A few years ago I flew over a superbloom at the Carrizo Plain in central California and this year I visited the same place on the ground for two completely different experiences.
By air the sheer amount of color on the hills is stunning and slightly overwhelming. It is hard to take it all in, and equally hard to capture the scene in a photograph. Most of the images end up with a lot of color, but it is difficult for the viewer to really figure out what is going on. It turned out the best images from the airplane have a road in them so the viewer can get oriented to the photo.
On the ground is a far more intimate affair where you can find yourself in different areas with different species of flowers. For the sunset photo I waited until well after sunset (called the blue hour) and used about a 2 minute exposure. The colors seem more rich with the soft and cool blue hour light.
It would be interesting to get a blue hour aerial image, but a 2 minute exposure? Not going to happen in a Cessna 210.
West Coast Flying Adventures 