Panorama from Upper Yosemite Falls...Yosemite Valley & Half Dome

shniks

Hey guys,


So here is the result of my trudging up 4.2 miles (and 3000 feet elevation gain) to the Upper Yosemite Falls, with all the pano gear on my back. I am pleased with this panorama (have a couple more, which will see how they turn out). This panorama was shot around sunset from 'Yosemite Point' which is the highest point at the summit of Upper Yosemite Falls. I was the only person at that point around that time (all the day hikers had left a couple of hours before). Incidentally, I did end up getting lost while coming down and had to sleep on the trail till early morning (as I was running out of water and could not, for the life of me figure out where I had taken a wrong turn). Oh well!!!






Cheers,

Hikin' Mike

...sorry, I shouldn't laugh but when I did the hike in 2001, we met 2 hikers that got lost in a snow storm and had to camp out until morning. If you're interested, I have the pictures and my trail journal on my backpacking site. Most of the photos are before I got "into" photography though.

The Backcountry - Yosemite Falls

Anyway, love the pano....excellent job!

shniks

Hikin' Mike wrote:

...sorry, I shouldn't laugh but when I did the hike in 2001, we met 2 hikers that got lost in a snow storm and had to camp out until morning. If you're interested, I have the pictures and my trail journal on my backpacking site. Most of the photos are before I got "into" photography though.

The Backcountry - Yosemite Falls

Anyway, love the pano....excellent job!

Hey Mike- you will find this funny, but I actually did check out your site a few weeks ago, before I went up there. So you see, you sorta inspired me...

The ironic part is that I make so much fun of others when they get lost on hiking trails- I am like, how did you manage to get lost on one trail? And now my friends can't stop making fun of me. My problem was that when I was around an hour from the bottom (I had passed the base of the Upper Yosemite falls), I noticed that the trail seemed to be going uphill. I thought that something was wrong (even thinking that I might have taken a wrong turn and heading towards El Capitan). Since I only had half a bottle of water, I decided to just stay put in one place till daylight. Of course a half hour into my sitting down (around 11 pm), I looked up and saw a young bear (maybe a year old) staring at me (around 40 feet away). It was at that point, that I became very religious and started to remember all the Gods I could think of. The poor li'l bear cub just ran away when he saw me staring at him!

It was a great experience though, and one that I would LOVE to repeat. That hike is just spectacular.


BTW here is a shot taken at the summit of the falls looking down (before sunset and before I headed off to Yosemite Point to capture the panorama).






Cheers,

Hikin' Mike

Great story!

I'm glad you found my site. I've heard it's very popular amongst the backpacker/hikers.


How many pictures did you do to capture the pano?

I went up to Tioga Road Wednesday and while I was there, I tried a 6-capture pano. Haven't posted it yet.

ront

Both images are beautiful shniks!! Very well done.

Ron

Picture North Carolina

Very nice shot. By "pano gear" are you talking about nodal point stuff?

scole

I like the pano and the view of the valley is fantastic. You really get the sense of standing there.

The only thing that pokes at me is the "fisheye" bulging of the horizon right of Half Dome. Probably an optical illusion and nothing you can do about it but it does draw my eye towards it.

Awais Yaqub

Stunning Job on both

CWSkopec

Simply AWESOME shots, Nikhil!!!

I would say the shots alone would make having to camp out on the trail was worth it, but getting the chance to see the bear cub up close (and not have any trouble from it) is jealousy-inspiring!!!!

shniks

Canned Grins wrote:

Very nice shot. By "pano gear" are you talking about nodal point stuff?

Yeah I meant the entire rig for aligning the nodal point (entrance pupil) correctly. I used the multi-row pano rig so that I could aim the camera down and stitch it easily (without having to crop too much).


Cheers,

bryanj87

Wow, excellent job. The detail is amazing.

dlplumer

Wow, you must have been seriously scared. I've been lost and I know how frightening it can be. Glad you are OK, and man that Pano is awesome. The things we photogs will do to get a good photo.

Dan

coscorrosa

Not sure what I like better, the story, or the photo!

You are now officially a hard-core photographer, congratulations!

shniks

Thanks guys...

coscorrosa wrote:

Not sure what I like better, the story, or the photo!

You are now officially a hard-core photographer, congratulations![/q]


Yep Ron- it would seem that I am now a member of this elite club of masochists!!!


Cheers,

schmoo

Thanks for the story! You seem remarkably calm about it, but I suppose that you're back now (obviously) and I'm glad we didn't lose you to a hungry Yosemite bear. Oh, and wonderful view from the top!

Tango

ive had to backtrack more than once.....

love your pano!

Cuong

:jawdrop

Cuong

ridgemac

I missed these high spots when I was there!

shniks wrote:

Hey guys,


So here is the result of my trudging up 4.2 miles (and 3000 feet elevation gain) to the Upper Yosemite Falls, with all the pano gear on my back. I am pleased with this panorama (have a couple more, which will see how they turn out). This panorama was shot around sunset from 'Yosemite Point' which is the highest point at the summit of Upper Yosemite Falls. I was the only person at that point around that time (all the day hikers had left a couple of hours before). Incidentally, I did end up getting lost while coming down and had to sleep on the trail till early morning (as I was running out of water and could not, for the life of me figure out where I had taken a wrong turn). Oh well!!!






Cheers,

This is a great shot! I was there in late May but was unable to do any hiking to see this beauty.
Thanks for sharing!
Larry
http://www.ridgemac.smugmug.com/gallery/8070402_KbBLi#545623413_dagFY

thapamd

Super colors and processing, Nikhil! Awesome sharpness and comp too!