Night Time Lights

Underneath the same amazing sunset, I looked back at the water and took pictures of a pier. There are a few things in this picture that I really like. The first is the lights on the pier, specifically the string of lights I find very simple. The second is the little pool of water in front of the ocean. The third and final is the hint of sunset. There is enough for a sunset picture, but its very faint.

Orange to Blue

I turned my camera around and toward the palm trees. I used the same aperture and shutter speed technique. I made the sunset darker than it actually was and the night less blue. I added a California touch by including the palm trees in the picture. It gave the picture more objects for your eye to look at and I like it because it's hard for me to find palm trees in Texas.

Beach-Side Sunset

Using the same technique (a large aperture), I was able to capture the sunset in a very dark and rich way. I wanted to make the sunset seem as dark and colorful as possible. I made the colors as dark as possible, which also made the hills darker. On the hills are many palm trees which are casted into a silhouette by the large aperture and high shutter speed.

Sunset Silhouette 

Many times during this trip, the sun was so bright (probably because the water reflected the sun) that I had to increase the aperture to compensate. This was one of those times. When I did this, the picture becomes a different color. The yellow sun turns more lighter-yellow and the silhouetted object turns darker.

Sunset Fog

For most of the two days when we were in Monterey, there was fog covering the sky. Until the sunset on the second day, I didn't see the blue sky. The opening of the clouds allowed for a perfect sunset. There was still some fog in the mountains (which is what is pictured here). The sun reflected back onto the clouds creating a very nice sunset.

Water Stripes

On the beach were teepees made of three sticks standing up. This specific teepee had a rock on one of the sticks. I focussed on the rock and the stripes on it. I believe that these stripes came from the years the rock was laying in the sand and water. When the sand-water flowed around the rock, it created these stripes. In addition to the stripes on the rock, the waves created subtle stripes in the background.

Natural Stream

Taking a few steps away from the ocean, I found this natural stream flowing into the ocean. It was a pond that continued into a small stream. The stream was on the sand, making it very soft and wet. In addition to the sand, many sticks, and rocks lay scattered in the stream. I enjoyed the movement of water around the sticks and rocks. Even though you can't see the water moving, it feels very soothing just looking at it.

Sidewaves

After capturing the waves from the front, I decided I wanted to capture the waves from the side. A perfect picture would be if I set my camera inside a folding wave, but my camera isn't waterproof so I couldn't do that. Instead, I stood tall (making sure to keep my camera dry) and captured the cresting of waves on the side, something many people don't notice.

Wind-Driven Waves

It was constantly windy on the coast, causing the waves to fold back over themselves. In that process, there is a moment when some water is directly over the wave. I wish I could have taken a long exposure picture of this occurring, but there was no object that could be in focus while the wave was out of focus. If I had that rock from before positioned near where the wave crested, it would be a perfect picture.

Palm Tree

This picture is another simple one of a palm tree. There were hundreds of palm trees along the coast, but I wanted to find the perfect one. It had to be a circular at the top and ice cream cone like towards the bottom. It also had to have long strands of palm leaves poking out of the tree.

Mini Blues

For these flowers, I did change the lens to my macro lens. I had the aperture very low (a bigger hole for light to enter) to make the focus be very sharp then become very out of focus very quickly. I like the speckled spots of blue on the flower because it adds good changes of color on the picture.

Split Flower

The next flower I saw was this flower that was split half and half. Half was dead flowers and the other was blue flowers on a green stem. To take the picture, I used my wide angle lens but zoomed in. I didn't have time to switch the lens (into my macro lens) then take the picture, so I got as close I could to the flower without the macro lens.

Egg Flower

I went on a walk around the property and found this sunny-side egg looking plant. This flower is actually incredibly interesting. There are straw-like pieces in the center then flaky white petals on the outside. I took the picture from the side to showcase the yellow center and white sides.

Smooth Skies

I looked up above the rock and found this seagull flying above me. I do like the simpleness of the picture, a white seagull on a grey background. The background is solid grey which allows for the seagull to be the main focus. The seagull happened to be flying toward me making the picture even better. The wings were outstretched and you can almost see the individual feathers.

