Antelope Valley Poppies

[seabee1999]

For the past 3 weeks I have been on a field exercise up near Ft Hunter Liggett near Paso Robles/King City, CA. However, before departing for my grand "camping" with the US Navy, my wife and I took a trip out to the Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve near Lancaster, CA. It was an early morning for the 2 of us but it was a great day trip out through one of my favorite places in California. These were taken on April 2nd. I would have posted them sooner but I was leaving for the exercise early Monday morning. I am not sure how the flowers are now but when I was there in early April, they were just stating to bloom in fields. I would have taken more but time did not allow me to do that. Sorry they are late but I hope you enjoy them. It is a bit of a departure from my normal shots; these are in color and not b&w (although I did see if a b&w conversion would work). Enjoy.

God Bless,
David

D2xs and 12-24

Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[Butlerkid]

Ahhh, I have wonderful memories of shooting poppies at Lancaster. Looks like they had a pretty good bloom this year.

Nice shots! Good use of the 12-24!

 

[mysh]

I like both shots but feel in both the foreground is overexposed. Not sure what PP software you use but I use LR and would apply a GND filter to it. I think it would greatly improve these shots

 

[mysh]

----------

 

[camerapapi]

Both are very nice shots although the light is kind of hard. I bet both would have been spectacular under softer light.
I like the rendition made by the member in Lima, Peru and still the light looks kind of hard to me.
As a suggestion, try a polarizer on flowers sometime. Eliminating unwanted reflections and saturating colors the filter does a great job.

William Rodriguez
Miami, Florida.

 

[ejstefl]

Nice shots. Great clouds in the first one!

 

[gabriel_felipe]

Your D2x can shot in color? I thought I'm gonna see one of your incredible B&W shot ....

Lovely pic. Here the poppys are red, this is interesting

 

[seabee1999]

Ahhh, I have wonderful memories of shooting poppies at Lancaster. Looks like they had a pretty good bloom this year.

Nice shots! Good use of the 12-24!

Thank you Karen. It was a fun place to shoot around at. I just wish I had more time. My time there was meant more to be with my wife than me shooting. As is though, I feel I came away with some decent shots.

I like both shots but feel in both the foreground is overexposed. Not sure what PP software you use but I use LR and would apply a GND filter to it. I think it would greatly improve these shots

Thank Mysh. I have CS3 currently. My PP'ing are seriously lacking but I try my best to do what I can in the field to limit my computer work. I agree, these were a hair overexposed but I do have underexposed ones that I can play with as well. We shall see.

Both are very nice shots although the light is kind of hard. I bet both would have been spectacular under softer light.
I like the rendition made by the member in Lima, Peru and still the light looks kind of hard to me.
As a suggestion, try a polarizer on flowers sometime. Eliminating unwanted reflections and saturating colors the filter does a great job.

William Rodriguez
Miami, Florida.

Thanks William. You know, I generally and almost always have a cpol with me. However, I forgot it at home for this trip. It would have come in handy. Today I plan to head out to Solvang, CA for a day and that cpol is packed in the bag.

Nice shots. Great clouds in the first one!

Thanks Eric.

Your D2x can shot in color? I thought I'm gonna see one of your incredible B&W shot ....

Lovely pic. Here the poppys are red, this is interesting

Thankyou Gabriel. As for color, yep the D2xs does well with it, even if I don't shoot in color often.

God Bless,
David

 

[PB_James]

Hey Dave, glad someone from around here got to check out the poppy preserve this year. I wanted to, but my timing just wasn't right for the flowers. BTW, I just passed through Hunter Ligget last week to hike the Santa Lucia trail and Junipero Serra peak, a lovely area if you haven't already checked it out.

 

[seabee1999]

Hey Dave, glad someone from around here got to check out the poppy preserve this year. I wanted to, but my timing just wasn't right for the flowers. BTW, I just passed through Hunter Ligget last week to hike the Santa Lucia trail and Junipero Serra peak, a lovely area if you haven't already checked it out.

It was a good trip and one I wish I could have done again. If it were not for my training, I would have gone again. As is, I am glad I got what I did get. As for Hunter Ligget, I did see the beauty of the area while there but my main focus was on my training. The first week there, we had various storms roll through making for some very dramatic lighting. Sadly, my camera was at home:frown:. I hope to go back sometime again independent of my military training to camp out for a day or two just to see the area more.

God Bless,
David

 

[LyndeeLoo]

The colors in these are marvelous, David! And it's as though the view of the poppies goes on forever! Very, very nice!

 

[Dez Santana]

I like both shots but feel in both the foreground is overexposed. Not sure what PP software you use but I use LR and would apply a GND filter to it. I think it would greatly improve these shots

Agree with mysh

 

[seabee1999]

The colors in these are marvelous, David! And it's as though the view of the poppies goes on forever! Very, very nice!

Thank you Lyndee. This was a fun place to shoot at. I hope to be able to return next spring to this spot. I am hoping my extended Navy trip doesn't interfere too much with that.

Agree with mysh

Thanks Dez. I know Mysh included some corrections in an earlier post. I had another image that was underexposed a bit so I worked that one and below is the result. Hoping is is better. Thanks for your insight.

God Bless,
David

Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)