San Diego Mountain Parks

Mount Laguna, Cuyamaca Rancho State Park, and Palomar Mountain

Milky Way, Mountain, and Meadow
The Milky Way over Stonewall Peak and a meadow in Cuyamaca Rancho State Park. This is a tracked blend image, but everything is in its true location and true size. For the foreground (meadow and mountain) I shot a 300 second exposure at f/4 and ISO 1000. The background (sky) was shot at 240 sec f/4 ISO 400 and tracked to avoid blur caused by the Earth's rotation. I then masked and combined these images in Photoshop. Both exposures shot with a Canon 6D and Canon 17-40mm f/4L lens on June 3, 2019. The whitish path in the lower right corner of the sky is due to urban light pollution. Stonewall Peak is a prominent mountain located in San Diego County within Cuyamaca Rancho State Park. It is east of the city of San Diego and southwest of Julian. The peak is 5,730 feet tall. Cuyamaca Rancho State Park is a state park in California, United States, located 40 miles east of San Diego in the Cuyamaca and Laguna Mountains of the Peninsular Ranges. "Cuyamaca" is a Spanish version of the name the native Kumeyaay peoples used for this place. In water-short Southern California, the native Americans called the area Ah-Ha Kwe-Ah Mac, meaning "the place where it rains." Even in the summer months - where the rest of San Diego County is almost always dry - it's not unusual for it to rain up here.
See the Forest For the Trees and the Milky Way
Panoramic image of the Milky Way galaxy over some pine trees in Mount Laguna, California on Saturday June 22, 2019 This panorama was made from seven vertical frames shot at 15 sec f/2.8 ISO 4000 with a Canon 6D and Sigma 15mm EX DG lens. Weather conditions were perfect - no wind, clear skies, and pleasant temperatures. Mount Laguna is a small census-designated place (CDP) in San Diego County, California. It is approximately 6000 ft above sea level in a forest of Jeffrey pine, east of San Diego in the Laguna Mountains on the eastern edge of the Cleveland National Forest (named after former president Grover Cleveland). The hamlet sits at the high point of a scenic drive on Sunrise Highway from Interstate 8 to Highway 79. Mount Laguna consists of a small general store, rustic lodge and cabins, local restaurant, rural post office, and campgrounds adjacent to the Pacific Crest Trail. The Laguna Mountain Recreation Area surrounds the village, and the visitor's center for the pine-covered area is located here. The mountain backcountry of San Diego County is high enough to receive snowfall in winter months, and the Mount Laguna region offers locally-unique winter recreation in the form of snow play, sledding, and cross country skiing for several days after larger storms.
Galaxy Forest
The Milky Way galaxy over some pine trees in Mount Laguna, California on Saturday June 22, 2019 This image is a noise-reduction stack of 5 frames each shot at 15 sec f/2.8 ISO 4000 with a Canon 6D and a Sigma 15mm EX DG lens. This is my first time experimented with aligning and masking multiple frames to reduce noise reduction. Due to the complex foreground - the intricate - details of the pine tree branches - lining up and masking the layers was a lot more challenging. This image isn't as sharp as I had hoped for, but I hope to improve upon this technique over time. Weather conditions were perfect - no wind, clear skies, and pleasant temperatures. Mount Laguna is a small census-designated place (CDP) in San Diego County, California. It is approximately 6000 ft above sea level in a forest of Jeffrey pine, east of San Diego in the Laguna Mountains on the eastern edge of the Cleveland National Forest (named after former president Grover Cleveland). The hamlet sits at the high point of a scenic drive on Sunrise Highway from Interstate 8 to Highway 79. Mount Laguna consists of a small general store, rustic lodge and cabins, local restaurant, rural post office, and campgrounds adjacent to the Pacific Crest Trail. The Laguna Mountain Recreation Area surrounds the village, and the visitor's center for the pine-covered area is located here. The mountain backcountry of San Diego County is high enough to receive snowfall in winter months, and the Mount Laguna region offers locally-unique winter recreation in the form of snow play, sledding, and cross country skiing for several days after larger storms.
Milky Way Galaxy Arch Over Pine Forest In Mount Laguna
The Milky Way galaxy forms an arch over a nice forest of pine trees up in Mount Laguna, California. I produced this panorama from 11 frames each shot at 15 sec f/2.8 ISO 4000 with a Canon 6D and my trusty Sigma 15mm EX DG lens. I softly illuminated the fallen tree using the screen on my phone. These frames were taken about 40 minutes before moonrise on Saturday June 22, 2019. As with the photo from here I posted the other day, I went with Kamala Venkatesh. Weather conditions were perfect - no wind, clear skies, and pleasant temperatures. Mount Laguna is a small census-designated place (CDP) in San Diego County, California. It is approximately 6000 ft above sea level in a forest of Jeffrey pine, east of San Diego in the Laguna Mountains on the eastern edge of the Cleveland National Forest (named after former president Grover Cleveland). The hamlet sits at the high point of a scenic drive on Sunrise Highway from Interstate 8 to Highway 79. Mount Laguna consists of a small general store, rustic lodge and cabins, local restaurant, rural post office, and campgrounds adjacent to the Pacific Crest Trail. The Laguna Mountain Recreation Area surrounds the village, and the visitor's center for the pine-covered area is located here. The mountain backcountry of San Diego County is high enough to receive snowfall in winter months, and the Mount Laguna region offers locally-unique winter recreation in the form of snow play, sledding, and cross country skiing for several days after larger storms.