Point Lobos on a Fall Afternoon

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This state reserve is an amazing place. It is located just south of Carmel at the beginning of what is considered the Big Sur (Big South). The rock formations are unusual to say the least. The Monterey and bearded pines cling to the hills and cliffs. Sea lions and otters abound in the kelp beds and offshore rocks. From December to May, the gray whales run past the point and are easily seen from the cedar grove on the extreme point of land.

I had a lovely time there on Sunday afternoon. The hiking is pretty rugged as you can probably see in this picture, but worth the angina and throbbing legs. (Man, how I envy the young people who seem to bound through the area.) The subjects for photographing are too numerous to state.

In this image I employed Adobe Lightroom to bring out the foreground which had been quite dark. It does most of the things Photoshop does with regard to color, contrast, saturation, fill lighting, horizon leveling etc, but does it all on one screen rather than fumbling through numerous menus. I am becoming quite the believer in the program.

And Then The Lord Said...

Let there be light, and the light was good.

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Vicious Beasts at Pt Lobos Encountered

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I went out to Pt Lobos this afternoon and when I came around a turn in the path coming up from the beach I encountered these characters. They were so vicious, they just stood there and looked at me. I took my camera off my shoulder and shot a few pictures of them. They were so alarmed at this that they began to eat the grass at the side of the path. Finally, when I needed to get past them, they made way and I walked back to the car to sit and wait for sunset.

Addendum: I just looked at the metadata 1/20th f9 at 220mm, hand held... not bad :)