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.
I had a limited time in Sedona and I had never been here previously, so I figured it best to visit the “easy” photographic targets, which were also popular ones.
I had visited the Bell Rock area on my first outing. Today, I planned an early morning shoot at Cathedral Rock. “Planned” is used very loosely. I had not scouted here, other than to drive through the parking lot one day. So I knew how to find the parking lot, but I had no idea about what was involved in hiking the trail nor did I have a scouted location from which to shoot.
There was only one other vehicle in the Cathedral Rock Trail parking lot, when I arrived in early morning dark. I could see lights on the slope at the base of the rock feature, so I figured there were early morning hikers out or maybe even one or more early morning photographers.
I had a quick snack, finished the cup of coffee I had brought from the motel, gathered my camera, tripod, headlamp and began walking through the parking lot, looking for the trailhead. In the dark, I walked past the trailhead, went into an adjacent parking area, where I encountered a small group of young people getting out of their vehicles. They greeted me in a friendly manner and I asked about the trailhead. They told me that I had just walked past it and where to find it. They also said I could follow them as they were headed that way. But I went ahead, just getting on the trail, when they quickly came in behind me. Seeing that they were experienced on this trail, had bright headlamps and were likely to be much faster hikers than me, I let them pass and fell in behind.
The trail was well defined, but rugged and a little steep as it headed uphill. After getting out of the forest on the lower slope of the trail, it became light enough that I did not need the headlamp and the young, energetic hikers rapidly gained ground ahead of me.
It was a warm, humid morning and I worked up a sweat before arriving at an open area beneath the Cathedral Rock feature. It was well before sunrise and I had a wide open view across the landscape to the east.
There were plentiful clouds in the sky and daylight was beginning to show in the distance. I made a few images of the pre-sunrise sky, then scouted around for a good place from which to shoot Cathedral Rock. I was disappointed at the views I had, looking up at that feature. The young hikers were nowhere to be seen and I assumed they had continued along the trail.
Cathedral Rock – My Initial View
I began to work my way up a dry drainage, trying to get to a better vantage point, taking time to check out various locations off to the side of the drainage, up the steep slope, where ever I could safely do so.
I never succeeded in getting a really good, open view of the most attractive portions of the unique rock features, but being well off of the beaten path, maybe I got views that other have not. Setting up for these shots was not easy either, at times I had to abandon my tripod and shoot handheld.
As I was shooting from well below these rock features, I kept hearing voices, which I hoped were not just in my head. Eventually, I realized the voices were coming from those young people I had followed part of the way up the trail and they were rock climbers, not just hikers. I could occasionally just barely make out one or two up on the rocks. That is when I realized that in the dim light, I had missed a junction in the trail that would have taken me to the base of these rocks. This is why knowledge of the area is important, when planning an effective photo shoot. So, someday maybe I will get back here and I will know where to go. But I can’t deny that I enjoyed the experience and challenge of exploring in the off trail area below the main feature.
Cathedral Rock – A wider view
If memory serves me correctly, I think I shot this image sitting on a narrow, slope ledge that I was able to pick my way onto above the dry drainage. The early morning clouds abbreviated the golden hour, which lasted for only a few minutes this morning.
As I’ve said many times, early morning landscape photography is the best for a number of reason, but especially for being alone on location. Most casual tourists and visitors to a popular location, seldom get out and about in the early morning hours, so we seldom have to worry about people popping into our shots.
Shooting from the rounded rocks in front of the arch, made using a tripod very difficult for getting down low, so I ended up shooting hand held, using a higher ISO to get my shutter speed high enough to counter my hand shake.
I shot many images at this location today and could include more, but these are representative of the morning’s scene. Having those magnificent, early morning clouds was a bonus for shooting today.
Sunrise A, Brown County State Park, October 26, 2023
I went into Brown County State Park again for sunrise photography, this time stoping at one of the overlooks. It was another morning with scattered clouds and good cloud color.
Shooting into the bright sky and getting a good exposure of the foreground fall color is a challenge and no matter how careful one is with the exposure and filter application, post processing of the images is a must.
These sunrise images have varying exposures, filter usage and post processing, yielding variations in the colors and details.
