hearst

I'm looking for an excuse to go to western Canada in early September.

Is there any place reachable by car that has fairly reliable good

fall colors at that time of year?

You are much more likely to see a docent than a ranger on the trails, both because rangers have lots of other things to do and because there are about 10 times as many docents. So watch for us - we're there to help.<div></div>

Those of you who really love Pt Lobos might consider joining the Point Lobos Natural History Association. You can get a lot of information at www.pointlobos.org. The Association sponsors the docent program, built and staffs the kiosk that sells goodies, set up and maintains the museum, leads nature walks, and provides most of the contacts with the public. They also issue a quarterly newsletter which, among other things contains notes from docents about what interesting things they have seen over the past quarter.

Let me put the right file in for the picture<div></div>

I agree that this should be archived, perhaps in nature photgraphy.

 

I am usually there the first weekend of the month (more precisely, the weekend containing the first saturday of the month) and am free from about 1-3 on the Friday, lead a nature walk at 3 PM on Saturday, and am free on the Sunday morning. I would be glad to show things to photographers then or give advice from 3-5 on Friday at the kiosk where postcards are sold and from 1-3 on Saturday at the little museum. Check with me before you go. But stay on the trails where they're posted.

I agree that this should be archived, perhaps in nature photgraphy.

 

I am usually there the first weekend of the month (more precisely, the weekend containing the first saturday of the month) and am free from about 1-3 on the Friday, lead a nature walk at 3 PM on Saturday, and am free on the Sunday morning. I would be glad to show things to photographers then or give advice from 3-5 on Friday at the kiosk where postcards are sold and from 1-3 on Saturday at the little museum. Check with me before you go. But stay on the trails where they're posted.

For the record, this is what I sent directly to Dave when he emailed the question to me. The erosion patterns in a previous post are the tafoni at Sea Lion Point

 

Hi, Dave

 

Ordinarily Pt Lobos is either foggy or overcast on July mornings and, in fact, often all day. So it is good for flower pix and things like that in the morning. The best place for flowers this time of year is the Bird Island trail, which is at the far end of the road. You can also get some interesting macro shots of eroded rocks and tafoni from parts of the Sea Lion Point trail. But the first thing you should do on Tue or Wed (Wed would be a bit better) is to go to Weston Beach (named for you-know-who). Low tide Wed is 8:58. You may get some tidepool pix and you should get lots of nice patterns, pebble shots, and things like that. I shot a roll of them a couple of weeks ago. Watch out for the incoming tide! Then get scenics in the afternoon if you get a decent sky. You will find a great deal of difference in the scenery from the north and south shores because they are made of different rocks.

 

I don't know how you are for wildlife. There is a heron rookery at Bluefish Cove and the chicks may still be there, but they were pretty big two weeks ago. You need a very long lens to get good shots of them, at least 600 mm, preferably longer. There are plenty of pelicans and cormorants. There is often an otter or two close to shore in Whaler's Cove , but if you are interested in marine mammals and/or shorebirds there is a boat ride from Moss Landing that gets you closer to these critters than you can get at Pt. Lobos. Phone 831-633-5555 for the hours: they vary with the tide. On the other hand I got a sea otter at a range of about 10 ft at about 8 PM recently from a dock at the Monterey Marina. Had to use flash, which is unusual for a marine mammal.

 

It is rarely crowded on weekdays even in the summer, and you should be able to move the car. If your gear isn't too heavy you can just walk.

If any of us docents or the Rangers catch you off the trail where the signs say "stay on" we will be very nasty to you. In fact, I shall forward this thread to the rangers. Even we docents aren't allowed off trail, and the rangers claim (I dont know if I believe it) that even Adams wasn't allowed to stay after closing. You CAN take sunset pix between about Dec 15 and Jan 15.

You may want to worry about UV. A P&S probably won't take a filter. When I took one up high many years ago I bought Agfachrome, which at the time had a UV filter layer in the film. I don't know how modern films respond to UV but you should check.

I've been searching the web and these fora without success trying to find out if Nikon D matrix metering works with the TC14A, the teleconverter recommended for the new 80-400 VR lens. Someone must know. Pls tell me

This is a very useful guide to San Francisco and Northern California. It is well designed, telling you exactly where to go to get a shot, and the best times of day. Maps and verbal descriptions of the routes are included. It is profusely illustrated with good example photos (though I may have gotten one or two better ones from the sites they recommend). I would prefer more emphasis on scenics and wildflowers, and perhaps, since I volunteer there, more detail about Point Lobos. Unfortunately there is essentially no discussion of wildlife, which is too bad considering the profusion in the area.

While we're asking about that lens, I'd like to know what the manual

tells you to do when you put it on a tripod. That is, should you turn

the VR off on a tripod (thereby negating the usefulness of the vr)?

I have never found exactly what you want, but I can suggest several things that will be partially satisfactory.

 

1. http://elib.cs.berkeley.edu/photos/flora/

 

2. "Shore Wildflowers of California, Oregon, and Washington" by Munz, published by UC Press. It has verbal descriptions and 96 poor-quality color photos.

 

3. Three posters available at the Information Station at Pt. Lobos, and perhaps elsewhere. We Pt. Lobos docents cut up one of the posters and paste the pictures into a notebook to carry with us when we lead nature walks.

