A friend and I went to Coyote Hills Regional Park in Fremont, CA for an after hours photo walk with a Ranger.

There were quite a few other photographers there. We were a 5 car caravan in all with Ranger Bev, Alex, and myself in the lead car.

We drove out to a creek to catch the last of the Golden Hour. Here we saw  white pelicans sleeping on a pond, the moon rising, and the most beautiful golden amber color on the sun dried fennel, thistle, and grass.

Copyright © 2010 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

For this shot I used my Singh Ray LB ColorCombo/Warming Polarizer which really helped to make those golds pop.

I also thought to take my telephoto on my D90 just to be ready for any wildlife or birds. It proved to be a wise choice.

While shooting the creek several White Pelicans flew by me. I managed to get this one as it passed me. It’s lost its whiteness in

this evenings amber glow.

and a couple more,

While regrouping and getting all 5 cars ready to roll to the next stop I caught this shot with the Fennel in silhouette through the window

of the van.

Copyright © 2010 Deborah M. Zajac.  All Rights Reserved.

After this we drove around the mountain to the mud flats where we  parked then some of us climbed up a trail on foot about 1000 ft with at least a 20% grade- NO KIDDING! I’m going to look up the name of this hill, er Mountain!

The view was stunning. Here I got a great view of the lights just coming on in Eastern Fremont including the Moon on the rise.

Copyright © 2010 Deborah M. Zajac.  All Rights Reserved.

I turned around and got a nice view of the mud flats and sunset. As the evening wore on the colors in the sky got deeper and deeper.

I used my Graduated Neutral Density filters and polarizer, to cut the heat of the sky, and then found bracketing with 2 stops down really brought out those reds, and oranges.

Here is my last shot of the night. Bands of blue, red, orange, and yellow, and a bit of reflection in the damp mud flats. I used the middle bracketed shot EV 00. I ran it through ACR’s basic sliders, added a bit of sharpening, and resized it.

Copyright © 2010 Deborah M. Zajac.  All Rights Reserved.

It was a lovely Sunday evening spent with good people, a good friend, and beautiful views.

Nikon D300s

Nikon D90

Nikkor 80-200mm  2.8AF-D

Nikkor 17-35mm  2.8AF-S