The first night in the park was spent driving from Mono Lake over the Tioga Pass. it had been a long day and we were road weary...we knew it was very clear out, we could see the stars through the tree tops as we drove...but our eyes had adjusted to the beam of the headlights and we didn't realize just how clear the night sky was, and we couldn't really see much to the side of the car, it was so incredibly dark out...so when all of a sudden we saw the sign for Tunnel View, I made the quick call to stop and see what we could see. Very glad we did, it was the only clear night on the trip, the only night this shot would have been possible. Being just a few days ahead of the Full Moon was great, the moon provided the ambient light in the valley, El Capitan was lit up perfectly, add the twinkling of the crazy climbers on the face and it was just a cool experience.
Thanks for looking, any comments or crits are more than welcome, and much appreciated.
Love it. A night landscape lit by a near full moon is great, I far prefer this to MW shots with artificially lit foregrounds. Good job on everything.
I did Tioga last year 40 years after the previous visit. What a surprise. 40 years ago it had places that were only 2 narrow lanes wide hanging on the side of a sheer cliff. Now it is a wide highway.
I also saw lights on the side of the Watchman in Zion, those guys are crazy.
ben egbert wrote:
Love it. A night landscape lit by a near full moon is great, I far prefer this to MW shots with artificially lit foregrounds. Good job on everything.
I did Tioga last year 40 years after the previous visit. What a surprise. 40 years ago it had places that were only 2 narrow lanes wide hanging on the side of a sheer cliff. Now it is a wide highway.
I also saw lights on the side of the Watchman in Zion, those guys are crazy.
Thanks for the feedback Ben. I am with you, I much prefer the illumination of the full moon...I actually had to darken the left side a bit, it was too bright for my tastes. I had a full moon for my trip to Arches a couple years ago...and I like what it does for night shooting...
Yes, those guys are crazy climbing these huge faces...never in a million years would I sleep on that face.
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Hathaway wrote:
Very nice. Looks like you might have caught a shooting star (or a plane) in the far distance to the left of half dome.
Thank you. I am pretty sure it was a shooting star, at that exposure time, the other images I have when there were planes they covered a lot more distance over the exposure time. At least that was my thought process...and a little bit of the thought behind the title...combined with it being a line from one of my daughter's favorite bedtime books!
A very nice shot here and a good call to stop at Tunnel View. It doesn't matter that I have been to Yosemite 100's of times, I almost always stop at Tunnel View just to take in that grand view from there.
A very nice shot here and a good call to stop at Tunnel View. It doesn't matter that I have been to Yosemite 100's of times, I almost always stop at Tunnel View just to take in that grand view from there.
Good work on this.
Jim
Thanks for taking a look and commenting Jim, glad you like it...and yeah, you just can't get enough of that view, it really is pretty dang amazing. We stopped 4 or 5 times in our 3 days in the park.
What a great scene Travis.
The sky and foreground look great. Is this one shot? I'd be tempted to shoot the land at a lower iso if it is not windy and combine the two.
dgdg wrote:
What a great scene Travis.
The sky and foreground look great. Is this one shot? I'd be tempted to shoot the land at a lower iso if it is not windy and combine the two.
David
Hi David, thanks for the comments...this is actually a panorama, the original was 6 images vertical at 17mm, after cropping its probably 5, with healthy overlap on each frame. I should have thought to do that, but it would have resulted in a much longer time standing in the cold...and selfishly...we were tired and really ready for a glass of bourbon!
OregonSun wrote:
Excellent night scene. Great job keeping it realistic.
Heron
Thank you, I wanted to keep it realistic, with the deep shadows on the dark side of the valley. Glad it presents that way.
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Chris Moy wrote:
Beautiful shot Travis!
Thanks Chris!
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Ipanematom wrote:
Beautifully captured night scene!
Thank you very much...I have not been doing night work for very long, its a whole lot different and has its own challenges.
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lighthound wrote:
Gorgeous image Travis! +1 @ keeping it real. It almost feels like I'm standing there.
Super nice!
Dave
Thanks Dave...that is a great compliment, thank you...to immerse the viewer in the scene is really the goal isn't it! Thank you sir.
Travis Rhoads wrote:
Hi David, thanks for the comments...this is actually a panorama, the original was 6 images vertical at 17mm, after cropping its probably 5, with healthy overlap on each frame. I should have thought to do that, but it would have resulted in a much longer time standing in the cold...and selfishly...we were tired and really ready for a glass of bourbon!
