Spent my third weekend out of the last four rambling about obscure areas of the Merced River Canyon. Intense poppies on spooky steep sunny exposure slopes we climbed two or three weeks ago are all gone replaced by new vibrant growths in more sheltered exposures that were all green then. This was a quick pic from my G10 at a spot I did expose a couple of Provia 4x5 sheets at, though not this exact frame, that I won' get the results back for until next week. Its times like this that I dream of the days during the last few years when I wasn't a 8-5 m-f working guy and could milk these spots midweek at my leisure instead of a whirlwind weekend tour where I hardly have time to bother eating between exausting dawn to dusk efforts.
Great shot, David! I've been to the Merced River Canyon 4 times in the last
month and didn't get anything like this. I didn't see any Owl's Clover like you
have in this shot. Perhaps with the right kind of weather there will still be some
good stuff in the canyon for another week.
Posted by Derek Sedillo on April 7, 2009 at 11:23 AM
Wow,
The variety in this shot is great with the lupine, poppies, owl's clover, etc... Even though ppl were talking about it peaking a fews of weeks ago when I went, I think there is a lot of life left in the canyon. And as you menitoned while some flowers die off others emerge. I am really looking forward to my trip into the valley next month. Hopefully it will be a good Spring/Summer for Yosemite as well.
With regards to the image I really like the comp and colors. It seems just a bit overexposed or a little too high in contrast as some colors appear to be clipping. And I know what that is like shooting in the bright sunlight there. You need to sun for the poppies to open. So it is kind of a double edged sword and one of the challenges thats for sure. Great image overall!
I look forward to your 4x5 images. Do you find that 4x5 Provia provides you with more DR than the Canon g10? Just curious.
Derek
Posted by Rudy Ruberti on April 7, 2009 at 6:02 PM
Better get it while you can. In another few weeks it will all be brown. Very nice shot. Love the colors here.
Beautiful Image Dave, nice display! Looking forward to the 4x5s.
Maybe this current storm will help prolong things a bit. Hopefully that wind that whipped through here like a freight train this afternoon didn't do too much damage.
Robert there most definetly will be loads of great stuff this coming weekend in that canyon. But not where 98% of people are at. And not without effort. When passing by I saw about 70 vehicles parked along the highway at Savage Trading Post (aka Hite Cove trailhead) at 11am Sunday morning. Each car probably had two or three people in them. That trail must have looked like the Half Dome Cable Conga line. I saw a couple dozen people all day in places I wandered about and often was totally alone.
Saturday I billygoated up atop the 700 foot high ridge opposite the Slate Creek highway bridge crossing that was the main spot people stopped to gawk at the huge poppy fields in burn areas across the river. All the poppies from two weeks ago were gone this last weekend but atop the ridge and down the backside where there was less sun exposure, were a whole new set of species plus some dense poppies too. To get to that spot is a 3 mile hike along the river on the old Yosemite Railroad Grade. Every step along the grade looks like the Hite Cove Trail except it has been totally devoid of hikers all month despite being right in front of people's eyes across the river.
Derek, well designed digital sensors have more exposure latitude than any film. Results still depends on the quality of the light and how one exposes that light. With the G10 I'm usually at minus 2/3, neutral color, and then bring the image up in Photoshop. I hate overexposing film or digital or blocking up colors. With digital sensors starting with a slightly dim capture to later process up is easy. Provia is terrific in sunlight where I live at EV14.4 to 14.9. Flower landscapes often work best in sunlight because petals are transluscent thus glow. Flower closeups more often work best with diffuse, reflector, or flash lighting.
Michael, wish I had the time to dabble down south in some of your areas but don't think its going to happen this spring as the drying end is coming. This next Easter weekend I'm going to be stuck in my local Bay Area local zone. There is a whole lot of stuff I saw this last weekend that in two weeks is going to be toasted. So it'll all have to wait for another spring.
Posted by Steve Sieren on April 9, 2009 at 2:35 AM
Looks like you hit the Jackpot David. This is some cluster you found.
Discussion
6 repliesmonth and didn't get anything like this. I didn't see any Owl's Clover like you
have in this shot. Perhaps with the right kind of weather there will still be some
good stuff in the canyon for another week.
The variety in this shot is great with the lupine, poppies, owl's clover, etc... Even though ppl were talking about it peaking a fews of weeks ago when I went, I think there is a lot of life left in the canyon. And as you menitoned while some flowers die off others emerge. I am really looking forward to my trip into the valley next month. Hopefully it will be a good Spring/Summer for Yosemite as well.
With regards to the image I really like the comp and colors. It seems just a bit overexposed or a little too high in contrast as some colors appear to be clipping. And I know what that is like shooting in the bright sunlight there. You need to sun for the poppies to open. So it is kind of a double edged sword and one of the challenges thats for sure. Great image overall!
I look forward to your 4x5 images. Do you find that 4x5 Provia provides you with more DR than the Canon g10? Just curious.
Derek
Maybe this current storm will help prolong things a bit. Hopefully that wind that whipped through here like a freight train this afternoon didn't do too much damage.
Saturday I billygoated up atop the 700 foot high ridge opposite the Slate Creek highway bridge crossing that was the main spot people stopped to gawk at the huge poppy fields in burn areas across the river. All the poppies from two weeks ago were gone this last weekend but atop the ridge and down the backside where there was less sun exposure, were a whole new set of species plus some dense poppies too. To get to that spot is a 3 mile hike along the river on the old Yosemite Railroad Grade. Every step along the grade looks like the Hite Cove Trail except it has been totally devoid of hikers all month despite being right in front of people's eyes across the river.
Derek, well designed digital sensors have more exposure latitude than any film. Results still depends on the quality of the light and how one exposes that light. With the G10 I'm usually at minus 2/3, neutral color, and then bring the image up in Photoshop. I hate overexposing film or digital or blocking up colors. With digital sensors starting with a slightly dim capture to later process up is easy. Provia is terrific in sunlight where I live at EV14.4 to 14.9. Flower landscapes often work best in sunlight because petals are transluscent thus glow. Flower closeups more often work best with diffuse, reflector, or flash lighting.
Michael, wish I had the time to dabble down south in some of your areas but don't think its going to happen this spring as the drying end is coming. This next Easter weekend I'm going to be stuck in my local Bay Area local zone. There is a whole lot of stuff I saw this last weekend that in two weeks is going to be toasted. So it'll all have to wait for another spring.