Tag Archives: mountains

Photographs: Central California

Spring Morning, Calero Hills

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Spring Morning, Calero Hills

Spring Morning, Calero Hills. Santa Clara County, California. March 8, 2008. G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

This is a stitch of four 12MP frames, the result being a highly detailed image that should hold up as a 2′ x 4′ print. (It is probably getting a bit “old” to hear me reporting that the actual image contains far more detail that can possibly be shown in a web-sized image… so I won’t. :-)

This photograph was made along a familiar trail – actually a bit off the familiar trail – in a park I frequently visit in the southern portion of Santa Clara County.

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Photographs: Yosemite

Winter Grove, Yosemite Valley

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Winter Grove, Yosemite Valley
Winter Grove, Yosemite Valley. Yosemite National Park, California. February 16, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

I’m always looking for different views of the famous – and quite obvious – subjects in The Valley such as Yosemite Falls. Here I was intrigued by the shapes of leafless winter trees with snow in the foreground and the falls and cliffs in the background.

Normally, one would probably regard this as a poorly lit photo of the falls. However, at least in my view, the effect is to treat the typically-central waterfall as part of the background and instead draw attention to the forms of the trees, whose shapes echo the curves of the cliffs and the shadow line across the falls.

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Photographs: Night, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Moonlit Cove, Thousand Island Lake

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Moonlit Cove, Thousand Island Lake

Moonlit Cove, Thousand Island Lake. Ansel Adams Wilderness, California. July 27, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

I spent a few hours on this cold, clear July evening photographing the light of the full moon, star trails, and reflections on the surface of Thousand Island Lake.

When using a digital camera to make such long exposures one must adopt a very patient attitude. First, find the spot for your photograph and set everything up in the dark. Then make an exposure of perhaps 15 minutes. Because DSLRs are subject to noise on these long exposures, you then wait another 15 minutes while the camera completes a “dark frame” exposure to determine how to compensate for the noise in the original exposure. Yes, it takes 30 minutes (and lots of battery power!) to make a 15 minute exposure.

You could become impatient. Or you could, as I do, sit back and enjoy the peace and quite of a beautiful moonlit Sierra night.

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Photographs: Night, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Moonlight, Thousand Island Lake, Mounts Ritter and Banner

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Moonlight, Thousand Island Lake, Mounts Ritter and Banner
Moonlight, Thousand Island Lake, Mounts Ritter and Banner. Ansel Adams Wilderness, California. July 26, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

Photographed on a full moon summer evening in the Ansel Adams wilderness. Taking these photographs was a wonderful and unusual experience – I had to find the shot and then still silently for many minutes as the camera exposed the frame – as long as 15-20 minutes. It is rare to simply sit quietly for such a long time in such surroundings. :-)

(The posting of this photograph is somewhat timely since I’ll be participating in a night photography shoot a Mare Island Naval Shipyard this weekend sponsored by The Nocturnes.)

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