Yosemite's Horsetail Fall - a different light show

Thwack

I knew it was a bit late in the "season" for trying to capture the "lava" effect that can happen when the sun hits Yosemite's Horsetail Fall just right. But, it had been raining/snowing most of this week and Thursday was supposed to be clear. I figured that meant there would be water flowing and a chance of catching this rare effect.

I have the GPS coords for the normal photography spot along Southside Drive, but wanted to try a different spot. Late last year, I found a spot along the Merced River where I could get reflections of El Capitan that weren't the normal view that everybody shoots (see this thread for more details on that spot ).

I stopped there just after lunch to verify I could see Horsetail, then wandered around shooting other things. I headed back to my spot about 4:00 pm and had the river's edge all to myself.

A few minutes after I arrived, I noticed a very different light show starting with Horsetail Fall. I watched (and shot and shot) as the effect spread up the waterfall. When the wind picked up, the Fall's mist cloud would spread out and really enhanced the effect.

Ultimately, low clouds blocked the last bit of evening light and I didn't catch the "lava" effect. But I think the show I captured instead was a reasonable alternative:





That's the second waterfall rainbow I've witnessed in the last five months within Yosemite.

shniks

It is definitely a different perspective of the falls and you have captured the light really well. It appears you were north of the falls. Where did you take this from?

Maybe we will both meet up next year to photograph the firefalls again. :-)


Cheers,

CWSkopec

Sweet shot, Thwack!

Bummer you didn't catch the lave effect, but this is a respectable replacement. My lone trip to Yosemite was in September a couple years back and Bridalveil was flowing at about this rate. The wind was spreading it's mist out then and creating a rainbow as well.

Thwack

shniks,

I was west of the usual places for shooting Horsetail Fall. The spot i used was a couple miles beyond Pohono Bridge and appears to be rarely used. I've only seen one other group shooting there and that was last month (looked like they were all together so maybe it's part of a photo class at the park?).

The spot puts you at the base of El Capitan, right up against the river. When the river is flowing slowly, you can get great reflection shots of El Cap and some other (lesser known) features. In the Fall, you can get reflections of autumn color off the water as well.

Here's an El Cap reflection shot taken mid-day (when I stopped at the spot to see its view of Horsetail Fall). This shot is straight out of the camera:






Bring a super-wide lens if you shoot anything other than Horsetail Fall from that spot. With my D90, my Nikkor 10-24 lets me just barely get this sort of shot (also straight out of the camera):





Or like this (edited) shot:



I'd love to try my 10-24 lens on a full-frame body at that spot!

Definitely would be good to try it again next year. I'd love to have some company there (it was lonely having the river all to myself).

Thwack

Chris,

Thanks for the kind words on my shot. Sorry to hear you've only had one trip there (I get grumpy if I've only had one trip this month there).

I've seen pictures of rainbows at Bridalveil but haven't captured a good one myself (yet). I just have to figure out a good time of year (and time of day) to predictably get one.

Since the rainbow effect requires being at the proper angle relative to the sun, I would expect that the Horsetail Fall rainbow I shot is predictable as well. Just need to have water flowing, a bit of wind helps spread the mist, and the sun's angle should be perfect about the same time of year that Horsetail Fall shows the lava effect (which is also about the only time of year there's any water coming over that spot).

I just hope the lava effect isn't like the rainbow effect (and only shows up if you're at the correct angle to the sun). I'm guessing it's not and will try my spot again hopefully next year (if weather, life, etc all cooperate). Maybe we can get some more D'grinners to join us.

CWSkopec

Thwack wrote:

Chris,

Thanks for the kind words on my shot. Sorry to hear you've only had one trip there (I get grumpy if I've only had one trip this month there).

I've seen pictures of rainbows at Bridalveil but haven't captured a good one myself (yet). I just have to figure out a good time of year (and time of day) to predictably get one.

Since the rainbow effect requires being at the proper angle relative to the sun, I would expect that the Horsetail Fall rainbow I shot is predictable as well. Just need to have water flowing, a bit of wind helps spread the mist, and the sun's angle should be perfect about the same time of year that Horsetail Fall shows the lava effect (which is also about the only time of year there's any water coming over that spot).

I just hope the lava effect isn't like the rainbow effect (and only shows up if you're at the correct angle to the sun). I'm guessing it's not and will try my spot again hopefully next year (if weather, life, etc all cooperate). Maybe we can get some more D'grinners to join us.

I know, I know I need to get back there... My gal is from up that way and keeps talking about moving closer to home. Being closer to Yosemite is a major reason why I haven't opposed a potential move!

Here's a link to the Bridalveil rainbows I caught (there's 2 or three near the end of the gallery as well). Water was running pretty low and the wind misted it up just right. EXIF says they were taken on September 9th around 4:45pm. All were taken from the parking lot, hence the trees in the frame.

I'm sure with similar conditions you could find rainbows in the falls from a better spot but once I got up the trail as was looking at the falls pretty much straight on, there was nothing.

I need to get up there again and try for some "lava" shots... if there's a D'grinner gathering for it next year, I'll do my best to make it there!

Thwack

Chris,

Great shots from your Yosemite visit! I have several shots of Bridalveil taken from the parking lot. One shows a VERY faint rainbow (too faint to claim credit for). Yours are much nicer.

I'll have to see if I can repeat your success by using roughly the same date/time later this year (assuming I can get out there about then). Being able to at least roughly predict that effect would be very handy.