17. March 2010 by Friedhelm.

I photographed this California Wildflower yesterday on the Hyte Cove trail.  The official name is Dodecatheon Clevelandii or Shooting Star. The wildflowers are in full bloom and I suggest that you get your camera out, forget your plans and get out into foothills. Since the precipitation was above normal you should find fields of flowers almost everywhere in the California foothills. Don’t forget to bring a translucent reflector to avoid photographing in direct sunlight.

Enjoy and have a great photographic day!

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3. March 2010 by Friedhelm.

I photographed this image in March of 2009. The wildflowers were great last year. I expect them to be spectacular this year. Spring time is simply unbeatable in California, especially in the foothills. I took the short drive from Merced via Mariposa to the Merced River Canyon, where there are many trails and opportunities to photograph an incredibly beautiful country. I hope I get your appetite going.

Happy photographing!

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11. January 2010 by Friedhelm.

David and I photographed at Lake McClure shortly before sunset. We drove uphill towards the dam. We had to walk the last part on top of the dam with camera, lenses and tripods. The water level was very low. I shot downwards in about a 45degree angle using my 200mm lens. The light was incredibly soft and I was able to get this shot of the houseboats.

Enjoy!

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1. January 2010 by David.

Last week I went up to Yosemite and got some great photographs. However today I’d like to share a couple of photographs I took along the Merced River off of Highway 140. In both instances I noticed them as I passed by and had to turn around.

There was a small trickle of water coming off the hillside and these ferns seemed to be thriving. I really like the contrast in colors and the overall texture of the photograph. I used a small aperture f22 which resulted in a 2 second exposure to slightly blur the trickle of water. The slower the water is running the longer the exposure is required to get the blurring effect  ISO 100 at 28mm.

Every time I’ve gone to Yosemite by Highway 140 I’ve passed Cold Canyon Creek. This time it caught my eye and  also taught me a lesson. If you’re going to take a photograph of running water focus on a nearby rock or manually focus the camera. I took several photographs letting the camera automatically focus on the running water and invariably they were out of focus. Manually focusing on this shot solved that problem. Learn something new every day. F14, 1/5sec, ISO100 at 28mm.

Keep clicking

Dave

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30. November 2009 by Friedhelm.

We were driving home from Yosemite in stormy weather. In Mariposa, CA an old mining town on Hwy. 140, we saw this beautiful rainbow. I had no time to set up a tripod because it was in the beginning of disappearing and it got dark rather quickly. At this moment I was really thankful for my 24-105 image stabilized lens. Camera setting: 24mm, f5.6, 1/40sec, ISO 100.

Enjoy!

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10. November 2009 by Friedhelm.

This is a pretty typical scene in the foothills for the month of October. You see lonely oak trees, rocks, dried-up grass and blue skies. In order to show the contrast between the blue skies and the red-brown tones in the grass and rocks I used a graduated neutral density filter. Such a filter is a great help “to get the image right” in the camera and it saves a lot of time editing later. Camera setting: f18, 1/8sec., ISO 100.

Enjoy!

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6. November 2009 by David.

Here is one of the many beautiful sunset images that Friedhelm and I were privileged  to witness on our way home from our backroad trip to Raymond a couple of weeks ago. Don’t know about Friedhelm but this sunset was unexpected. Enjoy!

Keep Clicking

Dave

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3. November 2009 by Friedhelm.

Hornitos is a tiny community in Central California that used to be a thriving town of 15,000 during the Gold Rush. Each year the Catholic Church is celebrating “All Souls Day” with a special mass and a walk to the church on the hill. Special was that this year there was full moon.

I photographed the march standing besides the pathway. My camera is tripod mounted and I used the following camera setting: f8, 20sec. ISO 400

The people went to the graves and lit candles in remembrance of their loved once. Camera setting 85mm lens, f 1.8,  1/160sec., ISO 6400.

The procession ended with a mass at the St. Catherine church.

The entire event made me think about how we modern people deal with mortality. The Hispanic-Catholic tradition apparently embraces death and celebrates life.

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29. October 2009 by Friedhelm.

I started landscape photography at a time in my life when I felt pretty much beaten up. I needed to see some beauty and I found it in “mother” nature. I still look for beauty in all my photographs and I always look for ways to make my subject shine. This image is a good example of beauty they way I see it. It was photographed in the late afternoon and light was just great. The blue and red tone wonderfully complement each other and the rocks on the right in combination with the clouds portrait space.

Camera setting: 15mm lens, f8, 1/60sec., ISO 100

Enjoy!

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25. October 2009 by David.

Friedhelm and I went on a little trip using the backroads from Chowchilla to Raymond. At times we were hoping we were still in California. But the trip turned out to be very successful. This was taken at one of many ‘good stops’ along the route.  You never know what you’re going to find. I climbed a hill with my tripod but ended up laying on my back trying to keep my knees out of the frame, unable to use a tripod because I had to get to low to the ground, 1/12 second, image stabilized, f10,  iso 125 at 28mm.

Keep clicking

Dave

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