Tag Archives: silhouette

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: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Spring Oaks and Santa Cruz Mountains – Castle Rock State Park

May 11, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Spring Oaks and Santa Cruz Mountains. Castle Rock State Park, California. April 24. 2010.

Spring Oaks and Santa Cruz Mountains - Castle Rock State Park

Panoramic photograph of oak trees with new spring growth above the Santa Cruz Mountains descending towards Monterey Bay – Castle Rock State Park.

This is the first (in order of posting) of a few stitched panoramas I made last month. I’ve thought about this shot for a while. It is from at the top of a staircase section of trail at Castle Rock State Park in California, alongside Goat Rock. From this spot you can see all the way to Santa Cruz, the Monterey Bay, and the Monterey Peninsula hills beyond. On this early spring morning the oak trees were just getting their new leaves, so it was still possible to shoot between the branches and see the distant scene where fog filled the bay.

One idea I’m currently working with – among many others – is creating very wide panoramic stitched images of subjects that would usually be shot in a taller format – especially trees. Instead of photographing the entire tree, this feels to me more like looking through the trees at the scene beyond, closer to how I might actually look at this scene if I were there.

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 131mm
ISO 100, f/16, 1/60 second
three image stitched panorama

keywords: oak, tree, grove, forest, trunk, branch, silhouette, spring, season, growth, new, leaves, santa cruz, monterey, mountains, hills, ridge, valley, summit, county, bay, distance, haze, goat, rock, castle, state, park, california, usa, red, green, nature, scenic, travel, stock, landscape, flora, foliage, plant, north america, west, coast, bay, area, stitched, panorama

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Spring Oaks and Blue Sky

May 1, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

New spring growth on oak trees against perfect blue sky, Castle Rock State Park, California.

This is a simple photograph of a group of oak trees starting to get spring leaves with a deep blue spring sky in the background. I made the photograph along a trail just past Goat Rock at the Castle Rock State Park along the ridge of the Santa Cruz Mountains. As I walked along this trail I had been looking down, trying to find potential photographs of the many wildflowers along this hillside – but without a lot of success, given that the late morning hour was making the lighting quite challenging. I happened to look up as I continued on the trail and the silhouettes of the group of trees caught my attention, along with the juxtaposition of the bright colors of the new growth against the color of the sky

This has been a wetter and colder winter in the San Francisco Bay Area than we have had for a few years. Even though the calendar says we are well into spring, the weather has continued to be (what, in California passes for) winter-like, with rain storms still coming in from the Pacific. However, this morning felt like the first real spring day of the year with bright sun and warm temperatures.

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 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM at 35mm
ISO 100, f/11, 1/80 second

keywords: castle rock, state, park, santa cruz, mountains, california, usa, north america, blue, sky, perfect, leaves, yellow, gold, new, spring, season, trunk, branch, silhouette, nature, landscape, scenic, travel, morning, light, pattern, grove, stock, plant, flora, foliage

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

North Dome and Merced River Trees, Winter

February 25, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

Black and white photograph of North Dome and bare winter trees reflected in the Merced River near the swinging bridge, Yosemite Valley, California.

After first getting distracted by dawn light on Yosemite Falls – and joining a small throng of other photographers shooting this exact same subject (he writes, somewhat embarrassed… ;-) – I pulled myself together and wandered off along the Merced on this frosty morning looking for scenes that were a bit less obvious. I’m not going to claim that this one is completely non-iconic – I can’t since North Dome, in the upper center of the frame, is a fairly well known feature of the Valley. However, the thing that mostly caught my attention here was the skeletal shapes of the dormant trees along the Merced River and the way they lined up across the scene creating some interesting symmetries and forms against the background of the upper end of The Valley.

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 35mm f/2
two blended images: ISO 100, f/11, 1/40 second and ISO 10, f/11, 1/10 second

keywords: yosemite, valley, national, park, california, usa, north america, meadow, swinging, bridge, cottonwood, silhouette, grass, sky, north, dome, royal, arches, snow, reflection, ripple, morning, light, black and white, monochrome, sierra, nevada, mountain, range, clouds rest, landscape, scenic, travel, nature, bare, forest, grove, stock

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