About the Image(s)

The Sierra Nevada foothills east of Sacramento have been under tremendous development pressure for many years. Farms, ranches and natural areas were too frequently giving way to new homes and subdivisions. Concerned citizens joined together in 1991 and formed the Placer Land Trust to work with landowners to buy development rights and preserve open spaces for watershed protection and conservation. More than 18,000 acres of natural and agricultural land have since been preserved in Placer County. One such area is called Big Hill Preserves. It contains 874 acres of oak woodlands near Raccoon Creek and the Bear River. Last spring the Placer Land Trust invited artists and photographers to visit the area and capture its beauty for an exhibition later in the year at a gallery in nearby Auburn, a rapidly growing community east of Sacramento.

I spent a beautiful, sunny day up there and was captivated by this outcropping of granite surrounded by the brilliant green of early spring growth in the blue oak forest and the ground vegetation. I set up my Canon EOS 5D Mark IV on a tripod and went to work. Lens: Canon EF 24-105 mm @24 mm. Exposure settings: ISO 100, f/18, 1/10 sec., aperture priority, pattern metering. In post, I made the following adjustments in Camera RAW: profile, Adobe landscape; white balance set to 5500 temp. (daylight preset) and +19 tint to remove some of the green cast; highlights -57, shadows +38; white point +15, black point +4. I added some texture and clarity (+11 each) because I wanted those granite rocks to really stand out. I also added a little dark vignetting (-17) for the same reason. Vibrance up +11 just to give things a little more pop (although it didn’t need much because early spring foliage in the foothills is brilliant to start with).

Land trusts are doing good work and offer opportunities for people like us who share in their goals and want to bring our creativity to bear for a good cause.