Tag Archives: nevada

Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Cliff and Fog Near Glacier Point

November 16, 2008 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A fog shrouded arete on the cliffs of Yosemite Valley near Glacier Point.

This bit of fog shrouded cliff is on the south side of Yosemite Valley a bit west of Glacier Point. While I was busy shooting similar conditions across the Valley at upper Yosemite Falls I happened to look over my shoulder and see this ridge barely breaking through the light rain and fog on this rather wet November morning. For the most part the arete was completely obscured, but as the wind moved the clouds around the rocky face the rocks and trees of this bit of ridge emerged from time to time – so it was a matter of setting up a likely composition and then waiting for an interesting bit of rock and vegetation to appear.

keywords: cliff, face, arete, tree, ridge, mountain, fog, cloud, mist, glacier point, yosemite, valley, national park, obscure, nature, scenic, travel, landscape, atmosphere, weather, rain, sierra, nevada, california, usa, stock, black and white

Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Yosemite Falls, Autumn Rain

November 14, 2008 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Yosemite Falls and Valley meadow and forest in an autumn rain storm.

Another photograph from my rainy early-November weekend in Yosemite Valley. On Saturday the storm was coming in and as the day wore on the rain increased. As I photographed the nearly leafless trees in the meadows in sight of Yosemite Falls, the rain increased to the point that the Falls were almost completely obscured, although the rain also created a wonderful misty atmosphere and muted the fall colors.

A note about shooting in the rain… I foolishly removed my umbrella from my bag before I left on this trip. What was I thinking?! A good umbrella may be almost your most important piece of photographic equipment when shooting in conditions like these. Instead I ended up using an alternative set of strategies. (I did try to find an umbrella at the Yosemite Village store… but I couldn’t bring myself to buy a souvenir umbrella with big bear footprints all over it. :-) I have a nice Goretex rain hat that almost exactly covers my 5D and my lenses, so the main plan was to get everything set up and ready to shoot and then put the hat on top. While the tripod got wet the camera stayed reasonably dry – well, OK, not too wet. A little moisture on the outside of the camera body doesn’t concern me too much, though these conditions were such that I had to be pretty careful and use a towel on the camera and lens every time I returned to the car.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him.

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Upper Yosemite Falls in Mist

November 13, 2008 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Upper Yosemite Fall in Mist — The mist of an autumn rainstorm shrouds upper Yosemite Falls.

The mist of an autumn rainstorm shrouds upper Yosemite Falls.

This photograph was made on a very rainy early November morning, when the previously-dormant Yosemite Falls had sprung dramatically back to life following two days of rain.

This was a very difficult photo to take and it has been a difficult photo to work with in post-processing. I shot it with a very long lens (400mm on full-frame) as mist and rain swirled around the top of the upper falls, most of the time almost completely obscuring the waterfall. Occasionally the clouds and rain would thin a bit and I would make a few shots. The complexity of the post processing has several parts. First, the dynamic range of the photograph is very small. (Usually we struggle with the opposite problem – a dynamic range that is too big!) For this reason I had to make some decisions about whether and how much to expand this range in post, and also about just where the “normal” brightness should be. Second, the color saturation is so weak that the photograph almost appears to be a black and white image, but it is indeed a color photograph… with extremely muted colors.

I’m looking forward to working on making a print of this one. I’m certain that it will be a challenge, but I think that it may work well as a print.

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

Autumn Foliage and Rain, Merced River Near Cathedral Rocks

November 12, 2008 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Autumn foliage lines the riverbanks as rain falls on the Merced River near Cathedral Rocks – Yosemite Valley.

One more – probably the last – in the series of photographs* of this scene made from the bridge near El Capitan Meadow. In this one the rain, which had diminished to mere sprinkles when I began to shoot from this location, began to return in earnest. The surface of the river has lost is reflectivity and is cloudy in this photo. If you look closely (or inspect the print) you can see the raindrops on the surface of the water. This was pretty much the story of this entire weekend of photography. It rained most of the time, occasionally hard. I did quite a bit of my photography between showers and under improvised rain protection.

Although this was photographed near El Capitan Meadow, the rock face beyond the river and the trees is not El Capitan. It is Cathedral Rocks, a large formation that is almost directly across the Valley from El Capitan and a bit east of Bridalveil Fall. If it were located anywhere else where it was not dwarfed by El Capitan, it would be regarded as a very imposing face it its own right.

* The previous two related photographs are here and here

keywords: fall, autumn, foliage, leaves, trees, forest, grove, bank, river, bank, merced, cathedral, rocks, cliff, face, rain, precipitation, drops, grass, el capitan, meadow, float, yosemite, valley, national park, california, usa, sierra, nevada, mountains, nature, scenic, travel, landscape, stock, mist, cloud

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: nevada

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.