Landscape - David Mathre Photography

Thursday (15-April-2010) — California

Gone to See America 2010. Big Sur Photography Workshop with Michael Mariant. Day 1: Afternoon/Evening.

For the Afternoon, we spent time at Redwood Gulch Falls. The light levels within the forest near the falls ranged from very bright to very dark — well beyond the capability of DSLR sensors. Here I used Singh-Ray filters (to smooth out the water flow) and HDR (took 5 images under and over exposed) which were then combined using Photomatix. Later on we traveled to Sand Dollar beach. Our first exercise was to use filters at the beach to give the waves a soft ethereal effect. As the sun set over the Pacific ocean, I used HDR again to adapt to the wide range of light.

Redwood Gulch Falls, Los Padres National Forest, Central California Coast. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/16, 2.5, 5, 10, 20, 30 sec). Singh-Ray Filter. HDR Composite of 5 images using Photomatix Pro. (David J Mathre) — Redwood Gulch Falls, Los Padres National Forest, Central California Coast. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/16, 2.5, 5, 10, 20, 30 sec). Singh-Ray Filter. HDR Composite of 5 images using Photomatix Pro.

Long Exposure Exercise at Sand Dollar Beach, Big Sur Central California Coast. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 50 mm f/1.4G lens and Singh-Ray Filter (ISO 100, 50 mm, f/16, 5 sec). (David J Mathre) — Long Exposure Exercise at Sand Dollar Beach, Big Sur Central California Coast. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 50 mm f/1.4G lens and Singh-Ray Filter (ISO 100, 50 mm, f/16, 5 sec).

Sunset at Sand Dollar Beach, Big Sur Central California Coast. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 50 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 100, 50 mm, f/16, 1/5, 1/10, 1/20, 1/40, 1/80 sec). HDR Composite of 5 images using Photomatix Pro. (David J Mathre) — Sunset at Sand Dollar Beach, Big Sur Central California Coast. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 50 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 100, 50 mm, f/16, 1/5, 1/10, 1/20, 1/40, 1/80 sec). HDR Composite of 5 images using Photomatix Pro.

Wednesday (14-April-2010) — California

Gone to See America 2010. Big Sur Photography Workshop with Michael Mariant. Day 0: Piedras Blancas Beach.

I arrived in San Simeon on the California coast the day before the Big Sur Workshop. After dinner, I drove 7 miles north to the Elephant Seal view-point on Piedras Blancas beach. There are hundreds of Elephant Seals just being lazy and making a lot of noise. The young males are mock fighting, but not doing much damage. This was an image rich environment.

Click on the image to view the whole set.

Sunday (14-March-2010) — New Jersey

Backyard Winter Nature in New Jersey. The Great Nor’easter Storm of March 2010.

The ground was saturated, and the strong winds from the Nor’easter took out a lot of trees. I was lucky that this one didn’t fall on my house. Lots of local destruction. I ended up living in my RY for 5 days until power could be restored to the house.

Storm Aftermath (David J Mathre) — Storm Aftermath. One of many trees down in my backyard. This one is near the house. Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 500, 16 mm, f/2.8, 1/60 sec). (David J Mathre)

Saturday (27-February-2010) — California

Photography Workshop “Yosemite in Winter: A Season of Contrast” with Michael Mariant. Day 3: Yosemite National Park.

Images from Day 3 of the 2010″Yosemite in Winter: A Season of Contrast” photography workshop with Michael Mariant. Most of the day it snowed and rained in the valley. At the end of the day, several of us were working on images in the recently renovated Curry Village Lounge. Someone came in and said go outside at look at Half Dome as it was being lit up with a sunset glow. The only camera I had with me was the D3x that had been acting up with electronic problems. I had minimal control of aperture and shutter speed, but still got some amazing images.