Diablo Valley View #1 - Pleasant Hill, California
Finally after two weeks of flat clear skies, we finally got a mini storm to come through Northern California today for an hour or two. Yes, those are fall colors from planted street trees. See below and the notes for an explanation. No HDR!
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Canon 5D Mark II
2-horizontal shot panorama (3,600h x 10,800w)
Canon 24-105L @ 90 on each shot
1-second exposure @F11 on each shot
LEE soft ND grad 0.9 + 0.75
Cokin z-pro filter holder
No polarizer.
ISO 50
Small Slik tripod with Manfrotto pistol grip ball head
RAW file processed with Capture One by Phase One
TIFF file processed with Photoshop
The day started completely clear, then clouds moved in and it rained a bit around noon, then it started to clear and it looked like I'd be out of luck for a partially cloudy sunset, but the clouds barely hung around just long enough for the sun to set and I got the panorama I've been waiting for for 5 years.
As mentioned above, the fall colors are from the planted street trees which are at their best at this time of year. They are carefully chosen from a small list of deciduous trees that turn color in mild winter climates. I think people plant them in order to remind themselves of the fall colors further north and east.
Before people arrived in this valley around 1900, there were very few trees here because of low rainfall and hot dry summers. The few native trees do not have fall color, as you can see on the hillside past the last rows of houses. Notice the widely scattered green oaks? Those are the native trees. The darker areas higher up on the hillside are black sage (salvia), which make you smell very good after hiking through the hills.
This is the view from Dinosaur Hill Park looking east.
The map shows exactly where this is. It is an easy 0.4-mile hike from the nearest road.
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Uploaded on Nov 20, 2009
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13 notes /
81 comments
Falls of Spring - Swinging Bridge, Yosemite National Park, California
I'm still waiting for winter rainy season storms to arrive in Northern California, so here is one from Yosemite last spring without that flat/clear blue sky look that I'm seeing right now. No HDR!
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www.flickr.com/photos/patrick-smith-photography/410367759...
Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 17-40L @ 34
30-second exposure @F16 (to give the water and falls that smooth look)
LEE soft ND grad 0.9
Cokin z-pro filter holder
Hoya ndx-400 9-stop very very dark filter for long exposures during daytime
No polarizer.
ISO 50
Small Slik tripod with Manfrotto pistol grip ball head
RAW file processed with Capture One by Phase One
TIFF file processed with Photoshop
The angle of the afternoon sun was getting to be just right for the best view of the 2425 foot high Yosemite Falls from the swinging bridge. But it was mostly cloudy. So I waited about 20 minutes for an opening in the clouds to light up the falls. A group of photographers and other people had showed up to see the view. They moved bridge around a lot (it is the swinging bridge after all!) and I wanted a 30-second exposure with my dark filter. I really feel like a long exposure in this situation captures the mood and feel of the place better than a short exposure. I did do a few short exposures but there was something missing when I looked at them. So I deleted them. I do a lot of rather severe editing on the spot because I can compare them with how I feel at the moment.
I wanted a stable platform, so I climbed over the edge of the railing and down into a small space under the bridge on a concrete piling to make this image! I had about 2 feet of clearance for me and the tripod so I had to compose this without the viewfinder. It is a pain when you wait without moving for 30 seconds and then find out that the horizon is not flat because you can not look through the viewfinder. So it took 3 tries before I got it right. Then the light went away. I waited another 20 minutes in this rather uncomfortable position hoping for another chance, but that was it for the light for the day.
People were leaning over the bridge looking at me asking if I was okay. And they really gave me looks when I came back up. Also, it was hard to walk after being confined on a small spot of hard concrete for about 40 minutes! Was it worth it?
The map shows exactly where this is. It is an easy 0.3-mile hike from the nearest road.
See my Flickr profile for a link to my newly designed website.
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Uploaded on Nov 14, 2009
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5 notes /
172 comments
Sand, Rock and Light - Luffenholtz Beach, Little River State Park, Trinidad, Humboldt County, California
Sometimes when you are doing landscape photography, something will appear that becomes your unanticipated focal point. You may not have much time so be ready for it! No HDR.
If anyone wants to nominate me, go here!
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See the 1200 pixel version!
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Canon 5D mkII
Canon 17-40L @ 40
0.2-second exposure @F14
1/2 hour before sunset
LEE soft ND grads 0.9 + 0.75
Cokin z-pro filter holder
No polarizer.
ISO 50
RAW file processed with Capture One by Phase One
TIFF file processed with Photoshop
As I was walking down the beach looking at the scenery and cloud patterns, I saw two beams of light appear in the sky. So I ran down the beach until I saw two rocks to complement the rays. Placing the rays over the rocks did not look right, so I moved to the left to give some space between the rocks and the rays. It is almost like the two main rocks are like Easter Island heads watching the rays. I made sure to include lots of sand ripples in this image.
I was hoping for the small holes in the clouds to open up, but I was not sure that it would happen. So it was a bit of a surprise. I could have just stayed where I was when the spotlights appeared, but the rest of the scene was rather boring. So I risked the spotlights going away in exchange for a chance at something better. I must admit that I should have had the foreground composition ready to go just in case the sky opened up but I got distracted by the reflections in the sand and was not paying attention! So, I really had to run quite a ways down the beach and a barely got there in time.
