Month
March 09
Half Dome
YOSEMITE IN WINTER
Four days of constant rain soaked the Yosemite Valley floor and made for some difficult photographic conditions. There were no "gimmy" images with perfect lighting, puffy clouds, and blue skies. The photographer had to "work" for each image.
My own personal formula for an image requires 1) subject, 2) light, and 3) composition. Yosemite offers no shortage of subjects, but due to very flat lighting conditions in the wet sloppy weather, the photographer has to really work at composition to compensate for the flat lighting.
The image above was highly enhanced in post processing including color saturation, edge sharpening, and a limited amount of HDR simulation.
Most of the images in the series were taken with a full frame 12 megapixel, digital SLR with 24-70 F2.8 zoom lens typically set at F8. I also used a 3 stop soft graduated neutral density filter under an umbrella mounted to a carbon fiber tripod to protect the setup from rain. Very effective.
Additional images of Yosemite in Winter can be viewed here.