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New pics from my Coastal Habitat field class!

Discussion in 'Environmental Discussion' started by F8L, Apr 8, 2007.

  1. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    I know some of you are getting tired of these but I figure someone will like them. :)

    Rock outcropping at Chimney Rock Lighthouse in Point Reyes
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    Big Leaf Maple in Big Sur
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    Bug eating a Poppy
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    Dudleya species?
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    cont.

    Lagoon near the Dept. Fish & Game/UC Davis Toxicology Lab in Big Sur
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    Lizard on a rock taking in a view of Big Sur
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    Lupine Cluster
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    He has a hell of a monring view
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    Wild Iris in Pfiefer State Park
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    California Poppy in Big Sur
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    Trippy Oak pic. Stare at it for a bit.
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    It was a 7mile trail with a 1764ft vertical hike up a fairly straight trail (not many switchbacks). Not that it was too difficult but just showing my height at the halfway point.
    [​IMG]
     
    #1 F8L, Apr 8, 2007
  2. jimmyrose

    jimmyrose Member

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    Nice pics! However, I hope that's not blood splatter on your first pic... :lol:
     
    #2 jimmyrose, Apr 8, 2007
  3. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    Very nice stuff...a little work on exposure control needed, but overall some very nice stuff. I like the control of DOF you're using.
     
    #3 efusco, Apr 8, 2007
  4. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ZenCruiser @ Apr 8 2007, 11:06 AM) [snapback]419843[/snapback]</div>

    LOL

    It's a red colored green algae. That outcropping is quite large. It is about 30-40' across. That would be a lot of blood. :eek:

    I just noticed in the last pic with me in it the lizard from a few pics back is still kickin' it on the rock below me to the left. hahaha

    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco @ Apr 8 2007, 11:10 AM) [snapback]419845[/snapback]</div>

    I was hoping you would come in here. Could you point out the pics that need better exposure control and if it needed more or less. I figured out how to work that on my camera but unfortunately it won't allow me to do a more comprehensive shutter speed control. I'm finding the limitations to this camera. :(

    The exposure control allows for a -3 to +3 range. Any advice is appreciated my friend. Ohh and what's DOF? I'm a total camera noob.
     
    #4 F8L, Apr 8, 2007
  5. just_marci

    just_marci New Member

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    What beautiful shots!

    Thanks for the chance to forget that it's 31 blasted degrees outside.
     
    #5 just_marci, Apr 8, 2007
  6. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(just_marci @ Apr 8 2007, 11:25 AM) [snapback]419851[/snapback]</div>
    Thank you :)

    It wasn't quite a warm as it looked in the pics. Average temps ranged from 54-70deg in most of the places we were but the wind made it fairly chilly without a coat. The hike on the mountain was probably the warmest spot. The rest of the trip required a sweater at least.
     
    #6 F8L, Apr 8, 2007
  7. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(F8L @ Apr 8 2007, 01:13 PM) [snapback]419846[/snapback]</div>
    The first shot is way over-exposed...part of the problem is you're shooting into bright light and there's some flare. This is a shot where I'd lock the auto-exposure (if your camera can do that) with none of the back-ground light, then recompose as you like...still, you're going to get lens flare and it's a tough shot to get sharp.



    #2-perfect exposure(leaf)

    #3-blown highlights...looks like direct overhead sunlight. You need 1)something to diffuse the light...they make some handy folding portable diffusers if you like doing this macro you really need that. Still, I'd aim for about 1 top less exposure to save those highlights.

    #4-Dudlaya--again, same bad light issue, probably a bit overexposed too...notice how the colors have little 'punch'.

    #5-Lagoon--good exposure/saturation...consider a polarizer to really make that thing pop!

    #6-Lizard--a little too much 'dead space' to the left and upper part of the image...a little tighter crop would get the over-exposed background to be less dominant. Also I'd dial down the exposure 1/2-stop if possible. A polarizer would give you a bit more contrast and definition.

    #7-Lupine--not bad exposure in one that's easy to mess up. What I don't like there is that the in-focus flowers have the top chopped off and the bland green stems take up the bottom 1/3rd of the image...you should have aimed just a bit higher to include the tops of the flowers that are the main subject, crop just slightly tighter to keep the out of focus flower as the 'frame' to the right edge of the image while making it clear that the in-focus flowers are your main subject.

    #8-flower--Nice idea, looks like the breeze was your enemy as the flower lacks sharpness...also, you really have to include at least a little of the stem or it looks stuck into the image. This shot shows some good DOF (depth of field) control....the out of focus but obvious what it is background dominate the image but don't distract from the main subject (the flower). Be sure you're using a tripod on these macro/close-up shots and take lots and lots of shots to make sure you get one where the subject is in focus and not blurry.

    #9-Nice, more diffuse light here really helps the color and the little bug is a nice addition for interest. I don't like the tips of the pedals cut off, but that's getting picky.

    #10-Although the shot is pretty cliche' it's very well done here and a nice one to blow up for your girl friend to put up in her place! Back-lighting is a great tool, but don't overdo it. The thing that would make this good shot great is a polarizer which would have deepened the orange and the blue and given much better contrast to the shot.

