I’ve been concerned that my traditional fall images are becoming monotonous. This year I decided to experiment with new (to me) photographic techniques. Yet, concerned that my venture into a new realm might fail, I still made sure that I captured plenty of “standard” fall images. So before I reveal the results of my photographic experimentation, I’ll share plenty of the old standby type fall images.
Stay tuned for more fall images from my first 2024 walk in an Indiana forest,
Ken
As has become a tradition with my wife and I over the past few years, we spend some time in Indiana in the fall, staying in a cabin just a little outside of Brown County State Park, Indiana’s largest state park and one that has beautiful trees and attracts many visitors during the leaf peeping season.
This year the fall color was sketchy, slowly developing and never fully developed due to warmer weather and drought. As a result, we stayed a week longer than we normally would this year and even in early November, the fall color never quite achieved its normal full blown coverage, which is not to say that the fall was not beautiful and enjoyable, just not as good as previous years.
A couple of days after we arrived in Indiana, there was a full moon. So even though the fall color was just beginning to show in most trees, I went into Brown County State Park to shoot the moon rise over Ogle Lake. I arrived early to pick a location from which to shoot the moon rise. I have a couple of apps on my iPhone, which I use for determining where the sun and moon rise and set. I used one of those to determine a good shooting location, yet there is always some uncertainty in determining where exactly those events might first show up on the local horizon. After walking around a bit I picked a couple of spots that I thought would work well, then I retrieved my camera and tripod from my vehicle and went to my first choice, which was atop a concrete cover of an overflow drain for the lake, only to discover that a late day fisherwoman had taken that spot for some late day fishing. I had noted a number of fishermen along the north bank, which has a number of clear areas that seem popular with fishermen. I then proceeded to my second choice along the south bank at the end of the dam and set up there.
I made a number of shots from that location, while I waited for the moonrise. The lake surface had been rippled by wind, when I first arrived, but became very smooth and mirror like, when the wind abated.
Readers will note that the first two images in this post are the exact same composition. Yet the images are very different due to the clouds moving overhead.
While I waited, I kept an eye on my first chosen location, which had a good view right down the middle of the lake, hoping that the fisherwoman might abandon that location, which she did. I then went back to that location, making a few images there as I waited for the moonrise.
If viewers look closely, fishermen can be seen along the bank on the left of each of these images.
This lake is popular with visitors and more showed up as I waited. A few inquired what I was shooting and noted my wide angle lens, which I had chosen to capture the scene. I knew the wide angle lens would make the moon look small and I had some reservations about that. I had my 24-70mm and 80-400mm in my vehicle, which I thought about retrieving so that I could zoom in on the moon, when it came up, but I decided to stick with the wide angle to include more of the lake and forest in my images.
A local photographer with young clients came along, shooting her clients from the top of the dam with the lake and forest as background. I’m guessing she might have been doing engagement photos or some such social images. As she wrapped up her shooting, she asked me what I was shooting. She had not been aware of the expected full moon this evening. We talked for awhile and she mentioned how much she liked shooting at Yellowwood Lake in Yellowwood State Forest, which is not far away. I have shot there a couple of times, during past visits to this area. In fact, I had encountered a female photographer shooting a young couple there the first time I visited that area. I think the photographer I encountered this evening is the same that I encountered a few years ago at Yellowwood Lake, although I did not mention that to her. Small world.
Some of the passerby’s on the dam that I had chatted with, returned to say that the full moon was visible from the location, where I had first set up. I abandoned my first choice and hastened back to my second choice, where the full moon was already visible.
I made the image above from the dam, just above where I first had set up at the lake edge. I wanted to get some of the vegetation along the lake edge as foreground, before going down to the lake edge.
This final image is from the south lake edge just below the dam. Of course, I made numerous other images, but these are representative of those.
I am a little disappointed that I did not have my 24-70mm with me, so that I could change lenses and get a closer shot of the moon, but at the time, I thought that I would return again the next evening to shoot the moon rise again. Something prevented my going out that next evening. Lesson learned, take advantage of shooting opportunities, whenever possible.
More fall photos coming up,
Ken
Finally, spotting what I knew had to be the Bonsai Rocks, I worked my way down and along trails to get closer.
These boulders in the edge of Lake Tahoe are obviously a popular destination for kayakers.
If there had not been so many people climbing on and around these rocks, I might have gone down closer to the lake shore and spent more time photographing here, even though the light was harsh for getting the best images.
There were other beach areas that I wanted to visit, but this area in the summer months is much too crowded, and with numerous road construction projects along the route around the lake, getting around was slow and difficult, so I decided now was not a good time to try to get into those areas.
After lunch in North Lake Tahoe, we visited some local shops, where I chatted with a local photographer, who had many beautiful photos of this area and many of Bonsai Rocks at sunset and sunrise. He said he did not go to Bonsai Rocks in the summer, because there were always too many tourist around.
