Tag Archives: sierra

Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Three Cranes in Silhouette

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Three Cranes in Sillouette
Three sandhill cranes silhouetted against dawn sky over the Sierra Nevada crest.

Three Cranes in Silhouette. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Three sandhill cranes silhouetted against dawn sky over the Sierra Nevada crest.

A trio of what may be my favorite kind of bird, the sandhill crane. This group is flying above California’s Central Valley on a late-February morning, silhouetted against a brilliantly colorful sky of thin clouds above the crest of the Sierra Nevada.

Photographing birds against this kind of sky is a challenge. Part of me wants to end up with photographs that show the details of the birds’ shape and texture, but an exposure that would accomplish this would entirely lose the brilliant colors of this pre-sunrise sky. So I go with the silhouette effect — though you may be able to spot at least the suggestion of detail on the birds’ wings if you look closely. Truth be told, seeing the details of the birds in this light is extremely difficult and, I think, perhaps not the most important thing.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Cranes, Sunrise, Winter Sky

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Cranes, Sunrise, Winter Sky
“Cranes, Sunrise, Winter Sky” — Sandhill cranes fly in winter sky as sun rises above the Sierra Nevada.

For weeks I have been thinking about how little time remains before many of our migratory birds depart. I have been eyeing my schedule and the weather conditions looking for the right time to go look for the birds. Ideally I want fog, but that has been missing, first due to a string of very warm days and more recently to unusually cold and wet weather. So I stopped waiting for the perfect conditions that might not arrive, and I headed out to the Central Valley before the cold arrived.

I never know precisely what conditions I’ll encounter. On this visit I knew that forecasts predicted an incoming weather system. Fortunately the early clouds only improved the visual conditions. (Later it clouded up, but then it cleared well before sunset — sometimes I get lucky!) It is easy to point the camera at the rising sun out here, but usually that isn’t so productive since the light overwhelms everything else. But on this morning the sun rose into clouds that muted its intensity. I made this photograph as a flock of sandhill cranes flew past.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Winter Wetlands, Before Sunrise

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Winter Wetlands, Before Sunrise
Wildly colorful winter pre-sunrise sky above California Central Valley wetlands.

Winter Wetlands, Before Sunrise. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Wildly colorful winter pre-sunrise sky above California Central Valley wetlands.

When I recently shared a different photograph of this same sky and tree, I mentioned that I might share a different version later on. This is that different version. (More in the next photograph about why I posted both versions.) The scene is a few minutes before dawn somewhere in California’s Central Valley, on a day when the clouds of the next approaching weather front were just starting to fill the sky in the early morning. Because the storms come from more or less the west (behind and to the right of the camera position), the sky remained clear far to the east beyond the Sierra, and the early light was able to illuminate the leading edge clouds of this front.

As I wrote in the earlier post, the intensity and saturation of the pre-sunrise color was more or less unbelievable. In fact, I assumed that at least some viewers of the photograph would think that I had simply pushed the saturation slider “to 11.” (Actually it would be to 100, but you get the idea.) But that’s not what happened here. There are a few hints in the photograph. The most obvious one here — and it was missing in the earlier photograph — is that fascinating patch of normal-looking blue sky in the upper left.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Trees, Sierra Rain

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Trees, Sierra Rain
Trees and afternoon rain in the Sierra Nevada backcountry.

Trees, Sierra Rain. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Trees and afternoon rain in the Sierra Nevada backcountry.

Photography in the rain is a challenge. Concerns range from small things (drops of water on the lens) to potential catastrophe (water damaging the electronics), with a range of intermediate issues, not the least of which is the photographer’s comfort! The challenges are compounded in the backcountry, where staying warm and relatively dry are both challenging and critical. There’s no warm car or motel room to retreat to!

After being mostly stuck in our tents during 24 hours or rainy weather, a few brief breaks were enough to coax us outside for photography and, also important, to stretch our legs. Since the rain hadn’t really stopped, I carried my backup camera and no tripod so that I could more easily deal with the inevitable showers. Speaking which, I made this photograph in the middle of one of them, managing to make a short series of photographs of these noble and tall trees growing out of a rocky rise.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.