So named because a particular shot I took of a tree in this area got called a 'vampire tree' from someone who saw it (shot at moonset in the earliest daylight) said they were waiting for a vampire to come out from behind it. There are several others in this roughly 5 square acre area around Paso Robles that I've shot a number of times, but last weekend we were getting amazing light without any great skies that I could get into frame.
Still not totally satisfied with my processing and I didn't trust my own experience with lenses for this format, shooting at F4 rather than F5.6, because I saw a chart that indicated 4 was sharper all over than 5.6 There's just ever the slightest touch of magenta in the sky that I need to address, methinks.
Next time, I go with my gut.
Still, this is an amazing little area, with no fences (although I'm sure it's private property) and no 'no trespassing' signs. One day I'm going to be there with either great skies or, more preferably, fog. Until then....
The Vampire Tree, cousins by
tanngrisnir3, on Flickr