This is Tunnel View... as you enter Yosemite from the south entrance, you pass through a tunnel, when you come out the far side, this is the view you are greeted with. Stunning, no?

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II at 38mm, 1/120 sec at f/16. ISO 100. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

- BIll

And our last stop on our California roadtrip... Yosemite National Park. This is one of those places where photographs simple can't begin to do it justice. There are hundreds of famous photographers who have dedicated their lives to shooting Yosemite (Ansel Adams for example), and even they can't begin to impart the majesty and grandeur that this park possesses. So if you have never been to Yosemite, I highly recommend it to be added to your bucket list (though I'd wait until the recent hantavirus outbreak is cleared up). As I said, I don't expect my photographs to truly impart the true feeling of wonder one gets from being in this park... so if any other photographs in the next few days worth of posts impress you, multiply that feeling by a couple thousand times to get an idea of what it is like to be there in person.

We'll start with one of my favorite shots (that I've processed so far - I still have about 100 more to go)... Yosemite Valley from the Merced River.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM AF at 10mm, 1/100 sec respectively at f/8. ISO 100. Raw conversion and cropped in Adobe Camera Raw.

I took this shot basically laying on my belly overhanging the bank of the Merced River. I used the live-view on the back of the camera to be able to line up my shot (though I did still have to crop and rotate slightly to get the horizon level). I had the camera just inches above the water to get this perspective, and I really love the detail of the rocks under the water in the foreground juxtaposed with the massive peaks in the background.

Welcome to Yosemite.

- Bill

Just inside the south entrance to Yosemite National Park is the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias. As we have seen before, photographing trees - especially massively large ones - can be quite challenging, but you just can't pass up an opportunity to shoot such incredibly impressive organisms.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 10mm f/2.8 EX DC HSM Fisheye (borrowed), 1/40 sec at f/5.6. ISO 800. Raw processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

Normally, I try to eliminate random other people from my photos, but in this case, it helps to serve as a point of reference to show just how huge these trees are.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 10mm f/2.8 EX DC HSM Fisheye (borrowed), 1/20 sec at f/5.6. ISO 800. Raw processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

In both of the above shots, I used a friend's fisheye lens to help me get the entire tree in the shot - here in the second shot, Anya provided a lovely model to provide the point of reference. The natural distortion of the fisheye lens certainly creates a distinct view, and to some extent, it actually hides the immensity of the trees.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM AF at 10mm, 1/60 sec at f/5.6. ISO 800. Raw processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

We even got a shot with the two of us... and yes, if you're wondering - sequoias make me feel short.

- Bill

PS: As an additional trivia note, Sequoia is one of the shortest English words that contains all five vowels!

And finally an assortment of other shots from the aquarium...

The only problem with our visit to the Monterey Bay Aquarium... I was on the wrong side of the glass all day long.

- Bill

The aquarium had a very nice jellyfish exhibit...

Still more to come...

- Bill

OK - I need a break from those mega-assortment posts, and this photo is my hands-down favorite from the aquarium, so it fully deserves to be shared on its own...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II at 52mm, 1/60 sec at f/5.6. ISO 6400. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw, and additional adjustments in Photoshop CS5.

This little pygmy cuttlefish sure put on quite the display for us. I'm not quite sure what caught his attention, but he was in full show.

Due to the low lighting, the shot required a fairly wide aperture (best this lens can do at that focal length) and a high ISO, so there was quite a bit of noise reduction done to make the image presentable. Unfortunately, as I'm learning, this causes the image to lose some sharpness, so I had to run a thin line between removing the noise and keeping the image from getting too soft.

All in all (especially considering I haven't delved into this too much) I'm pretty happy with the results. Now if only I could get to see something like that on a dive!

- Bill

Ok - as promised, more marine mammals. Unfortunately, these aren't nearly as cute as the sea otters from the other day. Again, to get through all of these photos, I'm just going to post another assortment (plus I'm having a difficult time choosing just one or two to share) - so just mouse-over the thumbnails to see the larger version.

These elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris) are mostly males and pups. Apparently the females had already left the area. They return to this one cove in California (just up the road from Hearst Castle every year. The males - which get the long noses which give rise to the name - can grow to be 16 feet in length, and weigh over 6000 lbs. They can also dive to depths ranging in the thousands of feet (usually averaging around 1000 - 2500 feet) and can hold their breath for up to 100 minutes at a time. During breeding season, you would never see males together on a beach like this because they become fiercely territorial and fight (note all the scars on their heads and necks).

... but like I said, they're not very cute... oh, and they are moulting at this time of the year too which certainly doesn't make them any prettier...

As with the outdoor shots at Hearst Castle, the lighting wasn't exactly ideal. In this case, the sun was on the other side of the seals from where we were, which caused a lot of poorly places shadows. It was also ridiculously windy, and there was sand whipping around everywhere - which not only is bad for the camera, but also caused a kind of dusty haze in most of the shots.

However, I was glad that I had lugged my Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM long telephoto lens with me on the trip as after I took a few shots with the Tamron 70-300 and wasn't getting as close as I would have liked, I went back to the car and pulled out the big gun so to speak, as well as the tripod.

It definitely helped make better photos of these ugly beasties....

Then again, the pups are kind of cute...

I really love that third shot there with the pup almost completely buried in the sand. Between them throwing sand on their backs (to protect their skin from sunburn as well as flies) and the wind, this little fella was almost completely hidden in the sand.

Anyway, after this, we continued driving up the coast on Highway 1 which is a beautiful road (and fun as all heck to drive!). We tried finding the classic view of Big Sur, but unfortunately, the coast was socked in with fog and I didn't get many good shots (I guess we'll have to go back and try again sometime). So we'll be jumping right along into the Monetery Bay Aquarium next!!!

Stay tuned.

- Bill

Continuing along on our recent California trip (yes, I am posting in order now), we made a visit to Hearst Castle. I'm not going to go too in-depth as to what exactly Hearst Castle is all about, but suffice to say it is the result of someone (William Randolph Hearst) with ridiculous amounts of money and a bit of craziness... The place is pretty well over the top in terms of lavishness for even today's standards, and was started back in the 1920's.

As I usually do in situations like this (where crowds of people make it rather difficult to take photos of the larger setting), I tended to focus in on details and tried to eliminate random people in my photos. Add to that, any time we were inside, the conditions were dim and poorly lit with incandescent lighting, and then outside was a harsh mid-day light that made the contrast very stark.

I'm just going to give a nice little mega-set today to get through all of these photos in one posting. Enjoy...

The trip is far from over, so be sure to stop back again tomorrow. We go back to some marine mammal photos...

- Bill

Unfortunately, we didn't get any spectacular sunsets during our whole trip...

Technical Data:Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM AF at 10mm, 1/250 sec at f/8. ISO 200. Canon Speedlight 580EX II flash in auto mode and wireless control.

I'd found this piece of driftwood earlier in the evening as we strolled along the beach and instantly knew I wanted to use it as a foreground element in a sunset photo. So we (well, mostly Anya) carried it along on our walk until the sun started setting. Unfortunately, the colors of the sunset were pretty muted, and I struggled with getting just the shot I wanted. I knew I wanted to be close to the water, which meant I had to shoot hand-held (plus I'd left my tripod back in the hotel room).

I tried all kinds of combinations - including using the flash remotely to give just a little bit of light to provide some detail on the driftwood. It was far from simple as I was shooting from a very low angle using the live-view on the back of the camera, holding the flash with my left hand to get it far enough away and on a pleasing angle, and of course watching for incoming waves (one of which did end up getting my sandals wet.

In the end, I guess I came away with a couple acceptable shots (of the set, the one above is my personal favorite), and more importantly a good learning experience of things to try or not try in the future.

Here's a few more - both with and without this driftwood...

I am still making progress through the photos, so hopefully I can get more frequent with the posts. There is still plenty of cool stuff to come....

- Bill

We saw sea otters while we were in California... they really are fun to watch!

Note how this one has his dinner sitting on his belly...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Di LD Macro1:2 at 300mm, 1/2000 sec at f/5.6. ISO 400. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

- Bill