Tag Archives: sea

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast, Photographs: Wildlife

Two Pelicans, Sunset Glow

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Two Pelicans, Sunset Glow

Two Pelicans, Sunset Glow. South of San Francisco, California. September 2, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Two pelicans fly over the golden sunset light of the California Pacifica ocean coastline south of San Francisco.

On September 3, 2008 my son and I drove over the hill to Santa Cruz late in the day and headed north along the Pacific Coast on Highway 1. I had several possible subjects in mind, but when they didn’t quite pan out I decided to go for an old standby – park along the top of the bluffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean and wait for seabirds to fly past on the updraft from the ocean wind. We weren’t disappointed! Many birds were doing their commute up and down the coast, including lots of gulls and several impressive flocks of pelicans.

As the birds come by I begin by trying to get focus on one or more of them, and then I (attempt to) pan smoothly as they pass by. Because it was just before sunset on this evening the light varied tremendously as the birds came past, ranging from fairly flat blue light when shooting to the south to this amazingly saturated gold (or orange?) light when the sun and ocean and distant fog bank were right behind the birds. The color of this light is real – I shot in RAW mode and use the “as shot” setting during the conversion. Hard to believe, I know…

keywords: two, pelicans, sea, bird, ocean, coast, shore, pelagic, pacific, california, usa, wildlife, nature, landscape, orange, yellow, gold, sunset, evening, central, san francisco, santa cruz, stock

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Pacific Ocean, Sunset

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Pacific Ocean, Sunset

Pacific Ocean Waves, Sunset. Pacific Ocean Coastline, Northern California. September 2, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Color photograph of wave patterns and reflections as the sun sets over the Pacific Ocean south of San Francisco, California.

I drove over to the coast on an early September evening with my son to photograph pelicans and other shore birds along coastal bluffs between Santa Cruz and San Francisco. I know of a few spots on high bluffs where you can simply pull to the side of the road, take 10 steps to the west to the edge of the bluff, and then wait for birds gliding along the cliffs and taking advantage of the updrafts to stay aloft. Sometimes the birds will come past within a few feet of your position. I had been concentrating of photographing the birds, but during the breaks between flocks and individuals it was impossible to ignore the increasingly beautiful light as the sun dropped toward the horizon, casting nearly horizontal shadows of fog-diffused light. Essentially on a whim, I pointed my 100-400mm zoom (not exactly a typical landscape/seascape lens) down at the small waves at the base of the cliff and made a few exposures just as the sun began to drop below the horizon.

keywords: color, wave, swell, reflections, pacific, ocean, coast, highway, 1, one, california, usa, pattern, sun, set, sunset, evening, san francisco, coastline, shore, sea, seashore, seascape, landscape, stock

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast, Photographs: Wildlife

Three Pelicans in Flight

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Three Pelicans in Flight

Three Pelicans in Flight. Point Lobos State Reserve, California. August 24, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Three pelicans in flight along the California coastline at Point Lobos State Reserve.

I admit it. I’m a big sucker for photographing these amazing birds, and I’m lucky to live within a short driving distance of the California coastline where it is usually easy to find and photograph them. My technique is usually to find a spot either at the top of a steep coastal cliff or on a promontory that extends a bit into the ocean, where they tend to come much closer to the land. Then I attach the long lens and wait.

But this time the story is a bit different. I was photographing a pair of sea otters alternatively cavorting and sleeping in a kelp forest near the south end of Point Lobos. I just happened to look away from the viewfinder for a moment (always a good idea!) when I saw a flock of a half dozen or more of these birds approaching over a nearby rocky ridge. I quickly swung the camera around on the tripod and managed to squeeze off a handful of shots as they passed.

This is a crop from a vertical format photograph that had a lot of white space in it. To be more accurate there was a lot of “nearly white gray space” in the photo since the birds were photographed against a background of thinning fog illuminated by the emerging sun. The only significant post-processing of this photo was to lighten the fog to virtually white so that the birds would stand out more from the background. (In answer to the inevitable question: No, the birds were not “assembled” in post-processing. They were actually obliging enough to appear in exactly this configuration as they flew over. :-)

keywords: three, pelicans, flight, fly, bird, sea, shore, wing, point lobos, state, reserve, park, california, usa, carmel, monterey, peninsula, nature, wildlife, pelagic, stock, flock

Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Point Reyes

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Point Reyes
Point Reyes. Point Reyes National Seashore, California. June 1, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Color photograph of Point Reyes and the Pacific Ocean with afternoon reflections. This photograph was made in extraordinarily windy conditions from a high point a bit further along the bluffs of the point with late afternoon sunlit brightly illuminating the ocean surface. (There is also a black and white version of this photograph.)

keywords: california, national, seashore, coast, cliff, bluff, mountain, park, pacific ocean, spring, point reyes, sea, shore, wild, nature, sky, haze, distance, travel, landscape, seascape, stock