San Francisco floats above a low fog bank over the bay.

This week’s photo is a slight departure from the usual natural history themed shot. This panorama of San Francisco was taken from the Marin Headlands with a 400mm telephoto lens. Shots were taken vertically and stitched together, creating an image in excess of 70 megapixels. A low fog had settled over the bay, hiding the water and giving the city the look of floating, as it so often has.

This image worked well as a black and white, as the tonality of the fog below the city and the sky above matched well, balancing the top and bottom of the image. The high contrast of the buildings partnered with the natural feathering provided by the fog is reminiscent of a pencil sketch.

A Cattle Egret perches on a cow in dense fog

When I first learned about the Cattle Egret, I wondered to myself if I would spot one, and how I would distinguish it from other common egrets, particularly the Snowy Egret. That is, until I saw one. It immediately became obvious that I was looking at a Cattle Egret, as it was standing on top of a cow, plucking ticks and fleas from its hide.

I was just north of Sacramento with some friends, checking out some of the popular birding spots in the area. Unfortunately that morning, we were cursed with extremely dense fog. However, I knew that if we got close enough to the subject, fog could enhance certain photographs, contributing a slightly surreal quality. As we were driving between locations, we passed through some small farms. There they were, right by the side of the road – two cows and two accompanying egrets. I quickly made several shots before the egret in the photo jumped down to the ground to join the second bird. While not ideal for most bird photography, in this case it worked – the fog isolated the subject from the background.

Giving the Great Smoky Mountains their name, fog rises out of Cades Cove, Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Although it is a busy tourist attraction, Cades Coves certainly epitomizes the moodiness and mystique that surround the Great Smoky Mountains. This week’s photo is all about layers and shading. I contemplated doing this as a black and white, but settled on a slightly desaturated coloring to accentuate the mood. The light straw color of the fields help to separate the lines of trees from each other and the forested mountains beyond.