Here is a link to that photographer’s webpage, where one can see the photographic possibilities in this area: Bill Stevenson.
This wraps up photography from our August road trip.
Thanks for following,
Ken
From Yosemite we traveled to South Lake Tahoe, where we stayed for a couple of nights before hitting the road for the long drive back home. The drive to Lake Tahoe was a scenic one with the first part a long drive through the western portion of Yosemite that we had not yet seen; although, that portion of Yosemite is not nearly as scenic as the eastern portion.
My GPS changed our route after we exited the park, supposedly due to a road closure on the original route. Maybe this was a good change, since I had seen portions of the original route during a visit to that area earlier in the year. So I got to see some backroad areas that I would not have seen, otherwise and a long portion of the drive, coming down from a higher elevation, was on a steep, curvy road where the road was visible for a good distance ahead and the steep hills with the roadway winding through was a scenic, if slow drive.
I had done a little online research of the Lake Tahoe area and had a few places in mind for photography. My first plan was to photograph sunrise at a site referred to as “Bonsai Rocks”, because of the little trees growing on big boulders in the edge of Lake Tahoe. I only had indications on a map of where these rocks were located and some descriptions of where to park and follow a trail to the “beach”. So I got up early in the morning intent on going out to find these big rocks with the little trees. But I suddenly realized that I would be wandering around in the dark trying to find a place that I was not sure how to find and I decided that might not be the safest thing to do, so I went back to bed.
After breakfast, my wife and I headed out to drive around Lake Tahoe and I planned to find those rocks along the way. I used my GPS directions on my phone to navigate to the place marked as “Bonsai Rocks”, finding that the destination was a pullout along the highway that skirted around the lake. I had visualized the roadway being adjacent to a beach area, where one could see those rocks from the roadway. That is not what I found. There was no sign at the pull out designating it as an access point for Bonsai Rocks, although I saw numerous trails going down the steep bank of the lake. So I grabbed my camera and began working my way down one of the trails. There were crisscrossing trails going down towards the lake, but no markings. Maybe these trails have been created over the years by people like me wandering around in this area trying to find those Bonsai Rocks. Not only were the Bonsai Rocks not visible from the roadway, they were mostly not visible from the trails, until one lucked upon the correct one and got close to the lake. I initially went the wrong way, finding some big boulders in the edge of the lake, but not the ones I was looking for. So I kept exploring the trails until I spotted the Bonsai Rocks.
All this wandering around these trails in the daylight made me realize I made the right decision not to try this in the dark. Had I had time to scout the area first, I could have marked a trail digitally and followed that digital route or I could have probably had enough early morning pre-sunrise light to navigate by, if I had known where to go.
Not sure that I would actually find the Bonsai Rocks, I made photos of the lake, whenever I could do so along the maze of trails. I even came upon a young couple preparing to swim or sun on some of the near shore boulders and they could not tell me where the Bonsai Rocks were located.
Finally, after much wandering around and working my way northward, I spotted the Bonsai Rocks, which were covered by people, as I had expected from seeing so many kayakers and boaters on the lake.
To be continued,
Ken
This post will wrap up my photography in Yosemite National Park, shooting the sunset golden hour at Yosemite Valley along the Merced River.
I shot as the shadows creeped upward on the rock formations, pushing away the golden sunset light, so there are subtle differences between some of these images.
The final image is near the very end of golden sunset hour, looking up river.
This wraps up my time in Yosemite. Until next time,
Ken
While waiting for sunset golden hour at the edge of the Merced River at Yosemite Valley, I continued to make a few iPhone images of the scene in front of me, experimenting with compositional variations.
When the scenery is so marvelous, it is difficult to be satisfied with just a few image variations.
Bridal Veil Falls is visible in the distance across the river from this location and is seen in many of my compositions here, but usually as a small part of the image. I zoomed in to get this shot.
Looking ahead to the next post with these last two images, after shooting the golden hour with my DSLR, I made a few images with my iPhone as the golden hour ended.
Stay tuned for my final shoot in Yosemite,
Ken
For my final evening shoot in Yosemite, I decided to check out locations in the valley, finally choosing the Yosemite Valley View Point.
I arrived early to be sure I could find a place to park in the small pull out and walked around the area with my iPhone scouting shooting locations before I retrieved my tripod and DSLR from my vehicle.
I also experimented with test compositions, using my iPhone camera to do so.
I finally picked a place at the very edge of the Merced River at the parking lot. I would have like to have shot from farther done the river, but there were people sitting where they would be in most of my shots and lots of visitors wandering around that area, too. So I figured shooting across the river and back up the river from the parking lot area would avoid most such disturbances.
