HDR Photography
Growing up in the good ol’ PNW I didn’t see many palm trees except on TV and in Movies so it was a little weird for me when I suddenly found myself in a place where they were landscaping staples (though I suppose not as much as they are in southern California). Whenever I see a palm tree (like this one in downtown Berkeley) it tends to remind me how tropical it ISN’T in the bay area, as if these trees which I associate with warm beaches are mocking me.
This little stream was running by the trail not far from where Brendan took yesterday’s photo. At first, I felt distressed to see that tires had been dumped into the stream, but further inspection made it obvious that they’d been washed there in heavy rain years ago. There was a certain relief in seeing them encrusted in moss and being (at least partially) reclaimed.
The contrast between the blacks/greys of the tires/rocks and the array of greens in the moss, ferns, and trees worked out really nicely for highlighting the contrast between the “static” parts of the image and the encroaching life.
The previously featured Robert Sibley Regional Volcanic Preserve is apparently home to a small herd of cattle. This came as some surprise to us while were having a stroll through the park when we came upon a small pen filled with cattle and their calves, including this one who came around to figure out what we were all about.
Another shot from Robert Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve, there was a small pond up on a hill overlooking some pastures and the freeway running through the east bay hills. Though they seemed reluctant to be caught on camera there were actually a pair of ducks swimming around this small, overgrown pond.
Compared to my home in the Pacific Northwest things bloom mighty early here in California. These magnolias (I think?) caught my eye on a stroll through campus and so I thought I would capture a couple of the early bloomers.
This shot is amazing if only because I was able to combine three exposures of this plant taken on a day with intermittent gusts of wind which have the effect of blowing flowers like these around, typically foiling any attempt at blending multiple exposures.
This shot comes from Robert Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve.
This is another example of how Berkeley’s campus can fool you into thinking its not in an urban/suburban setting. The wooded groves on the banks of Strawberry creek are some of the most picturesque places on campus. This a Eucalyptus grove on the northwest side of campus with Strawberry creek in the foreground.
While I’ve posted a few close up shots of flowers on the blog so far this is my first attempt at a multishot HDR shot of flowers. I’m really impressed with the results.
There are some truly spectacular spots on UC Berkeley’s campus including this spot just outside Stephens hall, a quiet place beside a babbling brook to escape from all of the undergrads shuffling between classes. I took this shot around sun down and captured this shot which makes it look like the creek is on fire.
In keeping with my theme for the past week I’ve got a shot of a bright red flower. With their fantastic bright red color of the petals and the black markings in the center these flowers were just begging to be photographed. If anyone’s got any idea what kind of flowers these are I’d be interested to find out.
A very popular plant in Berkeley, the Calla lily also makes a pretty respectable photography subject.
On the same day that I took this photograph, I found this awesome, half-frozen pond in the back of the forrest preserve. Though the sun was setting and the clouds were already picking up an orange-pink color, from this angle only the bluest parts of the sky were reflected. It had been above freezing for a couple of days, and the ice had melted to the point that it comprised two or three different textures. The brightness of those colors and the variations in the pond’s surface made for a nice contrast with the dormant and dead plants surrounding it.
Getting any sort of reasonable image of Strawberry Creek has been difficult recently with the recent environmental calamity, but even with all of the activity, pontoons and petrochemicals it was still possible to capture this long-ish exposure image of one of the forks of the creek as it runs through UC’s campus.
Decaseconds 