• This saucer shaped cloud stayed here for hours! It is formed on the downwind side of the mountain from a pressure wave.
  • The Richmond-San Rafael Bridge.
  • A Monkeyflower in bloom.
  • I waited for the fog to flow behind this rock to make the rock stand out from the background.
  • Mill Valley
  • Larkspur
  • Corte Madera
  • Click below to see the view up here from Larkspur Landing.

    www.flickr.com/photos/patrick-smith-photography/5560049958
  • The shadow of Mt. Tamalpais as the sun sets behind the camera.
  • San Francisco is behind this fog bank.
  • Amazingly, about 50 miles east of here, it is basically desert!
  • These pressure wave clouds are, I believe, called lenticular clouds. - *Flickr_Dawg
  • Yep, that's it!

Tamalpais Glory - Marin County, California

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Last weekend, I went up on Mt. Tamalpais (10Mi. NW of San Francisco) for the sunset. The fog was too thick towards the ocean so I went to the other side and saw this rather intense scene! No HDR.

Free wallpaper for over 100 of my images in 6 different screen sizes is now available!

See the 1200 pixel version!
www.flickr.com/photos/patrick-smith-photography/584395713...

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Settings etc.:
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Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 17-40 @ 20
3.2-second exposure @ F16 (to show the moving fog, but not too much!)
2 0.9 (3-stop) Lee neutral density soft grad filters
(Lee is having production problems (can't keep up with demand) so Singh Ray makes good ones too.)
No polarizer
ISO 50
Small Slik Sprint mini II tripod with Manfrotto 322RC2 pistol grip ball head
RAW file processed with Capture One by Phase One
TIFF file processed with Photoshop

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Story:
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At sunset, the coastal fog began to move inland towards the distant horizon. As it did, it wrapped around Mt. Tamalpais creating fantastic swirling shapes. It was moving fast! I used a 3-second exposure to capture the motion of the fog as the last rays of the sun turned the high clouds a brilliant red. The fog looked a bit 'mushy' using a 10-second exposure, but 3-seconds seemed to be just about right.

Usually by June, the flowers have faded for the dry season, but because of a cool spring, they were still there fortunately, so I backed up the hill under a prickly Manzanita bush to get the flowers into the foreground. Sausalito and Mill Valley are in the foreground with the Richmond San Rafael bridge crossing the bay under the fog to the left. San Francisco is behind the fog bank to the right.

The map shows exactly where this is.

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Resources:
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Google Earth
earth.google.com/

Simply the best way to scout out locations that there is. You can see sun angles and pre-visualize light under lots of different conditions. Sometimes you can actually pre-compose your shots! This has saved me many thousands of vertical feet of climbing by avoiding spots with blocked views etc.

Satellite imagery (choose 'National' for a local US region or use your fave website)
www.wrh.noaa.gov/satellite/?wfo=mtr

Tide charting and preditions: (chose your area in US, other countries have similar websites)
tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/tide_predictions.shtml?gid=235

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