Falls of Spring - Swinging Bridge, Yosemite National Park, California

I'm still waiting for winter rainy season storms to arrive in Northern California, so here is one from Yosemite last spring without that flat/clear blue sky look that I'm seeing right now. No HDR!

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See the 1200 pixel version!
www.flickr.com/photos/patrick-smith-photography/410367759...

Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 17-40L @ 34
30-second exposure @F16 (to give the water and falls that smooth look)
LEE soft ND grad (100x150mm) 0.9
Lee foundation kit filter holder with Lee 77mm adapter ring
Hoya ndx-400 9-stop very very dark filter for long exposures during daytime
No polarizer.
ISO 50
Small Slik tripod with Manfrotto pistol grip ball head
RAW file processed with Capture One by Phase One
TIFF file processed with Photoshop

The angle of the afternoon sun was getting to be just right for the best view of the 2425 foot high Yosemite Falls from the swinging bridge. But it was mostly cloudy. So I waited about 20 minutes for an opening in the clouds to light up the falls. A group of photographers and other people had showed up to see the view. They moved bridge around a lot (it is the swinging bridge after all!) and I wanted a 30-second exposure with my dark filter. I really feel like a long exposure in this situation captures the mood and feel of the place better than a short exposure. I did do a few short exposures but there was something missing when I looked at them. So I deleted them. I do a lot of rather severe editing on the spot because I can compare them with how I feel at the moment.

I wanted a stable platform, so I climbed over the edge of the railing and down into a small space under the bridge on a concrete piling to make this image! I had about 2 feet of clearance for me and the tripod so I had to compose this without the viewfinder. It is a pain when you wait without moving for 30 seconds and then find out that the horizon is not flat because you can not look through the viewfinder. So it took 3 tries before I got it right. Then the light went away. I waited another 20 minutes in this rather uncomfortable position hoping for another chance, but that was it for the light for the day.

People were leaning over the bridge looking at me asking if I was okay. And they really gave me looks when I came back up. Also, it was hard to walk after being confined on a small spot of hard concrete for about 40 minutes! Was it worth it?

The map shows exactly where this is. It is an easy 0.3-mile hike from the nearest road.

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