Sunrise above a fog layer, Sierra Nevada foothills, Thursday morning; focal length was 75mm
As I mentioned in my last post, the fog display on Thursday morning might have been even better than Wednesday morning. It didn’t look very promising at first. There was no fog at our house, and none in Mariposa either, so I knew I had to go lower. Claudia was with me this time, and we decided to take a back road that headed west into the lower foothills. At one point we crested a ridge, and there, below us, was the sea of fog.
Again I was fortunate to find a good viewpoint looking toward the southeast. This time there was a layer of high clouds above the fog, already starting to turn color with the sunrise. Best of all, a double-peaked hill was poking up out of the fog in that direction. The image at the top of this post is an early one from that morning, with a brilliant sunrise above the fog and hills.
After the sun rose, the fog lifted into some nearby ridges, getting high enough to almost – but not quite – obscure that double-peaked hill. Soft backlight filtered through the high clouds, bringing out beautiful textures in the fog (see the two images below).
All the photographs here and in the last post were made with my 70-200mm zoom. In some cases my view was restricted by nearby trees that I wanted to keep out of the frame, and a wider lens would have introduced distracting branches. But mostly I used the telephoto lens because the most interesting areas were small parts of the scenes in front of me, and the long focal lengths allowed me to fill the frame with those pieces.
Telephoto lenses also compress space, which helped create layered patterns out of ridges and bands of fog that were many miles apart. And in some of these images, the longer focal lengths helped to bring in the distant peaks of the southern Sierra, and make them look big enough to become part of the composition and the story.
It was very satisfying to be able to make photographs of something I’d had in mind for 30 years – not once, but twice. And I’m sure I’ll try again if the right conditions return.
— Michael Frye
Foothill ridges rising above the fog with southern Sierra Nevada peaks in the distance, Mariposa County; focal length was 169mm
Hilltops poking through a fog layer, Sierra Nevada foothills; focal length was 183mm
Related Posts: Oceans of Fog: Part One; Oaks in the Mist; “Ordinary” Landscapes
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Michael Frye is a professional photographer specializing in landscapes and nature. He is the author or principal photographer of The Photographer’s Guide to Yosemite, Yosemite Meditations, Yosemite Meditations for Women, Yosemite Meditations for Adventurers, and Digital Landscape Photography: In the Footsteps of Ansel Adams and the Great Masters. He has also written three eBooks: Light & Land: Landscapes in the Digital Darkroom, Exposure for Outdoor Photography, and Landscapes in Lightroom 5: The Essential Step-by-Step Guide. Michael has written numerous magazine articles on the art and technique of photography, and his images have been published in over thirty countries around the world. Michael has lived either in or near Yosemite National Park since 1983, currently residing just outside the park in Mariposa, California.
Nice shots Michael! I was out this morning doing the same thing except in Idaho. Lots of fog. Love taking fog. I really like the first 2 shots the most. I think the first sunrise shot attracts my attention the most. Probably due to the color and composition but I like them all.
Thanks so much Nancy, and I hope you got some good images of the fog in Idaho. Feel free to post a link to them here if anything turned out well.
Beautiful and evocative photographs of the fog! And such a familiar scene to me, having grown up on the Central Coast, in the foothills.
Thanks Chloe! I bet it is a familiar sight to someone from that area.
Two days in a row? How fortunate could one be? The high cloud and low fog certainly made for a spectacular scene.
There isn’t much shooting above the fog here in Illinois. 🙂 but that’s okay, I don’t mind shooting in the fog.
Fortunate indeed. Luck never hurts. 🙂 About the only way to get above the fog in Illinois would from a Chicago skyscraper. Or maybe a plane or drone.
These are even better than the first set. The trees seem to float in the clouds with the fog. Very surreal. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks so much Karl!
Michael, these photographs are spectacular! Nature has lots of beauty to offer, and you capture it very well. mARTin
Thank you Martin!
Michael,
These are all beautiful, well composed images that convey a dream like and serene mood. Your titles are very descriptive but together they could be called “Islands in the Sky”. Hmmm…sounds like an e-book???
Jim
Also sounds like a section of Canyonlands NP. 🙂 Joking aside, thanks Jim, I appreciate that very much!