Del Norte Fog
A dense fog bank drifts through the old growth redwoods in Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park.
A dense fog bank drifts through the old growth redwoods in Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park.
Read less
Read less
Feb, 2016Views
1191
Likes
Awards
People's Choice in The Lonely Forest Photo Challenge
Winner in beauty of your state Photo Challenge
Peer Award
Superb Composition
Absolute Masterpiece
Top Choice
Superior Skill
Outstanding Creativity
Love it
Magnificent Capture
Emotions
Relaxed
Top Ranks
Top 20 rankTop 10 rank week 2Top 10 rank week 1
Top 20 rank week 1
Top 10 rank
Categories
prawink92
July 28, 2016
The light, Fog, green, sand, it almost looks like the shot from a hollywood movie
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Discover more photos See all
Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken in the Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park, near Crescent City, California.Time
I took this photo around mid-day. It had been raining hard all morning and I was driving home from a trip up the Smith River. While passing through the Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park, the rain stopped and I immediately began looking for a place to pull over. Dense banks of fog started drifting through the groves of enormous old growth redwoods with the occasional ray of light piercing through, so I grabbed my camera and kept shooting away until raindrops started to fall again.Lighting
Only natural light is at play here, with the fog acting as a natural diffuser. Lighting conditions can get very difficult while shooting on the forest floor, and a little fog helps soften the light enough to retain both highlight and shadow detail.Equipment
This was shot on a Nikon D800 with a Tamron 24-70mm, mounted on an old SLIK tripod.Inspiration
I had driven through the Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park several times before, but never seemed to be able to find a place to park along the highway whenever I saw some dramatic fog banks or light rays coming through the trees. This time, I quickly came across a parking turnout by a trailhead right after the rain stopped and I did not want to pass up the opportunity.Editing
I made basic color balance adjustments and lifted the midtones a bit so the contrast with the sky wouldn't be quite so sharp.In my camera bag
If I'm shooting birds and wildlife, I'm usually carrying a Nikon D800 and a Sigma 300-800mm zoom around on a shoulder strap. On the forest floor, I carry the Nikon with a Tamron 24-70mm and a Tokina 90mm macro.Feedback
Always bring your camera if you're going to be traveling somewhere scenic and don't pass up the chance to shoot any captivating landscapes or wildlife. I wasn't planning to take this shot, but I was prepared when the opportunity arose. Shadows can get very dark in tall forests, so having a camera with high dynamic range can be very useful in situations like this. For this shot, I set the Nikon D800 to its base ISO setting to maximize the dynamic range and exposed the image so that the was just shy of clipping. If there was too much contrast in the scene, those settings would have allowed me to recover significant detail from the shadows. In this case, both the highlights and the shadows ended up exposed just about where I wanted them to be, and it was only necessary to make minor adjustments in post.
