Tag Archives: trail

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Oregon Oxalis

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Oregon Oxalis

Oregon Oxalis. Muir Woods National Monument, California. February 28, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Bright leaves of Oregon oxalis carpet the forest floor under the redwood trees at Muir Woods National Monument, California.

I suppose this might more accurately be titled “More Oregon Oxalis” since I posted similar photograph in landscape orientation earlier. When I make a photograph like this one I often try to get versions in both portrait (vertical) and landscape (horizontal) orientation – partly because I think the subject looks interesting both way and partly for more practical reasons. By the way, I understand that the plant is also known as “redwood sorrell.”

Earlier today someone posted a comment on another of my photographs of this subject and pointed out that the plant also produces very pretty little pink flowers. I think they were just beginning to appear when I shot this – I saw a few of them, and a bud is barely visible near the center of this photo. I may return to Muir Woods soon, and the next time I’ll keep an eye out specifically for the flowers.

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.

keywords: muir, woods, national, monument, park, marin, forest, nature, california, usa, oxalis, oregon, oreganas, redwood, tree, sorrell, bright, leaf, leaves, carpet, floor, marin county, water, drop, rain, dew, morning, foliage, nature, scenic, travel, trail, hike, stock, green, clover

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Steps, Ocean View Trail

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Steps, Ocean View Trail. Muir Woods National Monument. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.
Steps, Ocean View Trail. Muir Woods National Monument. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

Steps, Ocean View Trail. Muir Woods National Monument, California. February 28, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Steps ascend a steep hill through the redwoods near the start of the Ocean View Trail, Muir Woods National Monument, California.

This is a scene that I have photographed before – in particular I recall photographing these steps early in the evening before one of the winter solstice events at Muir Woods, when the trails through the grove are lit by candles. On the last day of February this year I visited again, but this time very early in the morning before many other visitors had arrived. I was thinking “color” when I made this photograph (and I may still post the color version eventually) but I ended up liking this black and white version quite a bit. I like the diagonal division between the upper left half which mostly includes the vertical forms of the redwood trees and the lower right section which includes the steps leading in to the trees.

This was actually a somewhat tricky scene to photograph. While the dynamic range was quite huge, ranging from the deep shadows on the sides of the trees at the left to the almost sunlit foliage beyond the trees, overall the scene was quite dim. Because I needed great depth of field I shot at f/16. Because I wanted the cleanest image possible I shot at ISO 100. All of this meant that I ended up making a 2.5 second exposure! Still there were post-processing challenges, including bringing up a bit of detail in the darker areas of the scene while at the same time being careful to not increase the brightness in the bright spots. And after paying attention to the extremes some work had to be done on the middle tones to get some life back there.

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.keywords: muir, woods, national, monument, park, marin, forest, nature, california, usa, steps, stairs, railing, fence, trail, ocean, view, redwood, grove, trees, ferns, clover, oregon oxalis, redwood sorrell, green, canopy, light, filtered, trunk, landscape, scenic, travel, outdoor, hike, stock

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Oregon Oxalis

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Oregon Oxalis, Muir Woods National Monument. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell
Oregon Oxalis, Muir Woods National Monument. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell

Oregon Oxalis. Muir Woods National Monument, California. February 28, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Oregon Oxalis (or Redwood Sorrell) plants in the soft light of a redwood grove at Muir Woods National Monument, California.

In many places this intriguing plant covers the forest floor in the heart of Muir Woods National Monument. I’ve always just thought of it as “clover,” but I had this nagging suspicion that it might have a different name. It turns out that it is oxalis oregana, also known as oregon oxalis or redwood sorrell. This patch was located in a rather dark area beneath some large trees, and the water drops were left over from earlier rain. In my mind, this small but lush plant, carpeting the forest floor, represents the rich character of the undergrowth of the redwood forest.

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.

keywords: muir, woods, national, monument, park, marin, forest, nature, california, usa, redwood, sorrell, oregon, oxalis, clover, three, leaf, water, drop, floor, ground, plant, foliage, trail, hike, scenic, travel, stock, green

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Creekside Trail, Central California

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Creekside Trail, Central California

Creekside Trail, Central California. Calero Hills, California. February 21, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A creekside trail through forest of oak and laurel trees at Calero County Park, California.

After a long – but welcome! – bout of rainy weather here in Central California, last weekend I managed to get out for a hike in my favorite local oak/grassland park. It was a cloudy day with very diffused light, but I decided to do a bit of photography with my new camera – but instead of taking my usual complement of lenses I carried only three primes, at 35mm, 50mm, and 85mm. This photograph was made with the 35mm lens and an interesting aspect of the scene for for me was the incredibly rich detail of new growth, old leaves on the forest floor, and the many small branches of trees and brush. (I’m afraid that much of that detail isn’t visible in this small jpg, but there isn’t much to be done about that.)

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.

keywords: calero, hills, park, santa clara, county, public, path, trail, creek, brook, water, reflection, oak, laurel, tree, forest, grove, leaf, trunk, branch, hike, winter, california, usa, nature, landscape, green, new, plants, growth, damp, stock, foliage, vegetation, root