Winter

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Yosemite Falls in Winter

There is a good chance now no more snow will fall in Yosemite Valley until next year so I thought I would add one more valley snow photograph to the blog.

The snow stopped falling when I took this photograph but photographing under trees had another challenge with large drops of water rolling off the pine branches. This was handled by a large umbrella held in my left hand while working the camera functions with my right hand. A third hand or assistant would of been appreciated at this point though. Of course to get this whole shot in one frame I had to tilt the camera up to include both the upper and lower falls. In the original photographic the pine trees on either side of the frame were bowing inwards at the top so I corrected the perspective as best I could and I think the photograph turned out well with this correction. I used a slow shutter speed to make sure the falls are flowing instead of using a fast shutter speed to freeze the water action. I believe the mist from the falls were making their own snow which veiled the falls giving depth to the photograph. This photograph almost looks like a hand colored black and white photograph from early last century, at least to me.

I enjoyed my first trip to Yosemite when a snow storm was raging and plan to do it again next year. I have purchased a few items that I should have been carrying for this past trip, personal items that would have helped me deal with the snow. I will be reviewing these items in another post next fall when I prepare for another trek to Yosemite in the snow.

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright Ben Gundy (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 Ben Gundy.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II

Canon EF24-105mm L lens at 47mm

ISO 200, 1/6 sec at f/16

admin :: Mar.30.2011 :: Winter, Yosemite :: 2 Comments »

Yosemite Chapel in Winter

Technically it is still winter here in California and I thought I better post a winter photograph because spring will be here in less than a week. This image or one like it will be my holiday card this year come December. Basically, this was my major purpose in going to Yosemite in a raging snow storm.

I arrived in Yosemite the afternoon of the 16th, made one circle through the valley then went directly to the chapel. It was snowing heavily with a mildly strong wind turning the snowflakes into small BB’s that stung bare skin. There were three of us photographers at the chapel surveying where to stick our tripods. One interesting point about this snowstorm is that the storm deposited enough snow around the chapel to hide all the footprints except those, in the image, leading into the chapel. We all found our tripod holes and shot our images. It was a good shoot holding an umbrella over my camera and head to keep the snow out. A valley tour bus then came by and that was that. I came back the next day after the snow storm and there were footprints all over the snow and around the chapel so I went to the other iconic spots in the valley to see what they looked like with a dusting of snow.

I learned a few things on this trip, one was to get some gators for my lower legs, buy some tire chains for my boots, I fell down twice, and to do it again next year. The umbrella worked fine from keeping the snow off my head and camera, don’t know if I need to change that. I went to REI when I got back so now I am ready for next year in Yosemite in the snow.

You can see a few more winter images of Yosemite in my gallery.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II

Canon EF24-105mm L IS lens at 65mm

ISO 200, 1/60 at f/8