Picture of the week

Napa Valley mustard

Springtime has arrived at this beautiful location of California with pleasant temperatures and perfect weather.  It is a great time to visit for sampling the wine and food at the numerous vineyards found in this valley.

The mustard plants are beneficial to help fix more nitrogen to the soil, helping improve the subsequent crop yield when harvested in the late summer.  This can be especially critical for new lands being conditioned for growing such as this field above.  With grapes at some of the better vineyards in this prime growing area fetching close to $6000 a ton last year, techniques like the planting of mustard or beans can be important to get the most out of this valuable land. 

The images above was captured using a Canon EOS 5D mark III with an EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L lens at 210mm at f/18, 1/160th sec, and ISO 400.  Use of a more telephoto setting and tight aperature was applied to achieve more compression of the composition between the foreground and the oak tree covered hills in the distance.  The focal point was applied about one third toward the front in order to maximize the area in-focus.

The Napa Valley with select areas for your photography are covered in a new photography travel guide book on California I plan on releasing this spring.

All content and images are property of Stephen Fischer Photography, copyright 2010-2016.  Last updated: 2/15/2016   ()