California Poppies.
O my gosh, these hills are amazing! These incredible hills are a result of the San Diego wildfires this past fall. The burnt hills around San Diego are very colorful right now, and will probably get better in the days and weeks to come. I was fortunate enough to visit the Antelope Valley Poppy Preserve in 2003 which was a peak year – frankly, these are better, partly because of the shear numbers of poppies, but in addition, these hills are much more photogenic full of rocks and other cool subject matter.
I have two people who I owe a big thanks. First is Phillip Colla who tipped me off about this wonderful location. Phil is an outstanding San Diego based photographer, and I really appreciate the tip! Phil’s website is full of wonderful photos.
The second is Wayne Armstrong. Wayne is a retired botany professor from a nearby college who was also enjoying this colorful display and offered to identify any flowers I had questions about. Wayne was very informative, and it sure beat trying to look these up in a book! If you want to learn more about wildflowers, take a look at Wayne’s extremely in depth website.
The extreme depth of field was the result of using a Canon tilt / shift lens.
Comments 14
where are these poppies? We were going to go to Lancaster, but this would be closer.
Jesse
Wow! What a great shot. I agree the hills and rocks add more interest. Your composition is stunning. Any tips as to the general location? Thanks, Ron
Author
This was by Escondido. We saw numerous patches of bright orange fields of poppies in burned areas as we made our way from Borrego Springs and back. I’m not familiar with what areas burned – if someone was, I would concentrate on these areas as there are probably a lot of jewels to be found. We stumbled upon burned areas by chance more then anything, although a huge part of the area seemed to have been burned.
The San Diego Union had a map of the burned areas in the paper about a week ago – that would be helpful, I wished I had saved it. It is possible it is still on-line. I think more areas will bloom in the days and weeks to come.
That is incredible, Ron! I’ve never seen a field of flowers this thick, wild or otherwise!
Great composition!
This was a hot tip indeed. Stunning scenery and flowers. A very impressive photo Ron!
hey Ron,
I looked at this photo and almost instantly the lyrics to Sting’s awesome tune, Children’s Crusade, leapt into my head:
Corpulent generals safe behind lines
History’s lessons drowned in red wine
Poppies for young men, death’s bitter trade
All of those young lives betrayed
All for a children’s crusade
Kinda weird, eh? 🙂
Awesome photo.
Cheers
Carl
Author
Thanks Guys, I appreciate it!
Kinda weird, I think that is kinda cool Carl.
Ron
Crazy poppies! If I had known, I would have gone home via Julian today. I thought Lake Elsinore had a good display today until I saw this photo…
Beautiful….I can’t believe the color this spring – It’s amazing in the Elisnore Valley and it looks like I need to get down south. Beautiful shot Ron.
Author
Thanks Rick! It is sure a great year down here!
Really amazing and lovely pictures. I wonder how you took this picture, since over where I live (San Diego, but close enough to Poway), there is one great amazing poppy fields hidden in the canyons. Just miles of poppies, phacelias, and other flowers in there, I know you would be able to take great pictures there, but I do not think I can take a shot like this one you’ve got. I think if I take a picture of the poppy wide open I will not be able to take the whole hill since it would mean I would have to be on my knees to take the picture from close to ground to the top of the hill, but that will not make me take a picture of the poppies which looks like I took them from above them, unless otherwise the poppies sway downward and opens that way, which I seldom see also since they seem to be always smiling to the sky or the sun. I can surely take picture of the poppy with them smiling or opening at the camera, but covering all the length of the hill would be kind of a challenge (for me anyway). AI am not a photographer, but sure does enjoy beautiful sceneries such as the pictures you have. I do take pictures of beautiful sceneries though that I met while hiking. And my curious mind had me think and analyze how you take this really great and amazing shot!
Author
Hi Elizabeth,
Thanks for the kind words.
You make an excellent observation. Typically, it is impossible to be up very close to a poppy like this, and still have the hills in the background in the composition, and in focus. The way I have been doing this is with a Canyon tilt / shift lens. You can learn a little more about it here: https://my-photo-blog.com/canon-tilt-shift-lens-tilt
I hope that answers your questions – if not, let me know.
Thanks,
Ron
Thank you!! Read that very informative post, never thought there are so many lens technology evolving as well. My first time to hear about tilt/shift. It will probably take me years to understand fully the technicalities, but really, I am amazed with how you made the shots. Now, I understand, thanks for all your helpful inputs.
does anyone knows if there is any other information about this subject in other languages?