Shadows and Light
I was exiting Yosemite Valley, when I noticed this stream and the sun hitting the rock in the background. It made for a pretty scene. ...
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I was exiting Yosemite Valley, when I noticed this stream and the sun hitting the rock in the background. It made for a pretty scene.
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May, 2015Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
I spent the day looking for photo opportunities in Yosemite National Park in April of 2015. As I was leaving the park, I caught this scene out the driver side of my car and had to stop to see what I could get.Time
The sun was pretty low and I believe it was about 5:30pm. The sunlight reflecting off of the rock face and the shadows created by the trees is what really grabbed my attention. As a primary landscape photography hobbyist, I find I am always searching for the magical sunset. There had been storm clouds in the valley for most of the day and this was pretty much the first break in the clouds.Lighting
The funny part about this shot is I was having extreme difficulties with lens this day. All of my shots were overexposing on my Nikon 17-35mm. It wasn't until later I realized the blades in the lens were not closing all the way. To compensate, I had to adjust to 4000/sec on the shutter speed just to get the shot.Equipment
My equipment is a Nikon d750 and various lenses. I love my 17-35mm and I also have the 24-70mm Nikon lens. I prefer to use the Sirui K-40X 54mm Ballhead with Quick Release for my tripod, which is the Induro Alloy 8M AT413. It is a really heavy combination, but I like the sturdiness of the setup.Inspiration
The only real inspiration I had for this shot was it was the end of the day and most of my shots were shot with a real drab gray background, due to the storm clouds that hung around throughout the day. When I caught this scene out of the corner of my eye, I just had to stop and see what I could get.Editing
My post processing was done with Lightroom and Photoshop CC. I am, in reality, a novice when it comes to post processing. I pretty much stick to the basics. I don't know how to use luminosity masks or anything like that. I wish I did, but work and life get in the way sometimes. I make my adjustments in Lightroom and then export to Photoshop for fine tuning and then back to Lightroom once more to finalize. It is probably a process that could have steps removed, but it's what I have taught myself to do, so I stick with it. Its really just about adjusting the slider bars in these two programs.In my camera bag
I always carry my bag with me, whenever I travel. My bag consists of my D750, my 17-35mm lens, my 24-70mm lens, and my nifty 50. That is about it really. I can pretty much capture everything I am looking for with that setup. I do have a 100mm macro lens made by Tokina, but I don't carry that one as much.Feedback
The Yosemite valley is a photographers playground. If you have never been, I would recommend adding this to your bucket list. Beautiful scenes are pretty much everywhere. As a photographer, you'd be hard pressed not to find something of interest. My one piece of advice would be to make sure your there more than one day or you may feel rushed and won't be able to capture all the Yosemite Valley has to offer. Happy shooting.
