Tag Archives: white

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: New England

Autumn Morning, White Mountains

Image November 5, 2022 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Colorful autumn forest in morning light, White Mountains, New Hampshire.

I made this photograph on what I came to regard as the actual day of peak color in this part of the White Mountains. Here and nearby, the colors were noticeably more intense and widespread than the previous day, and one day later when some weather came through trees were dropping leaves and more bare branches were appearing. This photograph exemplifies an approach that I often like — using a longer focal length lens to isolate a small section of the overall landscape. Here I wanted to focus on the juxtaposition of the foreground trees and hill with the more distant pattern of the ascending gully.

Another aspect of this photograph is, I came to learn, typical of a lot of White Mountains autumn photography. It is often a challenge to get unobstructed access to longer and wider views of the landscape, partially because the forest are so dense and close-in, and partially because roads here tend to be designed without shoulders and with few places to pull over. Consequently, any place that does have a wider view seems precious. Here there was a small turn-out along the road, and if I put my camera in just the right spot I could manage to photograph between and over the nearer brush and trees… and obtain one of those long views.

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.

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

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Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Tall Aspen Grove, Autumn

Image November 2, 2022 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A small group of tall aspens with long, white trunks and colorful autumn foliage, Eastern Sierra Nevada.

This photograph is yet another example of the variety of colors during the Sierra Nevada autumn aspen transition. There’s still a bit of green, a lot of brilliant yellow, and highlights of red and orange here and there. Earlier in the season the predominant colors tend to be the yellows set against the greens. But by the second half of the month much (though not quite all) of the green is gone, and the more characteristic autumn colors clearly dominate.

This photograph is also another example of the value of long lenses for landscape photography. I use everything from 16mm to 400mm and sometimes longer for landscape. The long lenses let me photograph subject that are simply not accessible. They allow me to work at a distance from an elevated perspective that isn’t available closer to the subject. They are useful for narrowing down the scope of a composition and eliminating distractions. All of those were in play when I made this photograph.

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: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Tall Autumn Aspen Trees

Image October 30, 2022 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Tall aspen trees with long, white trunks on an Eastern Sierra Nevada hillside.

The large grove of which these trees are a part is one that I’ve photographed for a long time. For the Sierra, it is a very large expanse of aspens, and they rise from a valley up the lower slopes of rock-strewn mountains. Most of then I have photographed them earlier in the season where the more colorful trees are mixed in with trees that are still green. But this time I visited later in October, and virtually the entire hillside was yellow, gold, and red. Note also the tall and straight aspen trunks — many Sierra aspens are much shorter.

I photographed these trees, as I often do, in soft, shaded light. The sun had not risen above the ridge behind them, so there were still fully in shadow — though the sunny edge of that shadow was rapidly approaching as I worked! Photographing aspens in these conditions reveals the difference between our own visual perception and what the camera “sees.” Looking at the scene you would say you saw colorful aspen leaves and white or gray trunks. But a photograph made in these conditions renders the trunks intensely blue. So the photographer faces a quandary for which there are several possible answers. One is to “go with the blue,” with the risk that viewers will be struck by what seems like unnaturally intense blue tones. Another is to shift the yellow/blue balance in post to produce something that better approximates the experience of looking directly at the trees.

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Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: New England

Conifers and Hardwoods, Autumn

Image October 28, 2022 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A mixed stand of conifers and colorful autumn hardwood trees, New England.

Near the spot where I made this photograph, a carpet of wildly colorful hardwood trees was draped across valleys and ridges. It was quite a sight, but it was also very difficult to photograph it. One of the challenges of photographing in this part of New England comes from the very forest that produces those colors. The darned trees grow so close together and come right up to the edge of roadways, making it very difficult if not impossible to make photographs of longer views from many locations. That was definitely the situation here — lots of colorful trees, but lots of things standing between me and those trees.

It eventually occurred to me to use the blockages as part of the photograph. in this case there were conifer trees growing nearby and among the hardwoods, and once I thought about how I liked the effect of the muted green conifers against the riotous hardwood colors it seemed to make sense to juxtapose the two types of trees in this photograph. If nothing else, this photograph serves as a record of those qualities.

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

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G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: white

Autumn Morning, White Mountains

Tall Aspen Grove, Autumn

Tall Autumn Aspen Trees

Conifers and Hardwoods, Autumn

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