I wasn't the only one...

[rpcrowe]

Apparently, I wasn't the only photographer blown away by this magnificent view of Yosemite Valley in Yosemite National Park in the late afternoon...

I shot quite a few variations of this scene using both my 24-70mm f/2.8 and a 70-200mm f/4L IS lenses on my 1.6x Canon 30D DSLR; and then, in the interest of getting an unusual image, I decided to back up and get a shot of the other photographers shooting the view...



I processed this using NIK Software...

BTW: Visiting the park in the spring or fall is the only time that you will find this overlook uncrowded. During the summer, the crowd can be two or three deep and shoulder to shoulder...

Yosemite competes neck and neck with the Li River in China as having the most photogenic landscapes of any place I have ever visited. However, Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Teton National Park are definitely on my bucket list!

[Digital]

I like this photo because of its perspective.


Bruce

[tbob]

Fantastic light and detail on the rocks and valley. I would love to see one of your versions without the humans. Although the photographers definitely make a story in the image you have here.

My wife was reading that something around 5 million (or was it 50 million?) photos are uploaded on the internet each day. She said what is the point of taking pictures when that volume of pictures are being taken, nothing really new and it all seems so pointless. Does anyone even pay attention to them? My response was that probably several hundred billion words are spoken every day, a lot of them opinions. It all seems so pointless and does anyone pay attention to them? This seems to have been the wrong tactic to take.

[chauncey]

My elitism leads me to ask this question...did any of those guys seem to know what they were doing...or were they all the P&S types?

[rpcrowe]

Chauncey,

I didn't inventory their cameras but, this everyone in group was shooting with a tripod. Most of the time, tripods and P&S cameras seem to be mutually exclusive...

[rpcrowe]

Trevor,

I am having fun reprocessing some of my old images with NIK Software and playing around with some images like the group of photographers at the Valley Overlook that I did not like right off the bat and originally did not select to reprocess. The NIK Software is pretty easy to use but, I am learning the little secrets of processing an image using the various NIK filters. I will post some of my other NIK images as well as the originally processed images from that trip to Yosemite.

Here is one shot from that vantage point and processed with NIK...



30D with 70-200mm f/4L IS lens at 70mm. 1/350 second @ f/5.6. Tripod mounted on Giottos MT8180 Graphite tripod.

This was a nice photo outing for me because I was alone and could go where I wanted and spend as much time as I wanted. My wife lived close to Yosemite in her younger days and had visited it many times. She opted to stay home and care for our dogs...

Yosemite is a miraculously beautiful area and I am so happy that I finally took the time to visit it. I would enjoy visiting it in the Winter to see the Valley in the snow...

I used NIK Dfine for noise reduction, and both the Sharpener Pro RAW sharpener and the Sharpener Pro Output Sharpener for this image. The old 30D that I was using did not have the absolute best digital performance but, NIK seems to improve the performance over (MY) processing only with Camera RAW and Photoshop CS6.

I used Viveza for most of the rest of the processing on this image. The control points really helped me, such as gaining a smidgen of detail in the black outfit that the woman towards the center was wearing.

Chauncey,

I didn't inventory the photographer's cameras but, everyone in this group was shooting with a tripod. Most of the time, tripods and P&S cameras seem to be mutually exclusive...

[Mike Buckley]

Nice photo, Richard. It's an incredibly beautiful overlook that deserves to be crowded. You caught the scene on a day that is unusually without haze.

I always notice that few of the people using tripods are using remote controls whether wireless or attached.

[Wavelength]

Nice...you thought differently......

[Brownbear]

Beautiful image with a story

[Donald]

I remember writing on here some time ago about how I envisaged Ansel Adams hiking for miles to get to the location for 'Clearing Winter Storm', only for someone to point out to me that it's just off the highway.

I saw a print of 'Clearing Winter Storm' at the Adams exhibition that was in London at the beginning of this year. It really did take my breath away. The detail in it is astounding and the tones in the image just leave you in awe.

I would love to stand in that spot. But I'm not sure that I'd want to even try and make a picture. Adams did it and it will never, in my opinion, be bettered.

[Otavio]

Both are terrific images, Richard! Very well done! Very interesting composition and PP. I wish I had such a place close to my house...

[rpcrowe]

Otavio, Thank you.

Unfortunately, Yosemite is not close to my home. It is about 385 miles (620 km) north. It is about 67 miles (99 km) east of a major north south highway (U.S 99).

While I have traveled that highway several times, I never had the time to make the detour east.

I was lucky in that I planned to have two full days in Yosemite because on one of those days the valley was very hazy and therefore not very photogenic.

Like I mentioned above, I would like to visit the Valley in the Winter to see it snow covered but, I don't own chains for my car and don't really want to buy a set just for that trip...

Donald,

I think it was Ansel Adams who said (this is a rough quote) "Burning and dodging are the photographer's ways to make up for God's inability to light landscapes correcly!"

Here's another...


I tried cropping out the line of trees in shadow at the bottom of the image but, didn't like that crop...

[RockNGoalStar]

Otavio, Thank you.

Unfortunately, Yosemite is not close to my home. It is about 385 miles (620 km) north. It is about 67 miles (99 km) east of a major north south highway (U.S 99).

While I have traveled that highway several times, I never had the time to make the detour east.

I was lucky in that I planned to have two full days in Yosemite because on one of those days the valley was very hazy and therefore not very photogenic.

Like I mentioned above, I would like to visit the Valley in the Winter to see it snow covered but, I don't own chains for my car and don't really want to buy a set just for that trip...

Donald,

I think it was Ansel Adams who said (this is a rough quote) "Burning and dodging are the photographer's ways to make up for God's inability to light landscapes correcly!"

Here's another...


I tried cropping out the line of trees in shadow at the bottom of the image but, didn't like that crop...

This is superb. You had wonderful lighting conditions and you've captured and processed the scene wonderfully.

Thanks so much for sharing!

[batmura]

All great photos, the third being my favourite. What a great location to shoot!

[allenlennon]

love the photos. The first one i love because of how the scence was composed and the light.

[rpcrowe]

And then there is a monochrome version...

[dje]

Here's another...


I tried cropping out the line of trees in shadow at the bottom of the image but, didn't like that crop...

Wonderful shot Richard. Superb light and contrast

Dave

[Brownbear]

Stunning...

And then there is a monochrome version...

[Shadowman]

Very nice, both the scenic shots and the human element.

[GeorgeM]

Great series, Richard!