Explore Yosemite National Park in the Fall
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK | CALIFORNIA
Another weekend, another adventure! I have been wanting to get up to the mountains to see the leaves changing colors with the seasons but with all of the events going on the past few weekends, I haven’t had the chance. This past weekend, although it wasn’t one of my off-Friday long weekends, I was able to make it up to Yosemite National Park and, while the peak color-change has past, it did not disappoint.
I left straight from work to beat the Friday afternoon traffic out of LA. Ha, anyone who knows LA knows that Friday rush hour traffic starts on Thursday afternoon! After making it past canyon country, it was pretty smooth sailing with just a quick stop for dinner and gas.
The first stop was Glacier Point for some long exposure shots. I knew that I wanted to try a couple things that I have not tried before. I wanted to do some long exposures and turn them into a time lapse of the stars as they revolve around us (well, as we revolve but you get the point). I also wanted to take those same photos and turn them into a star trail image. For the time lapse, I knew that the stars had to be sharp, so no super long exposures. Since I was using a 24mm lens, 20 seconds was as long of an exposure as I could go (the rule of 500: 500/(focal length) = maximum exposure length; 500/24 = 20.833 seconds) without the stars starting to show movement. I would then be able to stack the images as layers in Photoshop and create the star trail image.
It was freezing at Glacier Point! It also turned out that this was the last night that Glacier Point Road was going to be open for the season so I was feeling a bit pressured as I really wanted the images to turn out. The clouds were moving in but I positioned the camera looking out over Half Dome and setup the remote to take 20 second exposures with a 40 second gap between exposures. I ended up taking 83 images before the clouds started to cover the stars. In post, I realized that I should have decreased the gap between the images so that the star trail image would look more fluid and less “digital”, with gaps. I ended up creating a few different videos out of the images, which you can see below.
My Jeep makes a perfect camping companion since I can lay down the back seats and make it into a bed. As with most of my overnight photo trips into remote places, that is exactly what I did since I wanted to get sunrise photos from Glacier Point as well. Just before sunrise, the parking lot started filling up with cars and other people wanting to catch the last sunrise at Glacier Point, until next year. The night before, everything was so dark because there was no moonlight but the morning light really showed you what you were missing. The cliffs drop some 3,400 feet straight down to the valley below. There were lots of people wanting to have their picture taken with their feet hanging over the side.
It was time to head to the valley but not before a stop and hike to Taft point. Taft Point, again, had sheer cliffs but also provided a view of El Capitan. There are also cracks in the sides of the cliffs that are called fissures. These are cool because giant boulders fall down and get lodged between the two walls. You can also get a good view of Upper Yosemite Falls and looking at it from a distance makes it look really small and Lower Yosemite Falls almost seem like a trickle. When you actually get up close to them, you realize the enormity of the valley and scale of everything really comes into perspective.
On the way down to valley floor you pass through a tunnel and just below that is a place to stop called Tunnel View. I always stop there because it is one of the best places to get pictures of Yosemite Valley. This time, the trees in the foreground were showing their new fall colors and made it even more spectacular! As a side note, I took some photos here with the iPhone, which I hardly ever do anymore, and they turned out awesome! HDR photos on the iPhone are hard to beat.
The next stop was Bridal Veil Falls and a couple loops around the valley to see the sights. Finally, as the sun was starting to set, the colors really started coming out in the trees. Yosemite is really a special place!
Saturday night brought lots of rain, all night. The next morning there was lots of fog and low clouds hanging around in the valley. These made the look and feel of the place much different. I was also able to focus on some detail shots of the various leaves and closeup shots. I really want a macro lens! There was a family of deer hanging out in one of the meadows that didn’t seem to mind people as I was able to get within just a few feet of them while taking pictures. It was finally time to head back up the mountain and make the long drive back to Los Angeles. But, not before one more stop at Tunnel View to admire the clouds hanging around.
If you enjoy reading about my adventures and seeing the photos, subscribe to my blog for updates. If you want to see the random videos that I make, check out my YouTube channel and subscribe to that. All of these things help me to continue doing what I do. See you next time.