Misty night, Gates of the Valley, Yosemite
After a long dry spell we finally got some rain. The first storm arrived Thursday, and then a second, wetter system reached us yesterday. Altogether Yosemite Valley received over three inches of rain since late Wednesday. It’s been warm, with the snow levels near 9,000 feet, so there was no new snow in Yosemite Valley, but that warm rain melted generous quantities of snow leftover from previous storms, so the waterfalls are roaring like spring.
Thursday’s storm cleared after sunset, so at about 9:00 o’clock I decided to drive up to the valley for some night photography. I arrived to find plenty of low-lying mist, with the two-thirds-full moon lighting the cliffs above. It was really beautiful, but the moon was high overhead, making the lighting challenging. Then as the moonset approached things got more interesting. Some higher clouds moved in, and those clouds started to catch some color from the setting moon. I couldn’t see that color, of course, but the camera’s LCD screen showed it clearly.
By this time I was at Gates of the Valley (aka Valley View). As the clouds flowed by and the mist rolled over the valley I made a series of very-wide panoramas with a 20mm lens. Each series consisted of four side-by-side frames with the camera turned vertically; the exposures were 20 seconds at f/2.5, 6400 ISO. My favorite moment was captured in the image at the top of this post, with hints of pink in the clouds from the setting moon, and a few stars poking through.
I went back up to the valley again last night as the second storm cleared; I’ll share some more photos soon!
— Michael Frye
Related Posts: First Snow; Moonlight, Stars, and Meteors
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: 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.
Simply stunning. I also love those stars. 🙂
Thanks Laura!
Lovely pic, Mike.
Thank you Julian!
Great shot! I’m curious why you stitched? Just for more pixels? Or could that scene not be captured in a single frame?
Thanks Rodney! My widest lens is a 16-35mm zoom, and 16mm wasn’t wide enough for this view, so that’s one reason I stitched – to get the equivalent of a wider lens. But also, the maximum aperture of my 16-35 zoom is f/4, while my 20mm can go down to f/1.8. I used it at f/2.5 because the lens is a little sharper when you stop it down a bit, but that’s still one-and-a-third stops more light than the zoom. At f/4 I would have had to use 16,000 ISO instead of 6,400 ISO, so I would have had more noise. I don’t really care about getting a higher resolution image per se – I get 42 megapixels from one frame, which is enough to get very sharp large prints. But at night there is another benefit to stitching and getting more resolution, because you get less noise. The noise at the pixel level will be the same (assuming the same ISO and shutter speed), but the more pixels you have the less you have to enlarge each pixel, so the noise isn’t as apparent when you make a large print. In theory it would have been even better to do this with a 50mm lens and stitch together a whole bunch of frames. But the clouds and mist were moving too quickly to take so many frames.
Fantastic image Michael. Just curious, why did you use a wide-open aperture – to prevent star streaks? I guess with a 20mm lens, DOF was not an issue. I was in the valley this weekend and Saturday’s rain was impressive, but the waterfalls were spectacular. Would love to see what you shot late Sat/early Sun
Thanks Karthik. Basically the answer is yes, I used a wide aperture to prevent star streaks. I could have stopped down, but that would have required a longer shutter speed to get the right exposure, and the stars would have become streaks. Or I could have kept the shutter speed to 20 seconds but used a higher ISO, however the higher ISO would have created more noise. Depth of field was not an issue here, as you guessed. However, most lenses are sharpest when you stop them down to f/8 or f/11, so that’s another consideration. That’s why night photographers search for wide-angle lenses that are sharp in the corners at wide apertures (and that exhibit little coma). I could have used f/1.8, my widest aperture for this lens, but the lens is sharper when stopped down a little.
To determine how long a shutter speed I can use without the stars becoming streaks I use the 400 rule, which I describe in the P.S. of this post:
https://www.michaelfrye.com/2016/08/16/moonlight-stars-meteors/
Stunning, Michael
Thanks so much Brenda!
Wow! This is an amazing image, Michael. Really, really nice. It has a very painterly look to it. There are so many great elements in it, a moody darkness, the night sky, the mist, the colors, great reflections. Fantastic. And thanks for the added explanations in the earlier comments about the stitching and aperture choices. Very helpful.
Thank you Todd – glad you like this!
Very nice work, Michael. I am planning to be in the park solo this coming Thursday and Friday. Lots of shots on my schedule sheet – day and night. Snow and cold are in the forecast – but I’ll be as prepared as possible. Question: I am planning to take a few shots at Artist Point. Considering the potential weather conditions, how difficult are the trail conditions for a pre-dawn shot? Would you recommend it? Thanks in advance.
BTW – Just bought your “Photographer’s Guide to Yosemite” app. Even as a former YNP ranger, it’s exactly what I need for this and future trips.
Thanks Tarik!
Thanks Tarik. I only see a slight chance of showers in the forecast for Thursday night and Friday, but maybe that will develop into something more. I hope so. There is currently no snow at all on the trail to Artist Point, so it shouldn’t be a problem – unless, again, that chance of showers turns into something more significant. But that seems unlikely. Good luck!
Thanks, Michael. The trip was a great success. Here’s a link to the story behind the photos of my recent trip to Yosemite. I gave you and your app a shout out at the end. http://www.tariktrad.com/in-a-flash/2016/12/27/yosemite-in-winter-a-tale-of-two-days
Glad you had a successful trip Tarik, and thanks for mentioning the app.