If you snooze, you lose... unless you can run for long distances!
The map shows exactly where this is.
See my Flickr profile for a link to my newly designed website.
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Uploaded on Nov 6, 2009
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8 notes /
118 comments
Asilomar Surf - Asilomar State Park, Pacific Grove, California
This was such a complex situation that it was hard to keep the entire thing in my head without losing concentration. See the notes and below for a better explanation. No HDR!
Go to my Flickr profile to sign up for my free bi-weekly newsletter (which I will send out later this weekend). I will answer questions and talk about theories and techniques. No spam will be sent! Also, I just started on Twitter.
See the 1200 pixel version!
www.flickr.com/photos/patrick-smith-photography/405994199...
Canon 5D (Mark I)
Canon 17-40L @ 30
0.3-second exposure @F16
10 minutes after sunrise
LEE soft ND grads 0.9 + 0.75
Cokin z-pro filter holder
No polarizer.
ISO 50
RAW file processed with Capture One by Phase One
TIFF file processed with Photoshop
Since California sits on the west coast of North America and there are usually mountains and cliffs behind the beaches, there are few places where you can capture good light at sunrise, but this north-facing point near Monterey does the job nicely. It is much easier to wait for sunset usually.
The problem with this place is that when the surf is up, there are too many things happening all at once. And any one of them could lead to you and your camera taking a swim in the Pacific. When I get to the beach, I'll usually go to where the action is and stand there for a while without the camera and just take it all in. Then I'll choose a spot as close to the action as possible. Those are the most memorable places for me.
In the darkness before sunrise, it can be difficult to determine how the light will be, so I focus on the waves and how the water moves, and hope for the best when it comes to the light. So I found this spot which is close to the road but requires a walk through a low spot where the waves sweep through at high tide, so you have to time it a bit.
Every once in a while a wave would strike the rock to the left in back. Sometimes nice waves would form out in the open ocean. Sometimes the wave would hit the rock in the foreground. And after some waves, the foam would gradually clear a bit allowing light to penetrate the water and show off the color in there. The problem is, all these variables were not in synch with each other. Also, the sunrise was a bright red but I was going for this shot, which at the time had little light on it. So I ignored a great sunrise and waited for a hole in the clouds to let in the sun.
Since there was too much going on for me to keep in my head, I decided to focus on capturing the wave striking the distant rock. That was the most dramatic thing. I tried about 10 times before I captured the other elements I wanted in the frame. See the notes for what I wanted. Then the good light was gone for the day and this was my only photo I kept from this morning.
The map shows exactly where this is.
See my Flickr profile for a link to my newly designed website.
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Uploaded on Oct 30, 2009
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14 notes /
172 comments
Ribbon Falls - Yosemite National Park, California
Yosemite's 1612 ft. Ribbon Falls flows mainly in the spring and early summer. This may seem like a peaceful scene, but it was one of my most dangerous photo attempts to date. No HDR!
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See the 1200 pixel version!
www.flickr.com/photos/patrick-smith-photography/403913020...
Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 17-40L @ 24
0.4-second exposure @F18
2 hours before sunset when the light is still on the cliff face.
LEE soft ND grads 0.9 + 0.75
Cokin z-pro filter holder
No polarizer. I wanted reflections in the water
ISO 50
RAW file processed with Capture One by Phase One
TIFF file processed with Photoshop
At 1612ft, Ribbon Falls is the tallest unobstructed free-falling waterfall in the United States and one of the tallest falls overall in Yosemite Valley. But people usually miss it. Angel Falls in Venezuela has a taller single fall of 2600 ft. (97 waterfalls are taller in total drop, but it is the 13th tallest single unobstructed fall in the world according to this world waterfall database:
www.world-waterfalls.com/database.php?s=N&t=H&ord...
Yes, this was a hazardous place to be. But I always look for alternative views where I can. This is not the Valley View lookout, but rather upstream from there. First, there had been a recent spring rain and the ground was muddy and the grass would sink in unexpected places as you walk. Once I got to the river, I realized that the place with the best view (right here) was a pile of logs that were swept downstream and had accumulated into a rather unstable pile in an eddy formed by the river. The only problem was that in order to get to this pile of logs, I had to walk across a few narrow logs marginally caught in about 8ft. of cold rapidly running water to the left of where I put my tripod for this shot.
So, with my camera in my backpack, I got two long straight branches about 12 feet long and managed to cross the logs supporting myself with my two branches. Once I was on the log pile, I had to wait for quite a while for good light to fall across El Capitan. It was nervewracking because every so often, the pile of logs would shift a bit, but it was worth it!
The only extra bit of composing I had to do besides getting close to the river foreground to dramatize the roaring river, was to center Ribbon Falls in between two trees for a more open view of it!
The map shows exactly where this is. It is a 1-mile hike from the nearest road.
See my Flickr profile for a link to my newly designed website.
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All rights reserved
Uploaded on Oct 24, 2009
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8 notes /
124 comments
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