Sudheendra Kadri's photostream  

On a recent trip to Mendocino with friends and family, my initial intension was not to take out my camera and spoil the fun for the rest. Initially, my plan sounded reasonable since the entire coast was blanketed in fog for most part of the day. But as it always happens, the fog started clearing right around sunset and luckily I was at a beach inside the Russian Gulch State Preserve.

There was never going to be any explosive colors in the sky, since it was devoid of any clouds. So, instead I concentrated on the details. These group of trees were perfectly illuminated by the setting sun and I oblidged.

Sudheendra Kadri Photography
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The plan was to head towards the coast to do some beach photoshoot, but while I was driving I could see the coastal fog just over the top of the ridges. I usually take Hwy 84 to reach ca-1 from Sunnyvale which puts me very close to Pescadero State Beach. On the way ther is a small diversion one could take(Skyline Blvd) to reach Russian Ridge. Having seen some beautiful coastal fog photos from this location, I headed towards it, but soon the fog was above me and I had no view of the coast line. I drove back and headed towards the coast anyways. Being totally under the fog, there was obviously no direct sunlight, but I decided to walk along the beach anyways.

With the sky completely covered by fog, I turned my attention to the sand and found some patterns. These patterns, at first glance looked like colored streaks left behind by the waves. But upon closer inspection they turned out to be little groves made in the sand by the waves.

Sudheendra Kadri Photography
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Small waves reaching the shores of a lake distort whatever they reflect, creating unique patterns every moment. In this frame, they were reflecting a small group of clouds, colored by the pre-dawn light. The trick here, I think is to pay close attention to the shutter speed. The amount of light in such situations can be low, and a slow shutter speed can blur out the reflections and remove any color saturation. I used a relatively fast shutter speed 1/30s to freeze the waves and the reflections.

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This frame was made on the same morning as my previous post along the Tenaya lake shores. The sun was up for quite some time sneaked up above the ridge (top and left of this frame) and was side lighting the trees. Brief pauses in the wind provided momentary clear reflections on the lake surface clearing out all surface ripples. Once the winds picked up, the ripples would appear once again and blur out the reflections. As you can see, this frame was made while there was still some surface ripples left. I think, that way, the picture is more dynamic with some neat texture in the water surface.

Sudheendra Kadri Photography
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I had arrived at Tenaya Lake for a morning shoot well before sunrise. Clouds did not cooperate for a glorious, out of this world sky with vivid colors, so I had turned my attention to some of the intricate details in the landscape along the shores. But when the first light started to kiss the granites and the tree tops, I had to turn my attention away from the details and point my long lens to the distant granite.

Sudheendra Kadri Photography
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