Yosemite Falls

Gallery: LandscapePosted March 4, 2015288 views14 comments

I know this is a subject that has been shot a thousand times, but ...

There was supposed to be a snowstorm last weekend, so off I went. The people at Mariposa assured me that it would come down to 4000 ft. After putsing (is that a word?) around Merced Canyon I eventually ended up at the tunnel view to have a looksee. The valley was encircled with fog with sunlight on El Cap. Thought I got a good one but the image was foggy as well. Worked my way down in the valley and after a sandwich just fell asleep. Woke up around 3:30 and decided to head back. As I drove around to the meadows I had a mind blowing experience. I report this because that happens so often. After a nap everything just looks so amazingly beautiful. You start to emotionally relate to your surroundings.

Anyway, during postprocessing I got pretty severe pixalation of those small branches in the distant tree. This evening I tried to use the 2 phased reduction approach and this is the best I've seen it yet.

Camera Model Canon EOS 6D
Tv(Shutter Speed) 1/125
Av(Aperture Value) 9.0
ISO Speed 100
Lens EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM
Focal Length 35.0mm
Shot with tripod.

The larger version looks considerably better IMO.

In retrospect I could of hiked back and made the trees proportionally smaller with respect to the cliffs. But the clouds were lifting and had to act fast.

Comments

14 comments

Comment posted by Nathan Apodaca on March 4, 2015 at 12:45 AM

I like the perspective, and think it makes a stronger image as-is, so I don't think you missed anything by not hiking farther back, in my opinion. Nice comp, btw!

Registered on November 16, 2011, 67 Posts, 1127 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Seaver on March 4, 2015 at 8:24 AM

This looks good, Igor. I especially like the nearly equal "four layers" of grass, trees, mountain with falls, and sky.

Registered on January 23, 2011, 1103 Posts, 17270 Comments

Comment posted by Roel Wijtmans on March 4, 2015 at 11:35 AM

The trees look fine to me, they take the right amount of space for me. They balance nicely with the rock wall in the background. I could also see this work as a vertical composition of the middle, putting a bit more emphasize on the layer structure in the photo.

Registered on September 30, 2012, 116 Posts, 2257 Comments

Comment posted by Wayne Jones on March 4, 2015 at 12:53 PM

Well, it's pretty obvious why this "has been shot a thousand times." I would be tempted to shoot it a thousand times by myself! I can see why this blew your mind too, nap or no nap. Great light and clouds. Your exposure and processing of such a high-contrast scene look perfect to me, including the sunlit trees.

Registered on April 18, 2007, 953 Posts, 6435 Comments

Comment posted by D.A. Edwards on March 4, 2015 at 6:39 PM

Great work Igor, especially given the high dynamic range across the scene that you've handled very well. I could see a wee crop off the bottom to eliminate some tiny darker areas of grass but that's an extremely nitty nit.

Registered on October 8, 2014, 226 Posts, 1187 Comments

Comment posted by Sandro Bisotti on March 4, 2015 at 7:16 PM

great subject, assured and clear composition, colours and sharpness ok (vivid but not flat).
Very good work for my tastes.
all the best,
sandro

Registered on February 8, 2015, 30 Posts, 265 Comments

Comment posted by Alberto Patiño on March 4, 2015 at 10:14 PM

Igor, this may be a well-known subject, but you did a great job with your interpretation. In particularly like the contrast between the strongly lit trees and the dark rock wall, and the lifting fog. The large version is a must - much of the magic is lost in the small one (but I find this to always be the case, with all photos).

Registered on December 2, 2014, 278 Posts, 1736 Comments

Comment posted by Igor Doncov on March 5, 2015 at 12:08 AM

Roel,

My first inclination was to do a vertical of this subject, and I took several such images (see below). I then followed that with several horizontals that had a tighter view of the scene, and finally did a more broader landscape which was the most satisfying to me personally. This is often a pattern in my work: the longer I work a scene the better the compositions I get. The best composition doesn't just 'click' from the start.

Registered on November 22, 2014, 189 Posts, 2733 Comments

Comment posted by Tom Falley on March 5, 2015 at 1:22 PM

Looks very good n the larger version, as is so typical. my only technical beef is the clouds are a bit blown out, not sure if you could have held them better with the raw conversion in the quite good Canon "Digital Photo Professional".

Thanks for sharing! Regards: Tom

Registered on November 21, 2014, 189 Posts, 454 Comments

Comment posted by Preston Birdwell on March 5, 2015 at 3:18 PM

Nice image of an icon, Igor. I know this spot well. You had some gorgeous light, and the hovering clouds add a lot to this.

You might consider cropping this from the right to eliminate that tree on the right edge. Looking again, removing that tree will cause you to lose the cloud, so maybe not a good idea, after all. You might also consider cloning out the wood walkway in the meadow.

--P

Registered on November 1, 2003, 471 Posts, 5188 Comments

Comment posted by Igor Doncov on March 5, 2015 at 3:26 PM

Thanks, Preston. I didn't even recognize that as a walkway. That should be a minor adjustment.

Registered on November 22, 2014, 189 Posts, 2733 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Reid on March 6, 2015 at 12:47 PM

A very nice take on the classic Igor. Nice layers in this and nice detail in the shadows also.The large version has very nice detail throughout. The processing looks very well done and natural. Just an after thought if you use too much clarity enhancement especially in LR you get weird halos etc. because it works most on high contrast edges. Not that I see that here by the way. Great job on this.

Registered on January 27, 2013, 65 Posts, 2460 Comments

Comment posted by Sairam Sundaresan on March 7, 2015 at 1:07 AM

I really love the perspective, and the layers in the comp are really amazing. I don't mind that this has been shot to death. This one is really special!

Registered on March 14, 2013, 100 Posts, 643 Comments

Comment posted by Harry Lichtman on March 10, 2015 at 9:31 AM

The mystery and mood created by the clouds and grantite is fantastic. I might tighten up the image with a small crop off the left and bottom, then try an BW conversion Ansel Adams style. The colors aren't striking, but the light and shadows and contrast makes me think this woyuld make a nice conversion if youy haven' tried it yet.

Registered on September 17, 2010, 304 Posts, 3507 Comments