Cliffside Delight

Gallery: LandscapePosted April 21, 2011273 views4 comments

These ubiquitous magenta flowers that seem to cover the ground here in PG are coming in nicely, and I've been waiting for the right condition. I have a morning routine of waking up before sunrise to assess light potential, and on this morning, I was a bit late. I scrambled raced down to a nearby spot, and as I scrambled down to try a different comp, I knew the light was fading so managed to get off 5 exposures of the cliffside on the way down. Sure enough, the light faded by the time I set up for my envisioned comp, but I was happy I got something to show for my morning efforts. If anyone has a proper flower ID for these I'd love to hear it. I'm trying my best to learn the flora of the area and am just absolutely overwhelmed! Thanks for any comments or critiques!

Tech:
5d2
5 exposures at f/8 (sweet spot on my lens)-hand blended for exposure and focus
I'm noticing a bit of haloing around the left cliff, but seems to be mostly from compression

Comments

4 comments

Comment posted by Sandy Steinman on April 21, 2011 at 11:52 PM

Nice composition. Good sky.

It is unclear from your photo, but I am guessing it is ice plant. If it is ice plant it is probably an alien that was planted supposedly to help prevent erosion. Most ice plant turns out to invasive and is actually being removed from many natural areas. If you have a more detailed photo of the flowers I would be glad to look at. I happen to come from a town named Cliffside in New Jersey.

Sandy
Berkeley, CA
Natural History Wanderings
http://picasaweb.google.com/sandysteinman

Registered on March 14, 2010, 10 Posts, 83 Comments

Comment posted by Craig Myers on April 22, 2011 at 12:29 AM

Beautiful image. It is almost as if the color from the sunset has spilled over the foreground rocks. I have to agree with Sandy regarding the flowers. The closest flowers in the LL corner have the look of ice plant.

Registered on September 1, 2008, 85 Posts, 757 Comments

Comment posted by Jared Atencio on April 22, 2011 at 1:02 AM

Thanks for the insight. I did some more research and found THIS site identifying the blooms as a type of ice plant, or Mesembryanthemum. In any case, this plant is def in bloom right now and offers nice sunRISE opportunities shooting east across Monterey Bay...thanks again!

Registered on June 23, 2009, 21 Posts, 422 Comments

Comment posted by Robert Dayton on April 23, 2011 at 9:29 AM

Haoling aside, this is beautiful, Jared! Great processing. You got a great sky to
and a strong foreground with the flowers.

Registered on November 11, 2008, 281 Posts, 3958 Comments