Autumn Foliage & Mushrooms (11-1-2014) - Pleasanton, CA

I recently went out shooting photos of autumn foliage in Pleasanton, CA. While on the trip, I also spotted some mushrooms which I also got a few photos of. The photos for today are shot in a residential neighborhood and in Hansen Park. Hope you enjoy the photos for this blog post. The photos for this blog post was shot on 11-1-2014.

Full Resolution Photos: If you want to see full resolution photos of any of the photos you see here, use the following links. If you wish to purchase prints of any of the photos, please contact me here. To see my best autumn foliage photos, use this link. To view my best Pleasanton, CA photos for 2013 and 2014, use this link. To view my best To see all of my 2014 Pleasanton, CA photos, use this link.

First off are some photos from the residential area. I liked this tree because it had an assortment of colors with all the green, yellow, orange, and red. 

A photo of a tree with yellow autumn foliage in the residential area.

A photo of a tree with yellow and orange colored autumn foliage. This is still in the residential area but nearing  Hansen Park. 

Now I get to Hansen Park. The rest of the photos are shot there. Here is a tree with orange colored autumn foliage.

Here is a tree with yellowish green autumn foliage. 

Another photo of trees with an assortment of autumn foliage colors. 

An autumn scenery shot of Hansen Park with clouds in the sky.

Next I decided to get some shots of autumn leaf that has already fallen and landed on the grass below. 

I then noticed that some of the leaves wasn't leaves at all! These mushrooms blended in amazingly well! 

Slightly different angle on the mushrooms above. 

Here is another batch of mushrooms close to the one above.

Another scenery shot of Hansen Park facing the basketball court. 

One last photo of a tree with autumn foliage. 

These are all the photos for today. I hope you have enjoyed the photos! Please don't forget to share the blog post with your friends and family members! Also, if you want to get notifications when I post up more photos, "Like" us on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Google+. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

Autumn Foliage (10-12-2014) - Pleasanton, CA

Recently, some of the leaves on trees in Pleasanton, CA is starting to turn colors for autumn. Not a lot of the trees have turned yet as it is still pretty fairly warm outside, some of them has and I got a few photos of them to show you. Hope you enjoy the autumn foliage shots for this blog post. The photos for this blog post was shot on 10-12-2014.

Full Resolution Photos: If you want to see full resolution photos of any of the photos you see here, use the following links. If you wish to purchase prints of any of the photos, please contact me here. To see my best autumn foliage photos, use this link. To view my best Pleasanton, CA photos for 2013 and 2014, use this link. To view my best To see all of my 2014 Pleasanton, CA photos, use this link.

A back lit autumn leaf starting to turn yellow. 

Some leaves on a branch that is about to fall off that has already dried up and turned yellow. 

Black and white process of the photo above. 

A mix of yellow and green leaves.

Another photo of the leaves from the same tree. 

Black and white process of the photo above. 

A portrait photo of a tree that is about to shed its leaves. 

These are all the photos for today. I hope you have enjoyed the photos! Please don't forget to share the blog post with your friends and family members! Also, if you want to get notifications when I post up more photos, "Like" us on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Instagram. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

Circular Polarizer Demo

If you remember at the beginning of the year, I posted up a circular polarizer demo article. Today I will show you some more examples of why you should use a circular polarizer, but I most likely will be copying some text I wrote in the last article as there is no point typing the same content up twice. HAHA If you want to see the last post, you can do so here.

The sample photos with the polarizer shown today was taken using the B+W 82mm XS-Pro Kaesemann Circular Polarizer with Multi-Resistant Nano Coating. First off, let me tell you why a circular polarizer is good. First of all, if you love landscape photos, you have to get one, a circular polarizer helps contrast the colors and deepen the blue sky. Using a circular polarizer can also help get rid of glare from water, glass, leaves (what I'm showing you today), etc... A polarizer will also protect your lens from the elements like fingerprints, scratches, and water. It is a good idea to use a filter. I have also read online that a filter saved his L model lens from a fall! Definitely worth the investment because $100 < $5,000. LOL

If you are serious about photography like me, I recommend you not get the cheap ones because they cause unwanted glares in your photos and the polarizing effect isn't good. The ones I have are a B+W 58mm Kaesemann Circular Polarizer and a B+W 82mm XS-Pro Kaesemann Circular Polarizer with Multi-Resistant Nano Coating. They are German made filters, and includes special nano-technology coating that causes water that collect on there to drip right off. There is also little vignetting at wider angles. However, this filter is pretty expensive, but most good ones are. The 58mm one cost me around $100 and the 82mm one cost me around $250 (still worth it for the great German optics).

If you don't know much about polarizers, you will find two types of polarizers. One type is the linear polarizer and one type is the circular polarizer. The linear polarizers will have a slightly better polarizing effect than circular polarizers, but will render your auto focus function useless as the polarizer will prevent the auto focus sensor from seeing light. Linear polarizers are usually cheaper than circular polarizers. Circular polarizers won't effect the auto focus sensor and is what most people use. Circular polarizers are more expensive.

The only down sides to using a circular polarizer (like with all filters) is that since filters is suppose to filter out the light, it will also slow down your shutter speed and the time of day it will work the test (due to the sun) is slightly limiting. If the shutter speed gets too slow, make sure you have your camera on a tripod.

Alright, let's move onto the sample photos I took. All these photos were taken in the town of Pleasanton, CA and are of autumn foliage.

This photo was taken without any filter. 

 This photo was taken with my circular polarizer. See how the glare from the leaves almost disappeared and the colors are more saturated? :)

Here is another shot with the circular polarizer.  

Here is a landscape shot taken with a circular polarizer in a park in Pleasanton, CA with the fall foliage on the trees. See how the sky is a deep blue color and all the colorful leaves are more saturated?

This is all the sample photos I got. Remember the filters I have is a  B+W 58mm Kaesemann Circular Polarizer  and a B+W 82mm XS-Pro Kaesemann Circular Polarizer with Multi-Resistant Nano Coating. If you are going to buy it, please buy it through my link. :) I get referral money that way and you'll be supporting the costs of running this blog. Even if you don't, please click in to check it out. I understand this filter might be a bit expensive for a lot of people, there are cheaper filters out there, but I don't recommend those. Also, when purchasing, don't forget to check if you got the right size filter!

Thanks for looking at this demo. I hope you have enjoyed it. If you haven't seen my past sample photos taken with circular polarizers, you can do so here. Please don't forget to share the blog post with your friends and family members! Also, if you want to get notifications when I post up more photos, "Like" us on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Google+. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.