Spring is fast approaching and with that comes the rebirth of California Poppies. The Antelope Valley Poppie Preserve, located in Southern California, is a small preserved location of the region's previous savanah style terrain. Undulating hills and wild scrub are in sharp contrast to the rest of the area's desolate desert country-side with occasional Joshua tree. Here in the preserve, wild-flowers make a huge comeback with hundreds of acres of prestine country. Early mornings are the best times to visit. Afternoons are usually overwhelmed with 20 kt wind gusts that make most types of photography exercises in futility. To the east, Lancaster and Palmdale city lights can distrupt most scenic images without careful consideration. The other cardinal directions are free of such hand of man (HOM) influences making image creation a bit easier.

This image was captured towards the end of the poppy season when most flowers were long past. Even then, color was apparent in the pre-dawn sunlight.

I merged nine separate images taken with three different exposure settings and three different shooting directions to make this panoramic. The three exposures were necessary to preserve maximum exposure latitude from the darkest to lightest details. The panoramic format is particularly effective at showing off the preserve's rolling terrain.

Cheers

Tom Hill