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Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Redwood Grove and Ferns in Morning Light

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Redwood Grove and Ferns in Morning Light

Redwood Grove and Ferns in Morning Light. Muir Woods National Monument, California. March 8, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning light streams through a redwood grove to illuminate ferns on the sloping forest floor below at Muir Woods National Monument, California.

Yes, another photo of a redwood grove at Muir Woods National Monument. As I think I wrote earlier, I’m working on creating a collection of photographs of this location and obviously the trees themselves need to have a large place in all of this work. This is a bit different – really, trust me! – than some of the other recent redwood grove shots in that it was made during sunny conditions rather than the more gloomy (but no less interesting) rainiy and cloudy conditions I had photographed earlier.

And, yes, there will be more… :-)

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: forest, woods, trees, redwoods, grove, trunks, vertical, muir woods, national monument, park, california, usa, marin, county, floor, hill, slope, ferns, illuminate, nature, frond, branch, dense, light, morning, shadow, green, stock

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Red Alder Branch with New Spring Leaves

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Red Alder Branch with New Spring Leaves

Branch with New Spring Leaves. Muir Woods National Monument, California. March 7, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A branch with new spring growth leaves above the ferns at Muir Woods National Monument.

The leaves were just appearing on the delicate branches of this tree hanging above the creek by a bridge at Muir Woods in early March. The curving shape of the branch caught my attention, especially set off against the darker background of ferns and other plants growing along the banks of the creek. I had to work quickly since the sunlight was just starting to make its way down through the trees – I wanted a bit of light on the foreground branch and leaves, but no direct light on the other plants beyond.

(I’m not good at plant identification. Despite being able to recognize by location, season, and form many plants and flowers I am awful at naming them. If any one knows what plant this is… I’d be grateful for help identifying it.)

(NOTE: Since I originally wrote this post – a week before it appeared here – John Wall pointed out that the plant is Red Alder. I’ve since taken a look at a plant guide that confirms this not only by appearance by the environment in which it was found. Thanks, John!)

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 county, nature, california, usa, winter, branch, delicate, curve, leaf, leaves, spring, new, growth, fern, bokeh, twig, stem, green, forest, bud, stock

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Night, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Nimitz Avenue at Night

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Nimitz Avenue at Night

Nimitz Avenue at Night. Mare Island Naval Shipyard, California. March 7, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Night photograph of buildings and shipyard structures along Nimitz Avenue near the waterfront at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California.

This is perhaps one of the “classic” Mare Island Naval Shipyard scenes, where the giant shipyard scaffolding crosses Nimitz Avenue from the shipyard buildings to the shoreline facilities, varieties of artificial light lend a warm glow to the view up the street, and faint star trails appear above in the dark sky.

I think that this is a good scene for first-time Mare Island night photographers to work with. It presents a lot of interesting challenges, but they can all be handled with some thought and care. You need to get the sky right – not too light and you want at least some star trails. I could have done a longer exposure since a bit more than three minutes left me with short star trails, though they weren’t my main subject. The dynamic range is absolutely huge, especially if you don’t take care to obstruct direct line of sight to some of the lights up the street. I had to look around quite a bit to find one small spot where the composition worked and the buildings and towers are positioned to block them. If you don’t block them you either completely blow out those highlights or else you must shorten the exposure to the point that the foreground roadway ends up almost completely black. The lighting also has to be just right on the structures at the top of the frame. On this night we were perhaps 3 or 4 days short of the full moon so a combination of moonlight and artificial light illuminated the structure. (A full moon might have been a bit better.) Then you need the right focal length to get the right parts of the scene into the frame. Here I used a 35mm prime on a full-frame DSLR and cropped the result a bit to eliminate some distractions along the right edge.

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: mare island, naval, shipyard, minsy, night, photography, nocturnes, vallejo, california, usa, building, road, tracks, rail, train, shipyard, structures, minsy, brick, street, sky, star trails, smoke, stack, smokestack, truss, nocturnes, window, light, stock

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Night, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Reflection, Building B-150

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Reflection, Building B-150

Reflection, Building B-150. Mare Island Naval Shipyard, California. March 7, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Night reflection of building B-150 in a rainwater puddle at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California.

This is a more or less a photograph that I had thought about for the past year or so. On a previous visit to Mare Island Naval Shipyard I attempted another photograph using this little rainwater pool to create reflections, but that photograph was not really a success. (It included a different subject, some old trucks and trailers parked nearby.) In any case, as odd as it may sound, a visit to this little puddle was on my agenda for the early March night photography shoot at Mare Island with The Nocturnes, and after I had shot in the more central area of the historic site I wandered down Nimitz Avenue toward this spot where I found “Building B-150” nicely reflected in the water and illuminated by nearby artificial light.

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: mare island, naval, shipyard, minsy, night, photography, nocturnes, vallejo, california, usa, minsy, reflection, water, puddle, rain, building, structure, architecture, b-150, metal, light, artificial, street, asphalt, pavement, fence, sky, nocturnal, historic, nimitz, avenue