I made a huge mistake in the beginning ... I forgot my tripod! I couldn't believe it! I had to work with limited options. For landspace shots, you want a small aperture to maximize your depth of field. Anywhere from f8 to f16 would be great for super wide to standard telephoto lenses. Unfortunately, I could barely get above f4.5 (and that's with ISO800 and 1/60sec shutter speed!)

I was pretty bummed out ... a lot of my shots ended up not being usable for large prints. I can get away with 8x10's, but I want bigger! Blowing up wide angle shots from 35mm digital files requires tack sharp captures. If I had my tripod along, I could've been snapping shots with 1 second exposure times at f14 and ISO100. The light in the forest is pretty dim. Any kind of sunshine is brief, but spectacular!

I ended up using my 85mm prime lens to do some creative shallow depth of field shots because I could open up the aperture way up (like f1.8). The forest is packed full of interesting vegetation. The moss is amazing! Driving through the Redwood groves is stunning. Every grove of trees seemed to have a special character and personality. I recommend a trip to the ancient redwoods for refreshing visuals and meditation.