I set my tripod legs on rocks in the edge of the river and I had a rock to sit on while I waited for golden hour. While I waited, I made more images with my iPhone and a few test compositions with my DSLR.
More later,
Ken
After a sunrise shoot at Tunnel View, I stopped at the parking area for Bridal Veil Falls. The falls can be seen from the parking lot and there is a short trail that gets one much nearer the falls. The trail is easy, but is slightly uphill most of the way, so it does take a little effort to hike.
I switched back to my 24-70mm lens before hiking the trail, but soon realized that the 80-400mm lens would have allowed me to capture close up images of details in the tall, slender waterfall.
The image above gives an idea of how far away the end of the trail viewing area is from the falls. This view covers the entirety of the falls from top to the bottom most part that I could see, including small portions in the bottom left, but excluding the sky to avoid exposure difficulties. I could have gotten a little closer, as a few people do, by climbing beyond the viewing area border, but I elected not to do so. One can easily see how a big lens would be useful for isolating smaller portions of this waterfall.
This long, slender waterfall does not fall straight down, but swings back and forth across the rock face. Maybe with a heavier water flow it might fall in a more linear fashion, but this meandering path creates more interesting features and that “veil” appearance.
This wider angle view gives a better indication of the local environment.
If I had brought my big lens, I would have zoomed into features such as the ledge in the bottom portion of the image above.
Some of the close up look images are extracted from wider angle ones by cropping the images, which I’m sure readers have realized.
That’s more than enough for now. Thanks for following,
Ken
My online research suggested that Tunnel View at sunrise was a favorite Yosemite NP location for many photographers. I had not been happy with my evening photography at Tunnel View, so I decided to try again at sunrise.
I knew that this would require photographing directly into the rising sun and would be a challenge for getting a good exposure and timing would be critical for catching the first glimpse of the sun as it rose over the horizon.
The evening prior, I had shot with a 24-70mm lens, which did not let me acquire much detail of the distant rock features. So I opted to use my 80-400mm lens with a 1.4x extension at sunrise.
The sky was totally clear this morning, which was a disappointment, since the sky would be bland and uninteresting. Largely due to that bland sky, I converted the only reasonably good images I got this morning to monochrome.
I say pre-sunrise, only because the sun had not shown itself above the horizon that I see, but it is obviously already above the horizon behind this view.
The shadows in the sky cast by some of these rock features was a pleasant surprise and add interest to that bland sky. I especially like that dark streak radiating from the peak of Half Dome.
The sun rose at the right edge of Half Dome and this is the best image that I captured. I could have used software to enhance the sun’s starburst and brought up the shadows a bit more, but I like this more natural look, except for the bright halo behind the sun, which is a highlight that I could not avoid.
Until next time,
Ken
After spending a few days in San Jose, California where we enjoyed their annual Jazz Festival and visiting with our son and daughter in law, we traveled to Yosemite NP, staying in lodging just outside the park.
Getting into the park during peak hours of the peak season requires a permit. Fortunately, I was able to secure a permit good for three days, so we were able to drive into the park during the daily peak visiting hours and when going into the park for sunrise or sunset photos, I entered before or after peak hours, so I did not have to wait in line or stop at the entrance station.
Our lodging was not far from Tunnel View, which I had been informed was one of the best locations for photography, so I chose that site as my first sunset shoot. Even though we had driven around main portions of the park, after checking into our lodging, I had not scouted Tunnel View. So I really had no idea what to expect at that location.
As I was driving the route to Tunnel View, I noted that the big rock features along my route were getting some really good late day light, which made me think this would be a good photography outing and I was noting other possible locations for shooting at sunset.
There are two parking areas at Tunnel View, where there were many people, but I had no problem finding a place to park at this late hour of the day. After looking around, it appeared the best place from which to shoot was atop the stone wall bordering the parking lot in which I had chosen to pull into.
I made a number of iPhone images well before sunset and converted these to monochrome, since the color images were not all that interesting. The big feature on the left is El Capitan and in the distance, left of center, is Half Dome.
When golden hour arrived, it was obvious that due to the tall rocks behind me, most of the big rock features of Tunnel View would be in shade.
I cropped in more closely for Tunnel View 2, trying to emphasize more of the golden hour light that only appeared on the very tops a few features here.
The image above is a focus stack of several images shot with a 24-70mm lens.
There were clouds in the sky, which got some sunset color, but even that was not spectacular and faded quickly.
I waited and watched the clouds as the sunset progressed, hopping for at least some last minute spectacular colors, but that never happened.
This is a wonderful natural scene, but I came away disappointed in my photography experience today. Maybe I was not creative enough, or picked a poor place from which to shoot or maybe I was here at the wrong time, not in the best season, or I should have captured more images prior to golden hour. Whatever…, I do not think I captured this scene very well today.
Thanks for following,
Ken
