Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park Vista Point
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- Ansel Adams.
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Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park is known all over the world for McWay falls. Its waterfall that drains directly into the pacific ocean in a dreamy cove setting and is incredibly picturesque. But it doesn't mean that it’s the only photo op at this stunning state park. About three to four thousand feet north of McWay falls is vista point with a pullout, and it also has some fantastic views that can blow you away, especially if you are looking south.
During many of my visits to the park, I was incredibly obsessed with getting a great shot of the mcWay falls, and this viewpoint got very little attention from me. While going over some of my old images, I recently found this panorama that I captured of the view and decided to try my luck editing it. The final results show how stunning a spot this is, even though I am using a completely wrong focal length for the shot.
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- Paul Cezanne.
Mcway Falls is one of the major attractions along the pacific coast highway. It's what makes the Julia Pfeiffer state park one of the most visited locations on the California coast. But just as you enter the park, a small pullout provides a dramatic view of the coast to the south. Over the years, I have tried many times to capture this vista point's grandness without success. After a bit of trial and error, it seemed like the wide-angle focal length I was using was the main culprit. It stretched the perspective and accentuated the distance between the foreground and the background, making it a rather lackluster snapshot.
So I tried a different approach, this time with my 70-300 tele lens. I stitched nine images together at 116mm, recreating approximately the same field of view of a wide shot. The results were much more to my liking. As you can see from the image, the scene looked much more realistic and had a more natural feel. I took the images at noon as a test, and once I saw the results on my computer was determined to retake the shot with better lighting. Unfortunately, that never happened, but I felt like this image warranted a place in my portfolio for its merits, even if the light is not optimal. And who knows, one day, I might get a chance to return and make that shot that has been bouncing around in my head.