spring day, when wildflowers were still going strong, and headed up a familiar trail to a reservoir. (For those who know the place, I avoided the route through the cave. Been there, done that… and I was caring a pack full of camera equipment and a tripod.)

The route I followed began by heading up the bottom of a small valley that sometimes has more of the character of a canyon, with steep walls that limit how much sunshine gets into there. Apparently this flower likes that, preferring canyons that offer some shade. While I usually do notice the larger wildflowers while hiking, I’m not necessarily one to see all of the colorful things growing here in the spring… but carrying a camera with a macro lens encourages me to pay more attention!

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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