Major waterfalls in Yosemite

jfriend

Had some major fun in Yosemite with two days of photography. Beautiful weather and big water in the falls from the wet and late winter that the sierras had this year (140% of normal snowpack): http://jfriend.smugmug.com/Portfolio/Yosemite-2010/12598726_XUMmE

Thwack

Nice collection in your gallery though I was expecting to see more than just a single waterfall pic in this thread given the title.

Were you using a filter when you were shooting? Perhaps a circular polarizer? I noticed the exposure times on some of the shots in your gallery seem a stop or two longer than I would've expected (comparing against the "Sunny F/16" rule of thumb). Not a complaint, just a question on gear/technique.

Just FYI - the "impromptu waterfall" that's the fourth shot in your gallery is not an impromptu waterfall. That's Cascade Creek and I believe it flows year-round. I can't recall ever seeing it run dry and I know I've shot it while standing in deep snow along the bridge over Cascade Creek.

Just barely uphill from it is Tamarack Creek with a similar view (steep waterfall tumbling down the hill very close to the road). Both falls come in to view just after you exit the first tunnel as you come down Big Oak Road towards the valley floor. It's a great view when both are flowing aggressively (and I don't think Tamarack runs dry either).


Do you have additional pics of Bridalveil Fall taken from Tunnel View after the shot in your gallery that shows the red/orange colors at the base of the fall?

You posted a shot taken 13 minutes earlier that lacks those colors. That tells me you were seeing the beginning of a rainbow in the mist and if you stayed there shooting, the red/orange would've moved up the water column and you would've captured the full color spectrum (and I'd love to see it from that perspective).

I've caught rainbows (and even a double rainbow) at Bridalveil but always from much closer. It would be cool to see the effect from further back.

I was on the valley floor that same day but had to leave before sunset. On our way out, there was a bear-jam by the Crane Flat gas station (pic posted in Wildlife forum here).

It's nice to see somebody else caught the stuff I missed in the valley that day. Looks like you had a great two days there!

Thanks for sharing the shots.

jfriend

I only put one image directly in the thread - all the rest are in the gallery.

Almost every shot was taken with a circular polarizer. Some of the longer exposures to get blurred water were taken with a 3-stop ND too. I realized that I'd really like to have a 6-stop ND too. The CP often makes such a difference on sky and foliage.

I didn't stay long enough at Tunnel View to get more rainbow colors in Bridalviel falls and I honestly didn't now more was coming. I thought about staying at Tunnel View for sunset, but I gather that this time of year Bridalveil falls goes into the shade before sunset so I wasn't sure that would be worth it. I'd love to see a sunrise with some nice clouds from there sometime (and be armed with gradient NDs).

For the first time, I shot an entire day in manual mode. After a couple hours of shooting, I realized that a waterfall in full sun was the same exposure everywhere so I'd figure out what shutter speed at f/8 would give me a full histogram without clipping and just use that exposure for every shot with a waterfall in it. If there was no waterfall in the shot, then slightly more exposure would be perfect for any rock face in full sun. It turned out to be so much easier than seeing what the meter gave me every time and then trying to guess how much EC from there.

I remember doing a calculation in the field on sunny/16 and, after compensating for the effect of the polarizer, it was giving me what I expected. I didn't even really need a meter that day. Sunny/16 and an occasional glance at a histogram. It was a very fun two days of shooting. I learned a ton because I had so much time to practice and try things.

Thwack

Thanks for the quick response. I carry a CP with me as well for most of my lenses (my super-wide 10-24 lens covers such a wide area that its CP only corrects part of the scene - d'oh).

I aso carry a +4ND. I figure the CP give me +2 when fully dialed in so if I add the +4, I get +6. Anything longer than that and I start wondering if the camera fell asleep after I clicked the shutter release.

The only reason I knew a rainbow was coming based on those two shots of Bridalveil Fall from Tunnel View is because I caught one headed top-to-bottom in Upper Yosemite Fall last October (from Sentinel Dome). The last shots from that series have the red/orange/yellow effect you captured was the last of what we saw.

But, since your earlier shot had no hint of fancy light, I figure you caught a rainbow that would've moved bottom-to-top (which I captured happening a month ago at Bridalveil - from the parking lot - and was hoping to see it from much further back).

You covered a lot of the valley in just two days. Well done.

Any plans to go back and hit Glacier Road, Tioga Road, and/or the Wawona area? There's a lot more of cool stuff that's off the valley floor. Last week, the valley floor was very busy but Tioga Road was almost empty — and we had the Soda Springs area all to ourselves.

We had lots of wildlife to shoot since there were no tourists to scare them away. We saw literally three dozen deer, a half dozen marmots, Belding's ground Squirrels, a coyote, a kildeer (the only bird I was able to figure out what it was after shooting it), and lots of others.

Plenty of snow on the peaks for nice backgrounds…

Thwack

If you're uncertain where to try at sunset on a future trip, the Valley View pullout on Northside Dr is usually really good (El Cap, Bridalveil, etc). It's the last pullout before you get to Pohono Bridge (which would take you back across the river towards Fern Spring and Bridalveil, etc).

Any time of year seems to work from that spot though you won't always get the great evening colored light (but when you do, it's really nice).