Tag Archives: shadow

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

Spring Ferns, Muir Woods

May 16, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Black and white photograph of spring ferns growing in the redwood forest at Muir Woods National Monument, California.

I barely caught this bunch of ferns alongside Redwood Creek as the morning sun was approaching them. As I set up and started to shoot the ferns were in shade but picking up some diffused light starting to come through the forest canopy. I probably got no more than a minute of shooting time before a beam of sun poked through and illuminated the right part of the scene… far too brightly!

I considered sharing this as a color image – it is full of rich green from the deep forest light on the spring leaves in this moist place. However, the more I worked with it the more I felt that the textures and patterns of the fern leaves and the gradations of light and shadow would be overpowered by the intense green of the color rendition.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L USM at 149mm
ISO 400, f/16, .6 second

keywords: spring, fern, frond, plant, leaf, branch, nature, foliage, flora, muir, woods, national, monument, golden, gate, recreation, area, park, forest, grove, redwood, sequoia, sempervirens, coastal, black and white, monochrome, light, shadow, overlap, scenic, travel, marin, county, california, usa, north america, stock

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

Redwood Grove Panorama

May 15, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 4 Comments

Panoramic photograph of light transitioning to deep shade in a redwood grove near Hillside Trail at Muir Woods National Monument, California.

I just had the morning free on this day so I was up early to head to Muir Woods National Monument in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area north of San Francisco. I got there so early that I snagged the first parking space closest to the park center. (Those who know the park and the crowds it draws, understand the significance of that achievement!)

I walked up the usual trail into the main grove with several photo ideas in mind. One of them was to do a bit more work on my idea of creating very wide and high quality panoramas that include the redwood groves, and I was thinking about trying at least one from an elevated location where I could shoot straight on at the sections of the tree trunks some yard above the ground. With this in mind I eventually headed up the “Hillside Trail” just beyond the old Bohemian Grove location, where I found several places that would give me the perspective I was looking for.

This photograph was made not far from the start of the trail, and I was perhaps 20-30 feet higher than the bottom of Redwood Creek Canyon. One thing I like about this scene is the transition from a bit of open, sunlit forest at the very far left, through the grove of redwood trees and the massive vertical forms of their trunks, and on to the softer and darker area of deciduous trees on the right side.

The photograph is a stitch of six 21mp photographs shot in vertical format. The resulting image has a tremendous amount of detail (which is obviously not visible in small web jpg) and should be printable with good results at very large sizes – at least ten feet wide.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L USM at 118mm
ISO 200, f/16, .5 second
stitched from six portrait-orientation 21mp images

keywords: redwood, sequoia, sempervirens, coast, grove, tree, trunk, creek, forest, maple, leaf, branch, silhouette, light, shade, shadow, deep, panorama, stitched, muir, woods, national, monument, golden gate, recreation, area, morning, nature, flora, foliage, plants, landscape, marin, county, california, usa, north america, stock

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Rhyolite Bank Ruins, Full Moon Light

April 29, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The light of the rising full moon illuminates the ruins of the old bank building against a star-filled sky in the ghost town of Rhyolite, Nevada.

I have photographed the ghost town of Rhyolite, Nevada on several occasions in the past, but always in the very early morning. (I have a habit of hitting Rhyolite before dawn, shooting as long as the light allows, visiting Beatty for cheap gas and breakfast, then heading back to Death Valley via Titus Canyon.) I have wanted to try photographing the location both at sunset and under a full moon, and the timing for both worked out on my late March visit to Death Valley National Park. Late on my second afternoon I headed east out of the Valley and over the pass and arrived at Rhyolite before sunset.

I spent some time wandering around the familiar locations in the unfamiliar late-day light. In the end, my suspicion that Rhyolite is more of an early morning location than an evening location seemed to be confirmed. At this time of year the sun sets a bit too far to the “right” as you look west, and the the light is blocked by a low hill at just the time it would otherwise become interesting. I did make some photographs of the ruins of the ghost town in the fading light… then I settled in to make a few night photographs of the tall bank building ruins.

I’m thinking of this as sort of a practice run for a return visit for more Rhyolite night photography. I think that the full moon timing has potential, but I want to try again and think more about the placement of the structures relative to the North Star. One more thing… when I arrived there was essentially no one else there. Soon a couple other photographers showed up, but the place was still relatively deserted. Then, after dark, I was surprised when a number of cars showed up. There was apparently some sort of night photography workshop visiting the place – perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised that they acted like they owned the place and that the rest of us didn’t matter. Most night photographers would know better than to drive into a shooting location with headlights blazing, and they might ask photographers who were already there if their light painting would interfere with shots underway. Just sayin’…

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM at 22mm
ISO 200, f/11, 432 seconds

keywords: death valley, national, park, nevada usa, north america, scenic, travel, nature, desert, full, moon, light, rising, rhyolite, ghost, town, ruins, abandoned, weathered, column, bank, building, wall, window, sky, star, trail, night, nocturnal, photography, shadow, historic, mining, stock

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Zabriskie Point Detail, Gullies and Folds

April 25, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Zabrisksie Point Detail, Gullies and Folds — Zabriskie Point Detail, Gullies and Folds

Black and white photograph of patterns of gully and hills in bright daytime light at Zabriskie Point, Death Valley National Park, California.

Here I decided to try a black and white high key approach to this generally very bright scene shot not in the typical early morning time frame, but about two hours or so after the middle of the day. I like the way that darker, shadowed wedge of hill on the right sits in the middle of the curving line of the gully as outlined by the lighter face in the full sun. As with several other photographs I’ve posted recently from this area, I used a rather long focal length and composed an image from a very small detail of the scene in the folded hills below Zabriskie Point.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM at 330mm
ISO 100, f/16, 1/80 second

keywords: zabriskie, point, death valley, national, park, california, usa, north america, desert, geology, folds, gully, earth, hill, bright, day, daytime, light, shadow, pattern, texture, curve, angle, black and white, monochrome, travel, scenic, landscape, nature, high key, stock, southern

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.