A Trilli, a trilli, a trilli… Trillium Falls
Taken Tuesday, September 30th, 2014.
After camping in Crater Lake with my friends, Hage and Jared, we headed to Eugene, OR, where I picked up my rental car, and had a bite to eat from a food cart at Ninkasi Brewery. I happened to leave Eugene later than intended, which found me driving on the beautiful Redwood Highway after dark. There’s a section of US 199 (between Cave Junction, where i filled up on gas, and Crescent City) that is just beautiful, and you can tell even driving after dark. With the road weaving through the groves of trees, you are just in awe of the towering trees around you, while trying not to go careening into them around curves at 45 mph.
Elk Prairie & Redwoods National Park
In any case, fast forward a couple days to Tuesday, September 30th, and I’m camping near Orick, CA at the Gold Bluffs Beach Campground. It’s in the Elk Prairie area of Redwoods National Park (where you’ll find elk just wandering around, and possibly blocking the dirt road leading you back to your campsite). While I spent a lot of my time trying to take time lapses on the beach, I did get a chance to hike a bit and take a few photos.
Nearby my campsite, there were hiking trails that allow you to hike through the tallest trees in the world, through green and lush landscapes (including an beautiful and aptly named area called Fern Canyon). Here is a photo from one of those hikes, a short 2 mile loop called Trillium Falls. Unfortunately, the water flow was a little low during this time of year, but it was really quite stunning watching the fall leaves fall then there was a strong enough gust of wind to blow through the trees.
I used an ND filter to make this a long exposure, and I would have loved to stack my polarized filter on as well to cut down on the glare off of the rocks and leaves (it really does make a difference), but at that moment, it was stuck screwed onto another filter and I spent a good 15 minutes trying to unstick it like it was working with a jar of spaghetti sauce. Anyway, this turned out pretty good without it, but you know, it could be better.
Polarizing Filter
Here’s another angle of the falls with a polarizing filter. Notice the reduced glare on the foliage. It definitely changes the dynamic of the image.
Oh… and here’s a 3 frame animated gif!
Seldomly Updated 
Awesome photos: the little details stand out and provide such marvelous texture.
Thank you!
Adding a polariser improves many landscape photos, I love this filter. Your photos are beautiful, too bad this kind of nature doesn’t exist in The Netherlands, I love waterfalls so much! There very special to me, show me how water flows, they’re fresh.. love it!
Cheers,
Tieme
Appreciate the comment, Tieme! Polarizers definitely make a difference, which is why I wanted to share it, as a reminder to myself the next time I think I can’t be bothered to put a polarizer on! Still have a ways to go in figuring out how best to use it in different scenes though.
You know, I’ve never been to the Netherlands, but I’m willing to bet you’ve got some scenes that just seem ordinary to you, that would just be extraordinary to see for someone like me!
Thanks for the comment!
Do absolutely do make a difference. But with a ultra wide angle lens it might create a disturbing effect. I always use a polariser when out for some landscape photos. But indeed, trying to use it in different scenarios and finding the right strength of the polarised effect can be a hard thing. Best effect is when the sun is coming from a 90 degree angle.
There are quite some nice articles on the web to find about the polariser!
That’s true, The Netherlands is beautiful. The tulip fields in May or June are extraordinary. But I love mountains, and waterfalls a lot too, and those lack The Netherlands!
Happy weekend!
Tieme