Fast Motion 

I liked the pier with the lights, but I felt the picture needed something more. I walked to my right on the beach (North) until I found a rock in the water. Using the same remote exposure, low shutter speed, and high aperture I focused on the rock and had the waves crash around it. By the time I took this picture, the sun had just risen. This made taking long exposure pictures harder but not impossible. I wish a wave crashed over the rock so I could capture it, but I do like the movement of the waves around the rock.

Breakfast Walk

I was not the only thing on the beach before sunrise. I was accompanied by this seagull and a few of its friends. I timed the picture so that the waves were just about to end. I wanted to show the water in the picture, but I didn't want to have a wave. The bird was on the shore looking for food, so I decided to wait for the wave to go onto the beach, then I took the picture.

Morning Timelapse

The first morning I arrived in California I woke up early because my body was still on central time. I went to the beach and set up my camera on a tripod. I also used my remote exposure button to capture these long exposure pictures. I had to close the aperture to allow for a longer exposure/shutter speed. I noticed the pier and decided that I wanted it to be the background for the crashing waves.

Seabirds

This is the normal seagull many people think about when they hear the word, 'seagull.' For this picture, I used my telephoto lens again and tried to position myself as close as possible. I don't know what is the red thing on the seagulls' beak. All of the seagulls that I took pictures of had this red mark. I also tried to position myself so that the background was blue from the ocean.

Low Flying

This bird was another one of the many that were on the shore. I believe that it is a type of crane or a bird similar to a crane. I was taking pictures of the waves (like the one I posted yesterday) when this bird flew in front of me. It was hard to take pictures of because it was flying so fast, but I was able to capture this before it flew away.

Crashing Waves

The waves in Santa Barbara were not the biggest waves, but to me, they were big enough. Each was about 5-7 feet tall and crashed close enough to the shore that I could take a good picture of it. For the majority of my wave pictures, I used the 300mm focal length on my telephoto lens to get the closest to the wave that I could. I also used a fast shutter speed to capture the water droplets as the wave crashed.

Speckled Feathers

My next series of pictures comes from northern California is the towns of Santa Barbara, Monterey, and San Francisco. I took thousands of pictures, but what I mostly focussed on was the beaches. I was fascinated with the birds, water, and how things look with the water in the picture. I liked this bird because it has different colors than normal seagulls. Most seagulls are white but this bird was grey with hints of white and black. It probably is a different species of bird but it still looks interesting.

Floods

On the ranch, the floods were not as bad, but there still was some flooding evident. For instance, this tiny stream turned into a little lake and a creek. After looking back at this picture, I wish that I took less of the sky and positioned the camera lower to ground. I feel there is too much sky and not enough river and nature.

Fresh Air

To me, this picture is the one that reminds me of the fresh air only found in pine tree forests. There are pine trees, water, green grass, and bright blue skies. This picture is slightly different than the one I took earlier because of the clarity of the water. This water was less clear, causing the mirror to not be perfect. There is an outline of the trees and shore, but there is not defined objects on the water.

Mountain View

Near the front porch of the cabin was a dead tree with a background of the mountain. I focussed on the tree because I like the design the tree makes. In addition, I decreased the aperature (I set it to 1/5) to allow for the mountain and tree to be in the picture. I also like the difference in color between the brown sticks, green trees, blue sky, and white snow. They all combine to make a picture that I find very interesting.

Eagles

On the morning of the fourth day, we took a 1.5-hour drive of the property. On the drive, I saw at least six different animals including bison, elk, deer, prairie dog, coyote, and this eagle. I took this picture with my wide-angle lens but zoomed in. I wasn't able to take the picture very close to the eagle because I didn't have time to switch to the telephoto lens, but I worked with what I could.

Sunrise over Chama

On the last day, I woke up early and captured the sunrise for the last time. There was a slight haze in the air, causing the sun to create stripes over and into the mountains. I don't know why there is a haze, and after asking our fishing guide, he too didn't know why. He said he thought there were no fires, but maybe there was.

Sunrise Stop

The hummingbirds were a little different than the elk, in the sense that they came more often and not only during the sunrise and sunset. The majority still came during the sunrise and sunset, but some didn't, making them easier to photograph. Like my other hummingbird picture, I was standing on a chair to get a better angle. This time, I positioned the camera, so the background was a tree with the yellow-orange sunset in the background.