Tag Archives: valley

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Night, Photographs: Southern California

Star Trails, The Manifold, Zabriskie Point

April 1, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 7 Comments

Star trails above the Manifold, Zabriskie Point, Death Valley National Park, California.

One of my goals on my late-March trip to Death Valley was to do some night photography, in particular to take advantage of the nearly full moon near the end of my visit. Some of my plans did not quite work out – for example, on the night when I intended to do night photography of the moving rocks at the Racetrack Playa it was cloudy all night! However, on the final night of my visit the weather gods cooperated and I was able to make a few exposures from Zabriskie Point as the moon rose. As if to partially make up for messing up the intended Racetrack shots, the “cloud gods” were kind enough to provide me with a few high thin clouds at Zabriskie. This was one of those wonderful occasions when things actually did go as planned!

Anticipating the full moon at Zabriskie, I made a point of camping in the vicinity of Furnace Creek at the Texas Springs campground. (I expect that my habits mystified a few nearby campers. I drove in at about 2:00 p.m., grabbed a site and “marked” it by leaving a chair and a tarp, and almost immediately left – not returning until nearly 10:00 p.m. Then I was up and gone well before sunrise.) In any case, I headed down to the Badwater area in the late afternoon to photograph sunset light on the salt flats and evening clouds – following an impromptu “dinner” at the back of my car at the Badwater parking lot. It was getting fairly dark by the time I finished up at Badwater, so I headed straight up to Zabriskie. By the time I arrived the moon was just coming up over the mountain range to the east, with its light at times filtering through high clouds. During the hour I was there I made three exposures. With exposure times in the 8 to 12 minute range and followed by “dark frame exposures” of equal length, this was a slow and quiet process.

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.

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM
ISO 200, f/8, 787 seconds (not a typo!)

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Horsetail Fall, Early Evening

March 5, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

The silver strand of Horsetail Fall and water reflecting on surrounding cliffs in late afternoon light, Yosemite Valley, California.

I’m thinking it is pretty nearly impossible to make a truly original photograph of Horsetail Fall – though I won’t completely rule out the possibility.

In any case, here I decided to start photographing the February spectacle a bit before the colorful sunset light showed up. At this point the beam of light on the cliff face around the fall is a bit larger, lighting the rocks to the right of the fall as well as the fall itself. During this season there has been enough precipitation and the weather had warmed enough to not only get Horsetail flowing but to also create some seepage down the face of the cliff next to the fall. As a matter of fact, the reflections from this wet rock caught my attention more strongly at first than did the fall itself. A second process was at work here as well: a stiff breeze from the west was blowing across the path of the falling water, catching it, and blowing thin clouds of spray across the buttress to the left of the fall itself.

I have posted several short articles on photographing this seasonal Yosemite Valley icon:

“Thinking About Yosemite’s Horsetail Fall” (2012)
“Photographing Horsetail Fall – Random Thoughts About Photographing an Icon” (2011)
“Horsetail Fall – It’s That Time Again” (2011)
“Thinking of Photographing Yosemite’s Horsetail Fall?” (2009)
Search results for Horsetail Fall at my blog (results will include the above-listed articles and more)

One of the best sources of current season information about the Horsetail Fall photography potential is photographer Michael Frye, who frequently posts general information and updates each winter.

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

North Dome and Merced River Trees, Winter

February 25, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

Black and white photograph of North Dome and bare winter trees reflected in the Merced River near the swinging bridge, Yosemite Valley, California.

After first getting distracted by dawn light on Yosemite Falls – and joining a small throng of other photographers shooting this exact same subject (he writes, somewhat embarrassed… ;-) – I pulled myself together and wandered off along the Merced on this frosty morning looking for scenes that were a bit less obvious. I’m not going to claim that this one is completely non-iconic – I can’t since North Dome, in the upper center of the frame, is a fairly well known feature of the Valley. However, the thing that mostly caught my attention here was the skeletal shapes of the dormant trees along the Merced River and the way they lined up across the scene creating some interesting symmetries and forms against the background of the upper end of The Valley.

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.

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 35mm f/2
two blended images: ISO 100, f/11, 1/40 second and ISO 10, f/11, 1/10 second

keywords: yosemite, valley, national, park, california, usa, north america, meadow, swinging, bridge, cottonwood, silhouette, grass, sky, north, dome, royal, arches, snow, reflection, ripple, morning, light, black and white, monochrome, sierra, nevada, mountain, range, clouds rest, landscape, scenic, travel, nature, bare, forest, grove, stock

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Horsetail Fall, Sunset (#3)

February 24, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Photograph of Horsetail Fall – the “natural firefall” – along the eastern end of the face of El Capitan, Yosemite Valley, California.

I made this photograph from “the other” vantage point for viewing the winter Horsetail Fall light show. I’ve shot this subject a few times in the past, but always from the general area of the picnic area at base of the east end of El Capitan. Since I thought the light might be good on this evening I decided to try the location along Southside Drive at a point between the crossover road near El Capitan and the start of the Four Mile Trail where many people photograph this scene. Yeah, it is an icon. What can I say? (Well, I can say that my favorite photograph from this particular trip to the Valley is actually a black and white image of a couple branches of a dormant fern plant – but that’s a different photo and a different story.)

This location – I’ll call it the “Merced River location” – is popular among Horsetail Fall photographers for several reason. For one it is very accessible. To be blunt, you can find a shot within a few seconds walk from your car! (Unless you arrive late and all the parking is gone, a distinct possibility in such a popular spot, especially if you go on a weekend when the sunset light hits the fall.) It also provides a different sort of view of the fall. While the view from right beneath El Capitan tends to provide a slightly wider and closer view of the upper fall, this one provides a clear view of a greater portion of the fall along with the little valley above the fall. And because it is a bit further east, you are looking at the fall more from the side. This means that when things work out just right the brilliantly lit fall becomes a very thin stream against the much darker background rock.

The light on this evening was perhaps not quite “classic” Horsetail light. There was some nice color, but the light faded before it became brilliantly colorful. It seemed like perhaps the sun (which is itself not visible to photographers from here) might have passed behind some distant clouds in the west just before reaching the horizon. The development of the brilliant sunset color was somewhat muted when this happened.

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.

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM at 360mm
ISO 200, f/11, 1/50 second

keywords: yosemite, national, park, valley, california, usa, north america, nature, winter, horsetail, fall, waterfall, water, gold, molten, light, sunset, dusk, glow, fire, firefall, cliff, el, capitan, cap, face, crack, water, spray, mist, sierra, nevada, mountain, range, february, stock

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