Tag Archives: sempervirens

Photographs: Coastal Redwoods, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Redwood Forest, Sunbeams

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Redwood Forest, Sunbeams

Redwood Forest, Sunbeams. Muir Woods National Monument, California. October 24. 2009. © G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Beams of morning sunlight stream between the trees of the redwood forest at Muir Woods National Monument, California.

This is another photograph of the wonderful morning sunlight during my late October visit to Muir Woods National Monument. I usually visit and photograph Muir Woods in softer cloudy or foggy conditions which are, to be honest, easier to photograph. That diffused light lights the shadows and reduces the overall dynamic range of the scenes. However on this morning the sun was out and the light was magical, streaming through the forest canopy and between the giant trees to light up the air and the forest floor.

I perhaps mentioned that the previous photograph I posted from Muir Woods required me to merge two exposures to deal with this huge dynamic range – but this one required three exposures separated from each other by 2-stop brackets! The brightest exposure captured some detail in the trunks of the trees and the plants near the bottom of the frame, while the darkest exposure let me retain a bit of the branch detail in the very bright area where the light comes through between the trees.

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.

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Photographs: Coastal Redwoods, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Redwood Forest, Morning Light

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Redwood Forest, Morning Light

Redwood Forest, Morning Light. Muir Woods National Monument, California. October 25, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning light in the redwood forest at Muir Woods National Monument, California.

On a late October weekend when I had intended to photograph in Yosemite Valley, I instead ended up shooting at Muir Woods National Monument in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area north of San Francisco. I shoot here frequently – in fact, some of my photos are sold in the gift shop at the monument – and I’m working on building up a body of work representing a lot of different subjects at different times of the year and in varying conditions.

I often prefer to shoot there when there is overcast or even in fog or rainy conditions. However, on this morning it was sunny! This poses a real challenge when shooting in the redwood groves, since the shaded areas can be quite dark but where a beam of light finds its way to the forest floor or hits plants or trees it can be extremely bright, creating some very wide dynamic range conditions. In order to capture this – and create a photograph that suggests the way I saw the scene at the time of the exposure – I often combine two (and sometimes more) exposures in order to deal with this, which is what I did in this photograph.

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.

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Photographs: Coastal Redwoods, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Redwood Trees and Ferns

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Redwood Trees and Ferns

Redwood Trees and Ferns. Muir Woods National Monument, California. August 19, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A group of closely-spaced redwood trees grows above ground-hugging ferns with green trees behind, Muir Woods National Monument, California.

In mid-August I visited Muir Woods (only a 90 minute drive from my home) to drop off some photographs and spend some time making new ones. I always arrive there very early – the crowds are otherwise overwhelming, especially in the summer – and when I got there almost no one else had yet entered the park. Because it was a morning with high fog, I was looking forward to shooting plants in the diffuse light that creates such wonderful saturated colors.

I wandered up and around the usual short loop that would be very busy in a few hours, but there were only a few other people there. Near the end of my wandering, as I was almost ready to exit, the fog began to thin just a bit and as I passed this group of trees there was enough light to better define their forms and texture.

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.

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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.