• 620 ft. Bridalveil Falls. The trees are growing and soon you will not see it at all from this spot. A 200 ft tree 1/3rd the distance to the fall could cover the entire fall.
  • 1612 ft. Ribbon Falls is the highest free-leaping waterfall in Yosemite, and California, and North America, and one of the highest in the world. This valley holds the world densest concentration of high waterfalls in the world. There is a big one around every bend it seems.
  • 3,000 ft. El Capitan. The worlds tallest single block of vertical granite on earth.
  • I made sure to show the reflected orange glow here.
  • I used F16 to show the grasses and rock as sharp as can be. F22 would show a bit of lens diffraction, so I avoid that whenever possible.
  • I moved around to place this tree against the glowing rock face.
  • I waited for some glowing clouds to add back lighting for the treetops.
  • I made sure to include where the water was coming from.
  • The horizon is tricky since the river is dropping off to the right, but the bank behind it is almost level and also slightly drops off to the right, which is the way out of the valley.
  • A 1-second exposure was long enough to show the undulating water.
  • The valley floor here is a little over 4,000 ft. above sea level.
  • Only near the summer solstice does the light strike the rock face at this sharp angle at sunset. That is best for showing detail.
  • How would one know without reading or continuously observing a single scene everyday, when a certain scene lights up in a certain way??

    I study the weather and local conditions a lot!!! - Patrick

    Thankyou!! :) - I'm on a learning curve!!

Valley View #1 - Yosemite National Park

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Yosemite's lowest hanging fruit, the Valley View pullout..lol... It is amazing how this scene is just handed to you on a silver platter. But I chose to come here when the light was good and the water was flowing well. And I had to do some risky moves to get out to this spot. No HDR.

Free wallpaper for over 100 of my images in 6 different screen sizes is now available!

See the 1200 pixel version!
www.flickr.com/photos/patrick-smith-photography/360139158...

Also, I am a winner in the 2009 Natures Best Ocean Views contest. This photo was a winner! The print looks a LOT better than the Flickr upload for some reason.

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Settings etc.:
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Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 17-40L @ 20 (very wide but it still all just barely fits in!)
1-second exposure @F16
LEE soft ND grad (100x150mm) 0.9 + 0.75
Lee foundation kit filter holder with Lee 77mm adapter ring
ISO 50
RAW file processed with Capture One by Phase One
TIFF file processed with Photoshop

This is the classic view along the river near the entrance to the valley. Even though there is a nice car park just 100 feet away from where I set the tripod, there was not another person in sight during nearly this entire sunset. I'm not sure why. Probably because it had been raining and even snowing above 6,000 feet elevation until about 20 minutes before I made this image. It was looking almost hopeless, but I could see openings in the clouds developing. And this spot seemed to have the best chance for the best light. I had other plans for sunset, but the light was bad there. Everything in the frame seemed alive, from the rock and grass in front, to the rapids in the middle, to the light on El Capitan and Bridalveil valls.

Of course I could not just put the tripod on the concrete sidewalk and take the shot. I carefully composed this scene after waiting for about 30 minutes on a slippery small rock where you had to jump across several other slippery rocks. I should have just taken my shoes off but standing on river-bottom rock for 30 minutes would have torn my feet up and it was snowing at 6,000 feet elevation at this time even though it was June. So the water was cold! Yes, I should get wellies...

I wanted to show the grasses close up, along with the orange reflections on the right. And all the way to 1612 ft. Ribbon Falls in the upper left. The highest freestanding waterfall in North America just beating out Upper Yosemite Falls. Earlier there were some guys with big 8x10 view cameras fiddling around on the sidewalk for quite a long time. They could not have made this image with their clumsy equipment, believe me!

The map shows exactly where this is. Just downstream from the pullout about 100 feet.

See my Flickr profile for a link to my website where I have limited edition prints and less expensive open edition prints.
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Wiffsmiff23, digger- on/off, Photomike07 / MDSimages.com, Geoffrey Gilson, and 850 other people added this photo to their favorites.

View 20 more comments

  1. Sozdrie Mian 23 months ago | reply

    Truly Inspiring shot! Absolutely beautiful..

  2. delerium223 22 months ago | reply

    Roadbike Amazing and inspiring picture.. could be @ canada or alaska (but i know, thats its california..)

  3. -MAGO- 20 months ago | reply

    sublime.

  4. falenafoto 17 months ago | reply

    the Ansel Adams hause fantastica , ciao

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