Whittemore Gulch at Dusk

Matt Tilghman

Whittemore Gulch Trail is one of the more difficult hikes in Purisima Creek Redwoods, but also one of the most rewarding. There are steep ascents, but they repay you with stunning vistas over redwood forests, the Santa Cruz Mountains, and the Pacific Ocean. This view would indeed include the ocean on a fogless day, but those are rare in summer. Even though the fog is common, I still hope for it when hiking in this area, because it gives the photographs that distinctly California feel. And towards dusk, when it creeps further inland, I love how the gold sea of fog turns mountains into islands.


Whittemore Gulch at Dusk

PGM

What a beautiful scene, and so well captured. I like the depth and the colors. Best, Pam

Stumblebum

Beautiful! I have to check out this trail!

However, wishing it was taken few minutes later to let light die down bit more....also if I was processing it, I would experiment with increasing vignetting little bit.

kdog

Excellent, Matt.

JC

Really nice. I tried to get a shot like this shooting west over the marine layer in the morning, but the sun on the layer in the evening makes the shot much better.

Did you try any shots with a super small aperture? I think it'd be worth it when looking directly into the sun even if you lose some resolution in the foreground.

Matt Tilghman

Thanks for the comments and suggestions, everyone!

kolibri - lose resolution due to flaring? or did you mean a small f/stop, losing resolution due to lens blur?

JC

You'd start to lose resolution in the foreground due to diffraction, even in the absence of any flaring, in a stop or two beyond what you shot at, but for this scene I'm not sure how much you'd notice it.

But, adding the diffraction flare to the sun that you'd get with a super small aperture, might be interesting.

A flaring sun might not be what this scene needs, the softer sun might go better with the soft light on the fog, but it'd be interesting to see the comparison.