Tag Archives: wildflowers

Photographs: Central California

Cypress Forest Path

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Cypress Forest Path
Cypress Forest Path. Point Lobos State Reserve, California. August 24, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Trail with steps and cypress tree at Point Lobos State Reserve, California.

This is the same location in several other photographs I have posted recently, all shot during a late August 2008 visit to this central California coastal park. In this version I have taken the liberty of doing some (to me, at least) significant post-processing of the photograph in order to create a particular type of mood that seems appropriate for this location.

keywords: california, nature, point lobos, summer, monterey, state, reserve, carmel, peninsula, trail, steps, stairs, cypress, tree, forest, path, usa, coast, shore, steps, stairs, plants, flowers, wildflowers, rocks, branch, stock

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Pink and White Wildflowers

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Pink and White Wildflowers
Pink and White Wildflowers. Almaden Quicksilver Park, California. April 26, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Pink and white spring wildflowers photographed at Almaden Quicksilver Park, California.

Once again, a photo shot handheld with the 24-105mm lens. I like to use this photo and some similar ones to respond to folks who are convinced that “the 24-105mm f/4 L IS has bad bokeh.” I’ll admit that it doesn’t always produce great blurred backgrounds, but if you are careful you can actually get some nice bokeh from it. And for handheld wildflower shots its focal length is just about perfect and the image stabilization turns out the be very useful.

I’ve been told that these flowers are “Stachys ajugoides – rigid wood mint,” though after looking around at some online photos of that plant I’m not 100% certain since the leaves don’t seem quite right. Anyone?

keywords: pink, white, flowers, wild, wildflowers, nature, delicate, stem, leaf, green, bokeh, almaden, quicksilver, mines, park, santa clara county, san jose, california, usa, plant, hiking, trail, stock

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Quicksilver Wildflowers

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Quicksilver Wildflowers
Quicksilver Wildflowers. Almaden Quicksilver Park, California. April 12, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Deep purple spring wildflowers at Almaden Quicksilver Park, California – photographed on an early spring hike near the peak of the central California wildflower season.

The flowers are larkspur, or delphinium. They are interesting flowers and somewhat difficult to photograph. Their color is a very deep purple, so it is almost necessary to photograph them against a much lighter background. These were photographed along the New Almaden Trail, not far from the Mockingbird Hill entrance.

keywords: wild, flowers, wildflowers, deep, purple, five, petals, trail, hike, nature, spring, almaden, quicksilver, county park, santa clara, san jose, california, usa, stock

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Purple Wildflowers

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Purple Wildflowers
Purple Wildflowers. Grant Ranch County Park, California. April 20, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Spring purple wildflowers photographed in the grasslands of Grant Ranch County Park east of San Jose, California.

I’m told that these are Vicia villosa or winter vetch. All I know for certain is that the hillside was covered with these beautiful small flowers, and that I had to get down very low on the ground to photograph them. :-)

For those interested in photo equipment issues, this photo is evidence, I think, that you can get decent out of focus background bokeh from the Canon 24-105mm f/4 L.

keywords: purple, wildflowers, wild, flowers, grant ranch, santa clara, county, park, joseph, green, leaf, grass, stem, bloom, blossom, spring, nature, stock, california, usa, photo, photography, Vicia villosa, winter vetch