Black and White in Yosemite

I had an urge to put some of my photos into black and white, to see if they would translate well into that style. My many high-contrast photos seem to look good without color. I hope people won't think this is a rip-off of Ansel Adams. I don't put near the effort into my shots as he did with his. He had serious restrictions on his freedom to explore his creativity by having to carry bulky and heavy 8x10 frames of film for his large format view camera.

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This was my most serious attempt at imitating Ansel Adams. I planned out where I wanted to be at the "golden hour" of sunset. Framing the shadow area into the bottom of the frame helps to enhance the impact of Half Dome's bright face.

The winter months in Yosemite Valley always involve shadows. Finding that right mix of light and shadow in the right composition what I was trying to do here. Bridalveil Falls can be tough to capture but, I like how this one came out.

The majestic El Capitan often has such good light on it. Those pine trees on top of the cliffs hint at just how massive this rock is.

Here is another view of Bridalveil Falls, from the Tunnelview Vista Point. Just 5 minutes later, there was an abundance of blue skies and sunshine.

Here my recreation of Adams' "Half Dome: The Monolith", his famous close-up of the face of Half Dome. Legend has it that Adams arrived at this difficult spot with just one frame of film left. It is an arduous journey to get to this rugged spot, even if you are not carrying a large wooden tripod and 8x10 view camera. One main difference in our pictures is that his was taken when there was snow on the ground. Mine was taken during 100+ degree temperatures.

A Winter's Day In Yosemite Valley

Once again, I chose to go where other people don't. Even with it being a holiday, I knew where I could go to avoid people. My choice to walk up the closed Four Mile Trail was very good but, finding a shot through the thick oaks and Douglas firs was difficult. There were some icy and snowy parts on the trail but I had a nice burst of energy to climb pretty far to get this fine shot.

I also had very fine views of the impressive profile of the mighty El Capitan. Someday, I want to walk along that edge. This zoomed in shot shows that those trees on top are just so tiny compared to the 3000 foot cliff.

I really like it when I can use the wide angle in a vertical mode.

On the drive in on Big Oak Flat Road, I looked up and across the canyon to see how much snow there was on potential afternoon shooting locations. I settled on "The Rostrum", accessible from the west end of the Wawona Tunnel. It was a relatively easy walk down to the edge of a 500 foot cliff, with nice views of Bridalveil and Cascade Falls. The sun was nice and it was easy to ignore the noise of a holiday weekend in Yosemite Valley.

On the way out, I stopped at a popular roadside spot to view Bridalveil Falls and the icy cliffs above. Many, many years ago, my Brother Dave and I took a cross country ski trip from Badger Pass, mostly across tricky, untracked spring snow, to end up at the top of these cliffs.

Sentinel Rock and Glacier Point

I took yet another trip to smoky Yosemite and my destination was Sentinel Rock. I have been atop Sentinel Dome twice in the past so, I just walked on by it on my way to the edge of Yosemite Valley. I had a vague idea that Sentinel Rock wasn't very easy to get to but, I wanted to check out that rugged part of the Park for myself. When I wandered off the trail, I found that there was a 15 foot wall blocking my access and there was no way to safely drop off. I looked and looked and there was a potential way of getting there but that would involve a similarly dangerous "long way around".

So, I cut my losses and snapped off as many pics as i wanted and planned my Plan B. Right here is a picture of the farthest I could get, standing on a cliff, looking towards the massive El Capitan.

I spied this snag growing on the edge of the rugged cliff of Sentinel Rock so, I took out my telephoto lens and zoomed into the snag with El Capitan as a background.

I was hoping that Yosemite Falls would still have a pretty good flow, with Sentinal Rock being just right across the valley. The early snowmelt has drained the watershed of fresh springwater and it now is a scant trickle, as you can see. This is a quite different view of the famous Upper Falls and part of the very interesting inner gorge.

Here is a distant view of North Dome and Basket Dome, pulled in with my telephoto lens. Years ago, I took a hike and visited the top of both of them. Very few people go there, with the 10 mile roundtrip from the Tioga Pass Road.

Walking back via the trail, I had this nice view of Half Dome. Zooming into this shot, using Photoshop, I could see individual people on top of this Yosemite icon. Clouds Rest looms behind Half Dome and the peak has, arguably, the best view in all of Yosemite. I was once there and took pictures but, the roll of film somehow disappeared. Maybe I'll make it back up there, one day.

Springtime in Yosemite Valley

My brother Gary came and visited me on one of his business trips and I surprised him by taking him to Yosemite Valley. He hadn't been there for more than 20 years. We bought some lunch materials and had a nice meal on the banks of the Merced River.

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Here's a view of Half Dome, the Washington Column and Tenaya Canyon.

I felt I needed to get some more shots of Bridalveil Falls, as the meltwater was very high with the warm spring day. Gary and I walked up the main trail to the viewspot and it was very wet and very crowded. Not good for picture taking. This was a good opportunity for me to exercise my best photography and outdoors skills. I scanned the area and checked the wind direction and decided to go to the other side of Bridalveil Creek. I did slip and fall kind of hard on a slippery rock, bashing my elbow but, saving the camera. I did find a secluded spot and was happy that Gary was there to hold a tree branch out of the way for this shot.

Of course, no photoshoot in Yosemite Valley is complete without the required Half Dome shot. You always have to have something in the foreground to show just how big that rock is.

Another thing Yosemite is famous for is the world-class climbing. The Royal Arches is one of the world's 50 classic climbs. Many years ago, I was on top of North Dome on one of my own classic jaunts. Also in the picture is the Washington Column, another favorite of climbers.