    Hope that helps.
     
    #7 efusco, Apr 8, 2007
  8. Godiva

    Godiva AmeriKan Citizen

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    thank you. those were beautiful.

    Were you using a digital? What kind and lens?
     
    #8 Godiva, Apr 8, 2007
  9. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    Thank you so much Evan!

    I'm going to print this out and take it with me on my next outing. I'm going to see if I can get some kind of a tripod and spend more time taking these shots. On average I could only take 1-3 pics of each subject because the professor kept urging me on since the rest of the group would get way ahead of me. :) You are correct that the wind was definately my enemy! Most of the flower shots were taken while the damn flowered swayed back and for on the breezy hillside.

    I looked through each picture and compared it to what you wrote and I can see how your advice would make each picture better. My girlfriend agreed. Myspace downsized the pics a bit so I'm not sure if it is my girlfriends monitor or if the pics lost some detail durring the myspace compression. I'll check it when I get home and if the originals look better I'll post a couple up for comparision.

    I'm going to read up on my camera and see what controls I have and take some new pics on my next trip and would love for you to critique them. :D
     
    #9 F8L, Apr 8, 2007
  10. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    feel free to e-mail me high res images any time if you need a critique. With those I can see better what the image looked like before the internet started doing it's compression damage and such, I can crop and edit and return with my suggestions.

    1)A decent tripod is a good investment...if you can afford it find a nice carbon fiber one that you can change the head on. A good one will be ~$200. A good head will be about $350...but you can get that later....any old head will do for now.

    2)You've gotta learn your camera inside and out....once you find it's limits and find your photography limited by the camera it's time to move up to something better.

    3)get a lens hood and a polarizer filter...it will improve your photography immediately esp. in bright outdoor light.

    4)Avoid shooting b/w 10am and 2pm whenever possible...the light sucks.
     
    #10 efusco, Apr 8, 2007
  11. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    Thanks again. This is all good info. :)

    Here are a few more shots that I was having trouble with. On the last two which is the best way to compose them. The flower in focus and the coast out of focus or the other way around? Or is one of those "up to the photographer" type situations? All these pics were downsized to 1000 pixels and stored on my racing site. Original pics were 2800 pixels.

    This one was supposed to be a silhouette pic or a normal color pic but kind of turned out a little of both.
    [​IMG]


    Not as much "pop" as I had hoped for. Would a faster shutter speed be better for catching seperation in water particles in the wave?
    [​IMG]


    Bad pic but it illustrates my question
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    The other way
    [​IMG]
     
    #11 F8L, Apr 8, 2007
  12. galaxee

    galaxee mostly benevolent

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    oh wow, what scenery! sometimes i wish i had done more field biology rather than lab work for this very reason... very nice!
     
    #12 galaxee, Apr 8, 2007
  13. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(F8L @ Apr 8 2007, 03:40 PM) [snapback]419914[/snapback]</div>
     
    #13 efusco, Apr 8, 2007
  14. SSimon

    SSimon Active Member

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    Nice work. It really is nice to see flowers and green as it's still getting below freezing here at night and not a lot's going on yet.

    I appreciate the pic of the tree silhouette. It's so dramatic to see how the wind can shape something that appears so big and mighty. At least that's what appears to be going on in that pic.
     
    #14 SSimon, Apr 8, 2007
  15. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SSimon @ Apr 8 2007, 09:40 PM) [snapback]420090[/snapback]</div>
    Thanks! There were many trees that were twisted by wind and competition with other trees for lighting, some even had contorted shapes due to a fungus that grows on its bark.
     
    #15 F8L, Apr 9, 2007
  16. fshagan

    fshagan Senior Member

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    Big Sur to Point Reyes ... God's country. Thanks for the pics ... they bring back a lot of good memories.
     
    #16 fshagan, Apr 9, 2007
  17. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(fshagan @ Apr 9 2007, 08:45 PM) [snapback]420597[/snapback]</div>
    This is the reason I like to post em up. When other would post up pics of places I had been the memories would come flooding back. I just like to return the favor. :)

    I'm just dissapointed the compression to internet size dimished the details so.
     
    #17 F8L, Apr 10, 2007
  18. SSimon

    SSimon Active Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(F8L @ Apr 10 2007, 12:24 AM) [snapback]420655[/snapback]</div>
    Ah, it's all good. It's just nice to escape the cold, dormant stuff around here. Not that that stuff doesn't have it's own beauty, but after a long winter it's nice to see any flowers whatsoever. Keep posting, please. If I get any nice nature pics this warm season, I'll post here too.

    I was thinking last night that we should start a thread in the environmental forum for such pics. It would be a nice break in a workday to see stuff like that. Maybe I'll start one off with a pic or two that I took last season in my garden.
     
    #18 SSimon, Apr 10, 2007
  19. seasidetraveler

    seasidetraveler Member

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    More reminders of why I love CA
     
    #19 seasidetraveler, May 25, 2007
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