 

4. "Plants of the San Francisco Bay Region" by Kozloff and Beidleman, published by Sagan Press in Pacific Grove. Great if you know how to use a key, which I don't.

 

5. "Plants of the Coast Redwood Region" by Lyons and Cooney-Lazaneo, published by Looking Press in Boulder Creek. Mostly for inland plants rather than coastal.

 

If you use all of these resources, together with those recommended by the other responders, you can often identify a plant that you photograph.

I've been reading about the lichen fields near Merced Falls,

California, and have seen some good pictures of scenes from them.

I've been told that to get into the better areas one needs permission

from the owner of the land, but I don't know who owns the land or how

to reach him/her (her, I think). I realize I missed the best time

(spring) but want to plan ahead. Can anyone tell me how to get

in touch with the owner?

Thanks to the Alamanac in OP I can look up the azimuth of sunrise and

sunset anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere, and it's easy to get the

time. So fine: I go to a beach somewhere and set up my camera at the

correct azimuth and wait until the correct time and get a very boring

sunset! No picture! Often there are heavy clouds on the horizon,

which give a hint that things won't be so good, but you never know so

I wait, and my wife, who often has to wait with me, is not

enthusiastic.

 

Does anyone know how, by looking at the sky half an hour or an hour in

advance (or by any other method, for that matter) to predict whether a

sunset will be worth waiting for? Same question for sunrise?

If you plan to be at Pt Lobos March 31 or Apr 1 or 2 I'll be working there as a docent, and will be glad to tell/show you some interesting spots for photos. Check with me by email.

 

Also, if you like photographing shore birds, I recommend Elkhorn Slough, about half an hour north of Monterey by Hwy 1 (A few miles north of the intersection of rte 156). There is an egret and blue heron rookery that should be working in April - lots of them. I think it's closed Mon and Tue - I don't have that info handy. 831-728-2822 If you want good shots of sea otters, pelicans (brown and white) and maybe seals try the boat ride into the Slough. The schedule varies with the tide. 831-633-5555. About $22 the last time I took it. Leaves from Moss Landing Harbor (NOT Moss Beach - a different area) juat north of the 156 intersection. Follow their instructions for meeting carefully.

Thank you all very much. I bought the book and I see what you mean.

I'm going to Kauai soon, with a non-hiking wife, so I can't take

advantage of photo ops on the NaPali coast trail or the trails in the

Waimea valley. I've looked into the botanical gardens, but they seem

to require visitors to take guided tours, and discourage tripods, so

those areas also seem to be more or less off limits. Of course I'll

drive thru the Waimea Valley anyhow, and find shots there. I'd

appreciate suggestions for other good photo sites.

 

Thanks

One good trip for photography is the Elkhorn Slough Safari

 

http://www.elkhornslough.com/

 

It is a boat trip that leaves from Moss Landing; the schedule depends on the tides. The owner goes slowly, and is very knowledgable about the birds - and goes as close to them as he dares. But you still need a fairly long lens. Combine this with walking at Elkhorn Slough. But check the hours at the Slough - it isn't open every day. If you are at Point Lobos on Friday March 3 between 3 and 5 PM come to the place where postcards are sold - I'll be the person selling them. On Saturday the 4th I'll be at the Whalers' Cabin from 1 to 3 and leading a nature walk at 3.

I'd be glad to welcome you. In fact, if you want to get together before 3 on the 3rd we could meet for lunch. That's also a good weekend for tidepool photos - a smalll minus tide midafternoon.

If you don't have maps with declination on them handy try this web site

 

http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/seg/gmag/fldsnth1.pl

Nothing to do with photography, but when I went to that part of Africa I had my doctor prescribe a few hypodermic syringes for me to take with me. That way if for some reason I had to have an injection I'd have a sterile syringe and lower risk of AIDS.

The viewfinder of the Nikonos V has etched marks in the view that

outline the area that is actually in the frame. When I am diving, and

wearing a mask, I can't readily see those marks. Because of that,

general carelessness when i am underwater, and the fact that I am

moving while taking the picture, I often find that objects that I

THINK are in the view are not in the picture when i get it back. One

solution to this is simply to insist that anything I see must be well

within the center of the frame. But this certainly prevents any

careful composition. Does anyone know of an easy way to assure that

what I see is what I get?

I have spent time in all three areas, and all are beautiful. The views from each are quite different. For a first-timer, hgowever, I would recommend concentrating on Jungfrau and Zermatt for two reasons: First, views in both places depend strongly on the weather, and spending more time in one place gives you a better chance of seeing the summits of the famous mountains. Second, the views near the towns in those two locations are more spectacular than those near St. Moritz, which are more tranquil, and the famous views are much more obvious and easy to find. A guidebook should help. If you can spend a night at the hotel in Gornergrat (near Zermatt) and the weather is good, you can get incredible views of the Matterhorn at dawn. From the Jungfrau area, take a train to Kleine Scheidegg and walk along the easy trail.

The Garden Wall is a beautiful place

I've got to get into this too. I'm clumsy, and my eyes aren't too great, so I don't think I can manipulate a graded ND filter well enough to get the line where I want it in an image. So I've been experimenting taking two shots of the same scene at different exposures, superposing them in Photoshop, and selecting the properly exposed part of each shot. (I thought of it BEFORE it was described in PC PHOTO). Now why is this less ethical than taking one shot with a graded ND filter?