And here is my brother Gary, at my secret spot along the Merced River. I couldn't get one of those fantastic reflection shots with the water being in motion from the spring runoff. We both had a great time enjoying this world treasure.

Extra Yosemite, ala carte

I always seem to find some more good pics after a photo shoot is long since done. Here a few I took before Thanksgiving. El Capitan is hard to photograph up close, and even with a wide angle lens, you have to be creative to compose interesting shots.

Forests often grow into complex, living works of art, themselves. Pines and oaks duel for the sunlight and water, while cedars bide their time in the shade.

It really took some jockeying around to get this whole reflection into the picture. I still need to play with the lighting to recover those washed out highlights. My secret spot along the Merced River never fails to get me quality pictures.

I had to play with the lighting in this shot, where I chose a shutter speed that was too fast for the lens to adjust to. I was better able to freeze the water but, there's much easier ways to accomplish this by changing the ISO film sensitivity level. That will allow for faster shutter speeds. I haven't quite figured out what I really like about this one. Maybe that there is a lot to look at in the whole of the picture.

Round 3 in Yosemite Valley

In looking back on these pictures, I'm realizing that I should have taken a LOT more shots like this one below. The light was so very good and the reflections could not be better. In the immortal words of Redd Foxx, "You Big Dummy!!"

I'm thinking that there surely are some wonderful "crops" I could take out of this one, too!

I'm always looking for "natural abstracts" and the oak canopies provided me with shots like this one. The yellows contrast so well with the blue sky and the black of the boulder and tree limbs contrast with everything else.

I think this is a definitive capture of El Capitan. You can easily get a grasp of just how monstrously huge this rock is. Upon further examination in this picture, I noticed a rather peculiar-looking box-shaped shadow behind El Capitan. I had to look at other pics to see if it was in those shots too. I zoomed in close on this high resolution photo and just figured it was a shadow on some broken terrain.

Down at my brother Ken's, we went down to the beach and I took my new camera along for practice. The train trestle looked promising so I shot a bunch. I turned this shot into an old time "sepia" picture, like what was popular before color film. I really like the extra detail and complexity of this photo. The railing on the bridge is also pretty dramatic and artsy.

As someone on another photo site said about this one, it looks like waltzing trees alongside the serene Merced River, in Yosemite Valley.

New DSLR pics from Yosemite

My new Olympus E-510 Digital SLR was unleashed in Yosemite Valley at some of my favorite secret spots. The fall colors were still in force and the weather was gorgeous. When I arrived at my first destination, I was like a kid in a candy shop. Unfortunately, the auto-setting on the camera tended to wash out the bright white highlights of Yosemite's legendary white granite. Even with Photoshop, it is difficult to restore washed-out highlights.

Below is a very minor example of how those highlights are overexposed. The contrasty blues and whites of Yosemite make it tough. This picture below is an example of how my camera eye continues to improve.

I'm always looking for those unusual "natural abstracts" people seem to enjoy. This one fills the frame with interesting stuff.

The fall colors were still quite potent with the yellow oak leaves hanging around. The backlit leaves of the hardwoods were a welcome contrast to the blue skies, gray granite and green conifers.

I've always found it difficult to show how truly big El Capitan is. On top of the cliff behind El Capitan are 75 foot tall trees. That gives you some kind of idea of the immense mass of granite overseeing Yosemite Valley.

Staying Busy

Winter is here and I was able to take this break from snow shoveling to take a few pics around the homestead. I knew right away that this one would be a good shot. It's better to have some clouds in the sky, rather than having that deep oversaturated blue dominating.

Here's an old picture I scanned from up near the White Mountains Bristlecone pine forest. It was the next morning after a stormy afternoon and evenng the day before. The view stretched from Yosemite to Mount Whitney (and beyond!).

This next one is one of my all-time classics. Blessed with the perfect light, I took what might be a perfect picture. In scanning the Kodachrome slide, I was able to very closely approach the brilliance of the original.

Here is the best view of the Half Dome cables. Like pilgrims "climbing the ladder to heaven", climbing Half Dome is a spiritual experience for all who succeed. Some falter when they first see the way you have to go to get to the top. I'll admit to being intimidated when I first stood at the bottom. You do, literally, have to "hang on for dear life".

Finally we have a smoke-enhanced sunset over the 12,000+ foot Mount Conness, taken from near Glen Aulin, on the Tuolumne River. While my fellow campers declined to come and see the sunset with me, my 5 minute walk was well worth it.

New Yosemite scans!

To flesh out my new Mpix ( http://www.mpix.com/ ) book to use as a Yosemite portfolio, I scanned these old Kodachrome slides recently. It's really cool to be able to go back to those trips and, basically, re-compose many of those old shots.

This one below came out pretty well, without too much scanning trouble. I didn't crop this one of Yosemite's Natural Arch.

I was intrigued whether I could crop and improve on this interesting "rainbow" shot of Yosemite Falls from Glacier Point. I still need to be more skilled at sharpening these kinds of pictures without overdoing it. It just might work better as a black and white photo.

This shot, from Stanford Point on a skiing trip, took a lot of fiddling and I'm still not satisfied with the results. I was able to tone down a bluish cast and do some sharpening but, I'd be happy if the picture looked exactly like the original. More practice is needed to sort through all the jam-packed features of my Nikon scanner.

On the other hand, this pic came out looking almost exactly like the original. I still think this pic also has a bluish cast and could benefit from greener greens. I love the glacial polish and juniper trees are one of my few favorites. The Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne is a deep V-shaped canyon that was home to the Sierra Nevada's longest glacier, over 40 miles long at its largest during the Ice Ages.

I stumbled across this slide and looked for a way to crop a great picture out of the original. That afternoon and early evening had terrific light and Grant Lake was obviously perfectly glassy.