Tag Archives: fall

Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

El Capitan Meadow, Autumn

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El Capitan Meadow, Autumn

El Capitan Meadow, Autumn. Yosemite Valley, California. November 2, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Photograph of El Capitan Meadow in autumn with plants and trees in fall colors.

I wish I knew the identity of the leafy plants carpeting this section of the meadow under the oak trees (hint, hint… :-), but every year I’m attracted to the splash of red color they provide beneath these oak trees in the meadow near the base of El Capitan. During my otherwise very rainy early November visit to the Valley, there was a bit of brief clearing as I stopped to photograph this scene. (Actually, that was true this time – I had stopped here earlier during the weekend, contemplated carting my camera equipment into the meadow during the rain, and simply stayed in the car.)

Update: Some people asked about the equipment used for this photograph. It was photographed with a Canon 5D full frame DSLR using the excellent ultra wide EF 17-40mm zoom at the wide end of its range. A small aperture helped produce relatively deep depth of field. One complexity in this photograph was the extreme dynamic range between the shadows among the foreground plants and the sunlit clouds above. Two exposures were combined to deal with this, one exposed for the sky and the other for the shaded areas.

keywords: el capitan, meadow, autumn, fall, season, color, yellow, gold, brown, orange, oak, tree, leaf, leaves, sky, clouds, yosemite, valley, national park, california, usa, scenic, landscape, travel, stock, sierra, nevada, mountains

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Merced River Fall Color, El Capitan Bridge

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Merced River Fall Color, El Capitan Bridge

Merced River Fall Color, El Capitan Bridge. Yosemite Valley, California. November 1, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Fall color along the banks of the Merced River at the El Capitan Bridge, Yosemite Valley.

This is a second photograph that I made of this scene last weekend. (I posted the other one here a few days ago.) The first major winter storm of the season was just coming in, and it had already rained enough to cause the Merced River to begin to rise – which explains the debris floating on the surface in this photo.

I decided to work this scene with prime lenses rather than my zooms, so I made the previous photograph using the somewhat wider view of my 35mm lens and made this one using a 50mm prime. Frankly, I’m still going back and forth on which I like best. I like the way that this tighter crop fills the frame with the fall colors, but I like the composition of the wider view, too.

keywords: fall, autumn, color, foliage, leaves, gold, yellow, green, tree, oak, leaves, plants, nature, water, merced, river, bend, el capitan, meadow, bridge, mountain, cliff, face, reflection, yosemite, valley, national park, seaon, fog, cloud, california, usa, log, landscape, scenic, travel, stock

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Tree and Cliff, Yosemite Valley

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Tree and Cliff, Yosemite Valley

Tree and Cliff, Yosemite Valley. Yosemite National Park, California. November 2, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A lone tree growing against a cliff face in Yosemite Valley near the Ahwahnee Hotel.

I often walk along the north wall of the Valley between Yosemite Village and the Ahwahnee looking for interesting rocks, trees and plants, or seasonal waterfalls – especially in fall and spring. This time I had been shooting an oak tree against this section of the lower cliff when I spotted this less colorful tree nearby and, on a whim, decided to shoot a few frames. (The conditions were "interesting." It rained all weekend and was sprinkling as I made this photograph.)

keywords: tree, fir, cliff, rock, crack, root, rock, lichen, leaves, green, brown, trunk, rain, wet, ahwahnee, hotel, yosemite, valley, national park, scenic, landscape, nature, travel, fall, autumn, california, usa, stock

Commentary, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Gates of the Valley

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Gates of the Valley

Gates of the Valley. Yosemite Valley, California. November 2, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Gates of the Valley and the Merced River, Autumn – Yosemite Valley, California.

I made my annual fall color pilgrimage to Yosemite Valley this past weekend and since I had a few extra minutes while going from point A to point B I decided to stop at this over-photographed location and try a long exposure using a 9-stop neutral density filter, thus the effect you see on the surface of the Merced River in the foreground.

The trip was not quite what I anticipated. The fall colors were quite good, with lots of bright yellow maples, my favorite yellow and brown oaks, golden meadow grasses, and more.
But it rained. A lot.

It started almost as soon as I arrived on Saturday morning, got worse as the day wore on, poured overnight, and rained off and on most of the day on Sunday. Even this shot in seemingly clearing weather was taken as a light mist fell.

keywords: yosemite, valley, national park, el capitan, three brothers, merced, river, reflection, plant, tree, grass, meadow, forest, fall, autumn, color, clouds, fog, blue, sky, time, exposure, landscape, nature, scenic, travel, california, usa, stock, ripple