BCSP Sunrise Sequence 1, Brown County State Park, October 26, 2023Sunrise B, Brown County State Park, October 26, 2023Sunrise C, Brown County State Park, October 26, 2023Sunrise D, Brown County State Park, October 26, 2023Sunrise E, Brown County State Park, October 26, 2023BCSP Sunrise Sequence 2, Brown County State Park, October 26, 2023
Sunrise 1, Ogle Lake, Brown County State Park, Indiana, October 25, 2023
Even though I’m usually sleeping well in the early morning hours, I force myself out of a warm, comfortable bed, because my favorite time for photography is in the early morning hours, especially in popular places, because the normal tourist don’t usually get out early and one doesn’t have to worry about people getting in the way of ones photography.
When I pulled into the parking lot at Ogle Lake, I was the only one there. As I prepared my camera and tripod, a lady drove into the lot and stopped to ask me about the best place for sunrise here in the park. She and her husband were staying in the park lodge, but they had apparently not had time to scout places for sunrise photos. I told her I did not know what place was best, but it might be good here and it was too late for her to get to another good place before sunrise. I suggested that she might photograph from the dam or from the north side of the lake for the best sunrise views.
She commented upon my camera, thinking it had an unusual lens. I was using my large 14-24mm wide angle lens with a Progrey filter holder mounted on it. Due to the bulbous 14-24mm lens, it is not possible to use screws in filters, requiring a bulky filter holder attachment. It is the filter holder that makes it look unusual.
I headed for the dam, where I thought I might have some fall foliage for foreground and good reflection on the lake, leaving the lady behind in the parking lot.
Sunrise 2, Ogle Lake, Brown County State Park, Indiana, October 25, 2023
It was a cloudy morning, the sky color was spectacular. Sometimes we get lucky.
Sunrise 3, Ogle Lake, Brown County State Park, Indiana, October 25, 2023
The morning color came on quickly and disappeared as quickly as it came, but the clouds in the sky still made it possible to get interesting photos after the color faded.
Ogle Lake Leaf Accumulation, Brown County State Park, Indiana, October 25, 2023Ogle Lake Sky Reflection, Brown County State Park, Indiana, October 25, 2023Ogle Lake Forest Reflection, Brown County State Park, Indiana, October 25, 2023
After finishing my shoot from the dam area, I decided to take a short walk along the lake shore. There is a hiking trail that goes all around the lake, which I’ve done in previous visits here. I knew the south side might not have the best views this morning and it was probably muddy in portions, so I headed for the north side.
As I approached the trail head, I encountered the lady from the parking lot again. We chatted for a few minutes. She was thrilled with her sunrise experience. She was shooting with a Canon R6, which she had not had for long. She is a retired portrait photographer, previously from California, living in Kentucky with her husband. I’m assuming her husband is not into photography or else he would have accompanied her this morning. She asked about my filters and I explained why I used these for my landscape work. I was surprised, when she revealed that she had not previously known anything about this subject. I never thought that a professional photographer of any speciality would not know about the use of these specialty filters. However, I have observed professional portrait photographers shooting in the outdoors without any filters. I’ve also noted the over exposed backgrounds in many such portrait photographs. I suppose some filters might be difficult to use for people subjects, but it can still be possible to compose outdoor photos and avoid overexposed backgrounds, unless one is doing that purposely.
My wife and I began a tradition of spending a couple of weeks in Indiana in the fall a few years ago. There are multiple reasons why we established this tradition. 1. My wife has relatives in the area, having lived in Indianapolis during her early childhood. 2. A relative allows us to stay in their weekend cabin that is very near Brown County State Park, which is a very popular place in the fall. 3. We both enjoy seeing fall color in the hardwood forests in this part of the U.S. 4. I get to photograph the fall color and write about it in this blog.
Timing our visit to see the best of the fall color is always hit or miss. Sometimes we are too early, sometimes too late and sometimes we see the peak fall color.
Photographing in the same location at the same time of the year is a challenge and I often worry about my photographic images being too repetitive. After all, how many ways can one photograph trees, forests, barns and fall scenes? Lots, actually, but how many are unique? Trying to get unique and interesting images is a challenge. I can only hope that the scenery varies sufficiently, year by year that my images will not be too boring.
Fall Backroad
Driving the backroads of Indiana is a good way to appreciate the fall color and other rural fall country scenes.
