Bridalveil Fall and Merced River Canyon, Morning. Yosemite National Park, California. June 5, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Black and white photograph of Bridalveil Fall and the Merced River canyon in morning backlight – Yosemite Valley, California.

This is the classic view of Bridalveil Fall looking up the canyon of the Merced River as seen from highway 120 just below the longest tunnel on the road descending into the Valley. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve driven down this road into The Valley, but I seem unable to resist pulling over and at least having a look.

On this early June morning all of the waterfalls were in full flow and the Merced was only 24 hours away from cresting with spring melt-water. The Merced was full from bank to bank, and the sound of falling water was everywhere in the Valley. (Though I only stayed there a few hours before the crowds drove me to visit Tioga Pass instead.) I wasn’t certain quite how to photograph this as the backlit morning haze created a very low contrast effect in the atmosphere even though the areas where the sun hit the water (on the river and at the top of the fall) were very bright. I had a hunch that it might work best in black and white, and after working on it a bit in post that hunch seemed to be correct.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM at 360mm
ISO 200, f/4.9, 1/320 second

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