Tuesday, 4th May 2010
Cala Lilies
by Kevin McNeal
This is Garrapata State Park along the California coastline. I used fill flash in the foreground to get the foreground flowers to pop and several attempts to get the light just right.
This is one of the scariest places to photograph is this ravine found along the Big Sur coastline which is full of poison ivy. I did this two years ago and came home covered in a rash but I did not get the shot I was looking for last time; so I tried again but this time fully armoured with layers of clothing and bags to wrap up later to prevent the oils from spreading, but the problem I forgot was to tell airport authorities and when they opened by bag they opened the bag of contaminated clothes and spread them everywhere in my bag and now I must wait and see....
Kevin McNeal
Website: Photos
Cala Lilies by Kevin McNeal was photo of the day on Tuesday, 4th May 2010. It is tagged Flowers. You can leave a comment below.
34 Comments
Joao Ferrer
Wow, is this place for real? Sorry for your clothes, but I think it was worth it. Thanks for sharing.
Randy
Garrapata is Spanish for Tick. Poison Ivy and Ticks, yet beautiful coastline and flowers!! Great Photo!!
JimAtkin
What a great composition Kevin. I know the area but you have creaed a work of art. God Bless.
renee
Kevin such a lovely shot. Congrats
Chamika
Lovely composition. Well done!
Patrick Smith
Yes, this area is HEAVILY defended with poison oak! Wash those clothes well with lots of detergent!
Patrick
Tim A
A breathtaking, awe-striking photo. All aspects are perfectly composed
mike
This is amazing. What a nice nature scene.
Anurag
This is a really beautiful shot. I’d like to know how did you just selectively darken the notch of the sky?
Malta Photography\
Nice shot and worth all the trouble
. actually when such shots cause us such trouble they are nicer 
For some reason the front part of the image is a little bit dark and in my opinion saturated a little bit too much. the pollen of the front flowers is usually a softer yellow.
Matthew
Enchanting!
Wanda Krack
The image looks a little over-saturated, but what a wonderful composition using a wide angle lens! Great find and capture!
Victoria Shelton
What a wonderful sight to see and capture!
Rajib Singha
What a shot!
Ellen Empson
Beautiful composition—some of the colors look a little too sat—but great image!
Marie Dunphy Harding
Lovely shot. I hope you beat the ivy.
Andrew
Its a nice shot but I am not very happy with exposure/filtering. I’d let those flowers inherit their original colors and brightness even if the orange would suffer a bit. When picture is focused on a specific object, lighting and exposure are the most important things in photography focused on the front object.
But thats just me though. Other than that very nice shot.
sbl
Very beautiful.
Suzie
It wouldn’t look out of place in a fantasy or fairy tale book.
Geana
The colors are so beautiful, it looks like a painting. I bet you could win prizes with this pic so it may be well worth the trouble you went thru to get it. I wouldn’t mind having that hanging on my wall.
Pauline Jones
You went to a lot of trouble but it is a really great shot; well done and thanks for suffering for your art.
Chrisb
Awesome….love lillies and this would have to be the ultimate icon representation.
Morkel Erasmus
oh this is just amazing!!
Kirsty Chalmers
This is fantastic. I love the balance of colour – the orange and the purple. Quite surreal. I’m impressed with the effort you were willing to go to so you could realize your vision!
Katherine Lee Strassburg
I have no idea how or why you chose to manipulate the colors–there is nothing on earth like the California hills covered in wildflowers! Much as I love Michigan, I sincerely miss the yearly Jackson Pollock like splatterings of color along the hills. You are crazy, but I definitely thank you for being who you are and for such a delightful photo!
susolov
Beautiful photo. How you suffer for your art. o_o So far, I’m don’t react to poison ivy–lucky me. I love plant photography.
planet lover
Glorious picture!!! The scenery is just spectacular. By the way, “Garrapata” means ‘tick’ in Spanish. I hope you didn’t get bitten.
Helen Hart
Forget the criticisms, this is awesome! Surreal, congratulations.
Sorry about the contamination and hope you escaped it.
Rod Heywood
Great DOF contrasts two different worlds- the the meadow-like foreground with the big Pacific sky background. Quite a shot!
Su
I hope you came out unscathed from the ivy, we dont have that in the UK so not sure how bad it gets. Wonderful sight, we pay a fortune for these over here.
Lisa
Gorgeous picture, but even better is Kevin’s commentary regarding potential spreading of poison ivy via airport security despite all his best efforts! HILARIOUS!
Odessa
I love the clouds in the back ground, the green foreground really makes the rest pop out:)
joe ullman
amazing…amazing…and to boot – these airline officials may have gotten loaded with poison ivy! Based on my experience with them, they aren’t just doing their job; they are arrogant and obnoxious…several jobs well done!
David Doll
God’s Beauty amidst the poison! Absolutely amazing Kevin, Scratch on my brother!
David