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Tag Archives: forest
2012 Faves: Fallen Redwood
California’s redwood forests are a magnificent ecosystem. Walking through the broad avenues in a redwood forest is a spiritual experience. Your imagination runs wild when you think about the explosive crash when a 300-foot giant falls to earth. And you marvel at the new growth as a veritable forest grows out of the remnants of a redwood.
This fallen redwood likely fell just a few months before we stumbled upon it in a forest along Avenue of the Giants near Scotia, California. It’s stump formed a stairway up to the massive trunk and a platform for my tripod. Using an exposure of a full second, I captured the near perfect lines of wood stretching out into the forest using a Nikon D300 with a 10mm lens.
The brilliant, fresh redwood lied in stark contrast to the brilliant green growth in the forest around it. Small sprouts, though, were already popping out as a new ecosystem developed in the fallen giant.
This image is one of my favorites for 2012. You can checkout more on my Flickr Photostream.
Aspen Grove in Autumn
The evening fall color drive started poorly. After four straight nights of powerful evening sunlight, the clouds moved in an hour before sunset wiping out all direct light. But instead of heading home, I sought out some new subjects – and was amazed at what you can do without direct light.
While the white birch of the aspens could have benefited from some rays of light, the surrounding foliage was alive with color.
This stand of aspens was on a scenic backway between Midway, Utah and Guardsman Pass, high above Park City. The route is nice as it includes massive growth of oak (think red) at the mid elevations before you hit the aspens (think yellow) a bit higher.
This HDR captured the brilliant colors of the forest literally coming alive in the diffused evening light.
Camera: Nikon D700
Lens Nikkor 24-120 (at 24mm)
Yellow Aspens
It’s fall color season in Utah – one of the most amazing I can ever remember. Everyone has their theory on what causes color or when it appears. We’re definitely late this year, probably a week or two. Our first bursts came a week ago. Now, it’s just blazing!
My “go-to” spot for short evenings after work is Empire Pass and Guardsman Pass above Deer Valley and Park City Mountain Resort. The drive up Empire last night was unimpressive – nothing really on fire yet. But the top of Guardsman was impressive.
Tonight, though, just 24 hours later, it was almost a different scene. The entire roadway up Empire was ablaze. And Guardsman Pass was going off like never before!
It’s hard to really capture the detail in leaves with fall color, especially the backlit shots. And with evening winds, HDR is virtually impossible.
Tonight I focused on faster shutter speeds and larger lens openings. Last night’s shots were all a bit soft with the wind. The best shots are backlit, including this one shooting directly into the sun – which was shaded by the trees. Metering was really pretty straightforward, just measuring off one of the highlights and punching in another half top to full stop to compensate.
Watch for more in coming days.
Morning in the Forest
We love hiking around Silver Lake in Big Cottonwood Canyon. It’s a short, wimpy boardwalk hike (so anyone can do it). But what’s so fantastic is that it’s just a myriad of photographic opportunities ever time!
This morning we were looking for a short hike with son Chris before he headed to the airport. We hit the trail around 8 a.m. and saw the lake in a totally different light.
The early morning light, combined with overnight rain and dew, gives you a totally different perspective. From the north side of the lake we had amazing reflections in the water. Along the western shore there was a backlit scene with a fisherman casting.
But my favorite spot of the day was the dense pine forest on the southern shore. It’s an amazing stand of pine with a darkened path meandering through the trees.
We hit it just as the sun’s rays began streaming through the trees. With so little light in the forest, it’s a photo op that’s often missed. But there’s plenty of light in there – especially with this five-shot (1 stop increment) HDR.
The sun’s rays do present some challenges, but most are a relative easy fix in Photoshop after processing the images for HDR in Photomatix.
The result is a dramatic photograph of a forest pathway leading directly into the morning sun.
Enjoy.
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