Fall MedleyIndiana Barn
The barn in this image sits far back from a roadway on private property. I shot it with a telephoto lens from the edge of the roadway, hand holding the camera. I shot from different perspectives trying to get shots with the least amount of that pile of debris in front of it in the image. However, this image may be the best overall, even with that unsightly mess in front of the barn.
Fall ProgressionBramble Morning
I was a little late for the actual sunrise at this location in Brown County Park, so I walked down a slope into the briars, weeds, grasses and brushy growth, thinking a shot from within all that foreground clutter might at least be different than that of the early photographers that were wrapping up their sunrise shoot from the top of the slope and there was no way to avoid getting that messy foreground in a shot from anywhere here.
I had to spend a considerable amount of time picking the stick tights from my clothing after this mornings’ shoot.
Crooked Tree FallPuddle FallExposedUp a Fall CreekFall Tease
I arose early on the last day I had to spend in Badlands National Park, once again driving that slow, washboarded gravel road from Interior to SD 240.
I went back to an area from which I had shot a couple of morning already, when the sky were cloudy. Today the early morning sky was mostly clear and I anticipated a good sunrise golden hour.
Badland MorningSunrise CurveBadland NotchRabbit Bush MorningRegression and ProgressionRidgy Morning, Badlands NP, South Dakota, September 19, 2022, AMRidgy Morning 2, Badlands NP, South Dakota, September 19, 2022, AMRed Sky Morning, Badlands NP, South Dakota, September 19, 2022, AMLiving on the Edge, Badlands NP, South Dakota, September 19, 2022, AMBreak Out, Badlands NP, South Dakota, September 19, 2022, AMRidgy Morning 3, Badlands NP, South Dakota, September 19, 2022, AM
It was another heavily overcast morning in Badlands National Park with sporadic light rain.
Traffic Stop, Badlands NP, September 18, 2022, PM, iPhone Photo through the windshield
These female Bighorns and lambs were in no hurry and did not care that they were holding me up in my quest for early morning photos.
Bighorn, Badlands NP, September 18, 2022, PM, iPhone Photo
Shooting under the heavy overcast, most of my images were dark. I brightened them, but did not want to overdo that and ruin the reality. These images look better on a large screen with proper brightness for viewing images, but may look very dark in this blog post, especially if viewed on a small screen. Some of these images have embedded links to the images on Flickr, where these usually look much better than in this blog.
I shot all of these image at a number of different viewpoints along SD240, the main road through the park. I met a young lady from Michigan, who was also shooting images. We seemed to be stopping at the same places for awhile. She observed that the color in the badlands rocks were more saturated when wet. I told her that she had discovered the reason geologists like to view wet rocks, rather than dry ones.
The heart shaped rock perched at the top of Little Baldy caught my eye. I positioned myself to shoot up the rock fracture towards that rock. Working my way around this area, I discovered that the large, curved rock in the bottom right of this image forms a bridge over the rock below it. I tried to get very low and shoot through the bridge, but I was not successful getting photos that adequately revealed what I was trying to capture.
I continued shooting at an overlook of the Grand Canyon from the North Rim, as the sun rose higher in the sky and peeked through breaks in the clouds.
Grand Canyon North Rim, Early Light, July 17, 2021
Note that some of the compositions in this post are similar to those in the previous post, but with varying light conditions.
Grand Canyon North Rim, Early Light, July 17, 2021Grand Canyon North Rim, Early Light, July 17, 2021Clouds over the Grand Canyon North Rim, Early Light, July 17, 2021Wotan’s Throne, Grand Canyon North Rim, Early Light, July 17, 2021
This semicircular feature is called Wotan’s Throne.
Wotan’s Throne, Grand Canyon North Rim, Early Light, July 17, 2021Vishnu Temple and Wotan’s Throne, Grand Canyon North Rim, Early Light, July 17, 2021
The blocky peak in the upper left is called Vishnu Temple.
Grand Canyon North Rim, Early Light, July 17, 2021
The Vishnu Temple feature is in the upper right of this black and white conversion. I like the way this black and white version brings out the layers in rocks, making those layers effective leading lines into the scene.
Grand Canyon North Rim, Early Light, July 17, 2021
The color version above does not have the contrasting “pop” of the black and white version. I’m sure I could edit the color version to brighten the shadows more, but I still think I’d prefer the black and white in this image.
That is all for this morning’s shoot. Stay tuned for the rest of the day’s activity.
