Tag Archives: muir woods

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, Photographs: Ocean & Coast, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Creekside Fern

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Creekside Fern

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

A lone fern plant grows on the bank of the creek in the redwood forest at Muir Woods National Monument, California.

I photographed this solitary fern against the background of the main Muir Woods creek flowing across a shallow section of rocky creek bottom. Sometimes I set myself a challenge of trying to find as many photographs as possible in one small area. I paused in this one spot for perhaps 15 minutes or longer, barely moving my tripod as I composed several photographs focusing on details of the surrounding scene. In addition to this fern, I made a series of photographs of new leaves on understory trees against a background of tall redwoods and I photographed the forest floor which was in places covered with redwood sorrel, ferns, and trillium.

(Added later:) Not sure how other photographers approach photographing in a place like this, but here is a bit about how I do it. I walk very slowly. I stop and look around. I make myself look up and down. I go through a sort of mental checklist of potential subjects: tree trunks, close ups of small features, critters, light, people, foliage/flowers, water, juxtapositions of forms and angles, and so on. I spend far more time looking than photographing – sometimes I may amble for a half hour or so at the start before I even take my camera out of the bag.

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: creek, stream, brook, water, flow, ripple, wave, motion, blur, rocks, fern, leaf, plant, foliage, needles, branch, moss, bank, edge, green, growth, redwood, forest, grove, muir woods, national monument, california, usa, park, recreation, area, golden gate, travel, scenic, nature, landscape, stock

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Redwood Grove and Ferns in Morning Light

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Redwood Grove and Ferns in Morning Light

Redwood Grove and Ferns in Morning Light. Muir Woods National Monument, California. March 8, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning light streams through a redwood grove to illuminate ferns on the sloping forest floor below at Muir Woods National Monument, California.

Yes, another photo of a redwood grove at Muir Woods National Monument. As I think I wrote earlier, I’m working on creating a collection of photographs of this location and obviously the trees themselves need to have a large place in all of this work. This is a bit different – really, trust me! – than some of the other recent redwood grove shots in that it was made during sunny conditions rather than the more gloomy (but no less interesting) rainiy and cloudy conditions I had photographed earlier.

And, yes, there will be more… :-)

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: forest, woods, trees, redwoods, grove, trunks, vertical, muir woods, national monument, park, california, usa, marin, county, floor, hill, slope, ferns, illuminate, nature, frond, branch, dense, light, morning, shadow, green, stock

Commentary, Equipment, Photographs: Nature

Canon EOS 5D II: Notes on Today’s Photograph

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Since today’s photograph (“Redwood Forest, Morning“) was one of the first landscape photographs I shot with my new Canon EOS 5D II, I was interested to see how the camera would perform and what print quality might look like.

This photograph was a bit trickier than may be apparent. It was overcast and early in the morning, I was in the bottom of a deep valley, the wind was blowing, and the light was constantly changing. In addition I used a 85mm lens (the excellent EF 85mm f/1.8) on a full frame DSLR, so I had to shoot at a rather small aperture for DOF reasons, necessitating a very slow shutter speed in order to work at my preferred ISO 100.

With all of those challenges, when I made the first small test print of this photograph last night I was very impressed with the level of detail in the photograph and I’m certain that it will work as a very good sized print – in fact, this particular image almost needs to displayed large.

When a new camera body is introduced there always seems to be a string of reports of poor performance. Sometimes there is some truth to the reports, but it is my opinion that many of the reports are the result of poor technique, unrealistic expectations,  obsession with “issues” that are irrelevant in actual photographs, and general mistrust of any Big Company that sells expensive camera equipment. I read these reports and think about them a bit, but I don’t assume that they are correct until I see evidence – preferably evidence that I produce myself. The first direct evidence comes from looking closely at photographs on the monitor as I work on them in ACR and then in Photoshop, but the real evidence comes when I make a print. After doing both of the above – and contrary to some rumors you may hear – there are no issues with noise in the shadows and the overall image – even with the increased number of photosites – seems excellent in every way to me.

Does my Canon EOS 5D II produce excellent image quality? Yes. Am I seeing unusual or troubling amounts of noise? No. Are banding problems in the shadows impairing my photographs? No. Do carefully made photographs using this equipment have the potential to produce excellent prints? Yes.

Am I pleased with the results from my 5DII at this point? Yes.