Pt. Reyes is a prominent point on the coast north of San Francisco, but is also the name for a fascinating section of coastline extending well beyond the point itself. The first two photos and the last photo were taken with a Canon 70D and the Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8 lens.
Lichens
Lichens, Pt Reyes by
Bill de Jager, on Flickr
Lichens and peeling bark on manzanita (
Arctostaphylos sp.).
Manzanita, Pt. Reyes by
Bill de Jager, on Flickr
Tule elk (
Cervus elaphus nannodes).
Elk, Pierce Pt. by
Bill de Jager, on Flickr
Tule is a Spanish name in California for the local species of bulrush (
Scirpus californica). The animal called
elk in North America would be called
red deer in the U.K. This photo was taken with a Canon FD 800mm f/5.6 lens on a Canon 70D using a third-party adapter. (The adapter is supposed to allow focus to infinity due to the lens normally focusing beyond infinity, but my copy wouldn't quite make it.) Support was a Gitzo 4-series tripod and a RRS gimbal head. Next time I'll use a steadier setup now that I have it.
The elk at this location are so tame that they simply got closer and closer to me such that I ended up mainly with extreme closeups. I was focusing using live view, which meant that the photo was delayed slightly after focus to allow use of a self-timer with mirror lock-up. Thus, most photos were either out of focus or poorly composed by the moment the shutter was released. I didn't try to focus on the viewfinder screen. Given the sensitivity to motion inherent with a field of view equivalent to a 1200mm lens, MLU was essential. Next time I'll try using a remote.
Finally, the Pt. Reyes peninsula itself. I had to torture this raw file to get better results, as the original has an extreme bimodal histogram with low local contrast. I could not lighten up the foreground more without losing too much of the dark moodiness in the clouds.
Pt Reyes from near Pierce Point by
Bill de Jager, on Flickr
