Sunset clouds reflected in an alpine tarn, Saturday evening. This was a spectacular sunset that seemed to last forever. Believe it or not I actually toned down the pink color – it was pretty intense.
My Hidden Yosemite workshop with The Ansel Adams Gallery ended Sunday evening, and since then I’ve been catching up on work – and sleep! The days are long this time of year, which meant early starts and late evenings during the workshop, but it was all worth it, and we had a wonderful time.
We saw lots of clouds, both before, during, and after the workshop, which made the photography more interesting – though we also had to dodge some rain at times. Just part of the adventure. 🙂 There has actually been a lot of rain in the high country this summer, which has kept the creeks flowing, and the small ponds and tarns full. In many years these ponds would be drying out and showing unattractive bathtub rings by this point in the season, but this year they’re still full and photogenic. We took advantage of this Saturday evening when photographing a spectacular sunset in an alpine basin. Winds made a nearby lake rough and choppy, but we found a smaller pond that was calmer, and provided great reflections of the colorful clouds. I put one of these sunset images at the top of this post; you’ll find more photographs from the workshop below, and that’s just a sampling, so I’m sure I’ll post more soon.
— Michael Frye
Sunset clouds reflected in a pond, Tuolumne Meadows, Wednesday evening – a nice way to end our first day.
Sunlight on Lembert Dome, with Mt. Dana in the background, Tuolumne Meadows, Thursday afternoon. An intense thunderstorm forced us to change plans, so we headed to Tuolumne Meadows where we could look back at the storm to the east.
Mt. Conness, Polly Dome, Pywiack Dome, and Tenaya Lake from Olmsted Point, Thursday afternoon. After heading further west to we found some nice light at Olmsted Point.
Creek cascading through a granite bowl, Friday afternoon.
Peaks, clouds, and an alpine tarn, Saturday evening; the beginning of a great sunset.
Sunset at a small alpine tarn, Saturday evening. As the sunset reached its peak color I captured a five-frame panorama, stitched together with the new Panorama Merge in Lightroom 6.
Negit Island at sunrise, Mono Lake, Sunday morning. A 20-second exposure blurred and smoothed the water.
Related Posts: High Mountain Sanctuary; Photography Weather
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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.
Fantastic Michael! I really love the panorama shot. Are you happy with how Lightroom stitches them vs any other program?
Thanks John! Yes, I’m happy with Lightroom’s stitching ability. It seems to work better than Photoshop’s panorama merge (or at least previous versions of it; I haven’t tried it since Lightroom 6 came out) – less prone to weird distortions, errors, obvious seams, etc. Lightroom’s panorama merge has worked flawlessly for me every time so far. The only issue is when trying to stitch images with moving water, where you might see a seam, but that’s a problem inherent to any stitching process, because ripples in water aren’t going to line up from one frame to the next. The best thing about the Lightroom panorama merge is that it outputs a DNG Raw file, so everything remains completely editable and flexible. I find myself doing more panoramas now, because stitching them has become so easy.
Thanks Michael. That sounds great. I’ll have to look for more pano opportunities. In the past I pretty much ignored them.
Oh crap Michael! Now I’m really jealous. Haha!
I’m sorry that I couldn’t attend your workshop. Just makes me want to make sure that I will attend your next one with an available opening. I recently bought your book of “The Photographer’s Guide to Yosemite”, now I can dream about it and drool.
Seriously, glad you guys had a good time, and were able to get some awesome photos. Hope you can post some of the images from the students.
Thanks for posting, love you read your blog.
Bill
Thanks Bill! Hope to see you in a workshop soon.
Just whets the appetite for that photographic trip of a lifetime to Yosemite, the planning for which is now well underway for September/October 2016. Hope to be in and around the park for 3-4 weeks. Just me and the camera.
Where I live (Scotland) is beautiful, but this is a new and different grandeur.
Have absorbed ‘The Photographer’s Guide …’ and going back to it just to raise the anticipation levels.
Glad you’re making the trip Donald – hope it’s a great one!
You indeed captured how it looked and felt in these photos. Thank you for a wonderful workshop!
Thanks Nestor, and thanks for joining us in the workshop – it was great to have you with us!