Yosemite Valley, Yosemite National Park ... On Clear Days with Frontal or Sidelighting ... Photography is About Form ... NOT Color.
I recently spent about three hours in Yosemite Valley (Yosemite National Park) in Central California. The weather was perfect ... possibly the worst conditions for photographing Yosemite Valley! Really.
While geologically phenomenal, Yosemite Valley is relatively uninteresting with regard to color. In the absence of meteorological phenomena like sunrises and sunsets, passing storms or dramatic cloud formations, photographing this valley is about form - not color . Consequently, in the short time I had for pictures, I looked for compositions that would best exploit the raking light (see below) available to me. As always, I shot in color, knowing I'd be converting most if not all my images to black and white ... this gives a greater tonal range.
Here's a breakdown of categories of light found in nature (as it applies to photography).
The light of Nature ... "Natural Light," can be categorized as the following with regard to photographic opportunities;
1) Overcast ... Soft
2) Frontal ... Hard, with the sun at your back and directly on your subject
3) Sidelight/Raking Light ... Originating from the right or left creating shadow on one side of a subject, highlight on the opposite; high contrast situations
4) Backlighting ... The sun is behind the subject, high contrast, works well for translucent objects like deciduous leaves ... giving a glowing, "stained glass" effect
A. Mac
(Happy New Year).
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Lower Falls, Yosemite Valley. This one was really a problem ... the falls had very little water and could not provide the interest it otherwise would as winter snow melts. It was therefore about FORM, and that too was problematic in the waning light of day. I took a number of shots of this composition ... changing the metering ... matrix>center weighted>spot, and, exposure compensation ... -1/3, 2/3 ... this was the best of the group. By exposing on the lightest areas, I consequently deepened the shadows. I metered, held the shutter release half way down to preserve the setting, recomposed and took the shots. Most of the images were less than adequate (IMO) ... doesn't matter ... I only needed one success to make the shoot appear completely successful. I'm not too proud to share that.
The late afternoon light was clear but uninteresting and a slight mist in the valley wasn't enough to yield effective fog images. So, I positioned myself in a shaded grove, found some interesting tree skeletons and metered on the bright mountainside. This made the tree silhouettes stand in rich silhouette out and added an element of contrast and depth (overlapping planes). Had I included just the mountainside, the image would have appeared flat and uninteresting.
El Capitan ... a most famous icon of the American landscape. The sky was a deep blue but cloudless. In converting to black and white, I did what I think Ansel Adams would have done ... darkened the sky for dramatic effect.
4) Once again, shooting from a shaded grove of trees while metering on the brightly illuminated El Capitan, gave me a way to create drama and emphasize form through contrast.
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I have posted two shots to start ... because I'm including detailed captions, I think it best to go slowly ... more later.
Mike,
Ansel Adams indeed mastered Yosemite Valley ... and everywhere else he took photos! It was a thrill standing in places Adams stood and taking shots of the same subjects.
I'll post more of Yosemite Valley later today.
Mac,
Your B&Ws are very dramatic. Those cliffs are very majestic. I didn't know thatYosemite was pretty void of color. It makes me wonder if Adams had color, would he still had made the same choice to shoot in B&W?
Good question Perrie,
Adams manipulated his negatives in the traditional/chemical darkroom; I speculate that in pre-visualizing his finished images, he considered form, light, highlight and contrast more than anything else.
Image of El Capitan ... shot from the same position (by Ansel Adams) as the image Mike posted earlier.
Your photos are very well done, Mac. I like vintage-style black-white landscape photos.Yours would definitely qualify. Seems that bl-whphotosadds specific qualitiesthat are not found in color photos.
Yosemite always makes me think of John Muir. Have always wanted to ride horseback though theJohn Muir trail which is roughly 210 miles.While the following photograph of Yosemite might lack in quality, I do likethe quote from John Muir, I think you will agree:
(circa 1899)A panorama ofCaliforniasYosemite National Park, established in 1890. Naturalist John Muir led the crusade to establish the park. No temple made with human hands can compare with Yosemite, he wrote. [Library of Congress]
And ...
"Nature is the art of God." (Sir Thomas Browne)
Please check back ... I'll be adding shots ... there are 4 as of this comment.
Also ... click on the image to see it by itself.
Great shots A.M.and the B & W captures the majesty wonderfully!
"Nature is the art of God."
Yes, it most certainly is.
Startling contrast ....
Love everything aboutthepanoramic Yosemite photo above.
Ansel Adams was a remarkable photographer, especially considering howlittle was known of photography at the time.So glad we get to enjoy hislife work to this day.
Sometimes I wonder if the photographs of today will be around 100 - 200 years from now.
The rock formations in1 represents well the violent nature in the formation of the park.
Wow, the third, is gorgeous! Told you I loved Ansell Adams! One would swear that was his work.
Wonderful