Muir Woods, Redwood Crowns
Muir Woods National Monument is a protected ancient coast redwood forest. Many miles of trails and the promise of unspoiled nature attract large tourist crowds, to this old growth forest flocking here from nearby San Francisco. The park is easily accessible and offers many great opportunities for nature photography.
The coastal redwoods are the tallest living things on earth. Many of the trees reach up to 250 feet high and are up to 1000 years old, commanding respect from the casual visitor and challenging photographers with impossible dimensions. Difficult lighting conditions try even the most skilled photographers. Nevertheless, Muir Woods is a great place to visit and one of the few places left with California redwoods.
How to get there
Muir Woods lies approximately 12 miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge. You can get here via Highway 1 by following the signs to Muir Woods. Since they are notoriously short of parking spots, I recommend the shuttle (see links below) during summer weekends.
Many tour operators offer day trips from San Francisco, but I usually prefer exploring a location on my own. Tour guides are rarely sensitive to the needs of photographers and groups have a tendency to block interesting subjects.
GPS position
How to photograph Muir Woods
Muir Woods: Rewdwood Closeup Study
Bring a tripod, even during bright daylight. The park is going to be dark no matter what.
It is impossible to include entire trees in your photographs. Include the trails and hikers on the wooden planks of the main trails.
Use a polarizing filter to enhance the colors and remove the glare from the foliage of the valley floor and the wooden planks.
Look up. Use a wide-angle lens and photograph straight up. Bracket your exposure if you wish to compose an HDR shot that exposes the sky and the dark tree trunks perfectly. I liked the nearly black trees leaning towards the bright sky, so I exposed for the sky and the bright crowns only. I stood on a small clearing looking up and I purposely moved the opening off center to create a more dynamic composition.
Take a closeup photograph of the trees with a normal lens. The shapes and colors are fascinating to say the least.
Macro photographers will be happy to find redwood sorrel, sword ferns, and mosses in the damp undergrowth. Small wildflowers are also on the menu. Bring your diffusers to create the lighting you wish.
If you have a strong flash unit, you should bring it as well to battle the strong contrast if you do not wish to generate HDR pictures or if you have to get everything in one shot (people).
To photograph the small cascades of the creek you can use a Neutral Density Filter of moderate strength. Then set your camera to its lowest ISO level, put it on a tripod and choose aperture priority mode with a small aperture (large f-number). The goal is to slow down your exposure below 1/10s to blur the water and give it the silky, dreamy look.
Look for great light. Find a tree or group of trees that is spot lit for great results.
If you wish to photograph abstracts or macros, make sure the entire scene is in the shade.
Best Time of the Day and Best Season
The park is open year round. Summer usually brings large tourist crowds, especially during the weekends, as the park is a popular getaway destination. Overcast days or foggy days are great for a visit to the park. Fog can really enhance the mood of your photographs. If you find yourself in San Francisco during a dense fog, consider coming here instead.
I prefer the off-season months to beat the crowds. The main park loop trail lies deep in a gorge. It gets dark early. The best time is during the morning and early afternoon hours when you can have great spotlight shining on trees and when it is still bright.
Time required
You can spend a couple of hours to a day or more at Muir Woods. There are many trails besides the main loop trail that beg for exploration. At the entrance station, you can buy a trail map of the entire area all the way to Stinson Beach and Mount Tamalpais. This topographic map costs just $1 and includes a wealth of information about the trails. To assist your planning, I took the liberty of summarizing some of the trails:
Main Loop Trail: 0.5-2miles, ½-1 hour, easy
Bootjack Trail to Ben Johnson Trail Loop: 6miles, 4 hours, moderate to strenuous
Ocean View to Lost Trail to Fern Creek: 3miles, 2 hours, moderate, steep in sections
Ocean View Trail to Redwood Trail to Sun Trail to Dipsea Trail: 5miles, 3 hours, moderate
Ben Johnson Trail, Return via Dipsea trail: 4miles, 3 hours, moderate to strenuous
Fern Creek Trail to Camp Eastwood: 3miles, 2 hours, moderate
Redwood Creek Trail to Muir Beach: 3miles, 2 hours, easy
Equipment
- Tripod and Cable Release
- Wide-angle lens
- Normal Lens
- Polarizing Filter
- Macro Lens
- Flash and Diffusers
- Neutral Density Filter
- Sweater (even in the summer as the valley gets cold)
- Water (no services around)
Fees
Adults: $5, Children free, Muir Woods’s annual pass: $20, National Parks pass is also accepted
Difficulty Getting There
The road to Muir Woods is very curvy and there is never enough parking in the summer. Motorists enjoying the coast and spectacular landscape often clog Highway 1.
Difficulty Photographing
I bet you often read to include people for a sense of scale, but in a park overrun by tourists, it is actually hard not to include groups of people. The challenge at Muir Woods will be to take pictures without people in them. Try some of the trails leading away from the loop walks.
Close Locations
- Muir Beach
- Mt. Tamalpais
- Tule Elk Reserve and Pierce Point Ranch
- Pt. Reyes Lighthouse and Chimney Rock
- Point Bonita Lighthouse
- Kirby Cove
- Sausalito and Tiburon
- Point Reyes Coastal Trail
- Marin Headlands – Golden Gate views
- Angel Island State Park
- Alcatraz
- San Francisco Presidio
- San Francisco Marina
- San Francisco Palace of Fine Arts
Useful Resources
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8 Comments
These trees are really awesome.
I was just out there this past summer and I was simply amazed at how old and large these trees are.
It is hard to put them into a picture but you have done well with the perpective you gave.
Great pics as usual and very helpful information.
Thanks!
Wonderful photos and very big trees.
Rush about captured with good perpective.
Lg,
Rewolve44
Love your site. I have much enjoyment ahead of me.
One thought for an addition, would be to give some sort of map view of the locations in addition to the text descriptions of how to get there.
Rvewong: I have been contemplating maps for a while. I don’t want to overload my articles, but I am going to try it out. Thanks for reaffirming my thoughts !
ForestWanderer: You may also like this article on Mariposa Grove where you can find the Giant Sequoia.
this would be challenging to shoot, i’ve seen some of these trees here in Aus, they are huge!
Noticed your reply about pondering map locations.
One option I use from time to time are coordinate links for Google maps. Hardly takes any space, but the link opens a Google map rather than taking all that space up on the page.
Not sure what this will look like once I hit the post button. But here’s a link removed from its tags on an Ape Cave page:
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=46.123721,-122.217040
The space should be removed after the comma.
Redwood forests are very challenging places to take photos. Thanks for the tips. I’ll try them out next time I go hike the trails at Muir Woods.