Northern California: a reminder of how beautiful nature can be.

Fern Canyon

    If you're travelling along Highway 101, a cool place to check out is Fern Canyon. This canyon follows a bit of a stream (poor California, you need more water), and has massive walls of ferns on either side, creating a stunning enclosed space. Apparently some of Jurassic Park was filmed here, so that's also pretty cool!

    This shot was also one of my first (proper) uses of HDR. The lighting here is quite crazy, but the end result turned out pretty balanced -- the walls are not too dark, and the highlights in the back not too bright.

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A Stream Through the Forest

    Okay, sometimes I get a bit artsy. I mean, when you are carrying around a tripod, might as well use it right?
Keeping the shutter open for just a bit more than usual is a nice way to give water a less static feel in a photo, an I think I got this one right.

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The Avenue of The Giants

    Another awesome spot along the Highway 101, is the Avenue of the Giants. You you cannot miss it, since it is right off the highway, and you also cannot miss it, because it is breathtaking! There are several trailheads that start from this road, and they are worth the hike (or at least a quick nature walk).

    The redwood forests are well renowned for having some of the tallest and oldest trees in the world. And believe me, they are BIG! This is one of my all time favourite photos that I have taken, due to the juxtaposition of the tall telephone pole being absolutely dwarfed by these massive trees. In a second form of juxtaposition, the photo makes one realize that we are somewhat ruining the natural beauty by drawing powerlines through a forest, which makes me a bit sad.

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    Here's a second try at perspective of how large these trees are: a fallen tree. I don't think I got the perspecive quite right, so it isn't as shocking, but those are full sized ferns around it.

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A Sunset to End the Day

    We spent a bit too much time with the trees, but at least we caught the sunset when we got back to the coastline. So I'll leave off today with some lovely colour to contrast all of the green above.

 
 

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That's all for today!

For those of you interested: Camera is SONY NEX-7, with a Ziess 16-70mm lens. As always, these are my original photos, and they are not for redistribution without permission. See the gallery of all my photos, as I build it, here: anyxio.imgur.com
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