Yosemite: A Climber's Paradise

Image Critiques Landscape Critiques
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You may only download this image to demonstrate post-processing techniques.

After a little hiatus from posting and commenting, I hope to be a bit more active now that I have some new images to share. Just got back last week from a few days in Yosemite. This was a later trip in the fall than I’ve done in the past, but of course there are always opportunities in the park and new things to explore and capture.

This isn’t the fist image captured, but dawn over Yosemite seemed like a good place to start. I arose early and made it to this overlook a couple hours before sunrise - in hopes of a great sky. But alas, clear, blank nothing and the wind was pretty strong so I had to anchor the tripod by hanging my pack under the center column.

I’m pretty much a novice when it comes to night photography, but I was happy with a few images - especially with the noise and I managed to get some fairly sharp stars.

First though, I wanted to point out and explain the title. Ok, yes, Yosemite and it’s granite monoliths are worldwide destinations for climbers. But I chose the title because if you notice, there’s a light on El Capitan. No, it’s not an overlapped star from a composite image (and yes, this is a composite) but that it is a climber or climbers light(s) I’m assuming getting ready to continue their ascent. That light was visible the entire time I was there. But from the great distance, it just looks like a star. Definitely climbers though. I can just imagine them sitting there, suspended 2,000ft above the valley floor, enjoying a hot cup of coffee, watching a new day begin from the best seat in the house…

I mentioned this is a composite. It’s a combo of 2 images about 45 minutes apart. Early on I was simply trying to capture the best stars I could, trying various focus points, iso, speed, etc. I’ve found the best results for the stars at 15s or less. Of course very little light and no color an hour and half before sunrise, but the stars were out. Honestly, I didn’t not intend on combining anything until I got home and started going through my images. The later images started to show a little pre-dawn color and light along the horizon, further highlighting the “profile” of Yosemite. But the stars became less and less visible. So, I combine a couple versions in post.

I’m very curious to know if I was successful. Does this work? Believable? It’s nothing original and stary night images are a dime a dozen these days… but I’m hoping the sky, combined with the Yosemite profile works to some level.

Thanks for any and all comments, critiques.

What technical feedback would you like if any?

Processing of course. There’s a little banding creeping in from processing? Is it too much and should I rework this?

What artistic feedback would you like if any?

Does the composite and resulting image work?

Pertinent technical details or techniques:

(If this is a composite, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)

Nikon D800E, Tamron 17-35mm

Star image: @20mm, iso 2200, f/3.5 10s
predawn sky: @19mm, is 200, f/16 1s

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Lon,
It’s nice to have you back. I have less experience with night photography than you do so I look forward to seeing other’s comments as well. My two cents, I appreciate the simple skyline silhouette and the detailed tree line. Also, I do like the stars and sky colors as presented and find it very soothing. The fact that El Capitan is so dwarfed provides a great sense of the vastness of the sky that does not seem to resonate during the daylight, and the climbers light is a nice touch.

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Lon, the stars are hard to see in the thumb. However, they add a lot of interest to the sky in both the small and the full size views. The gentle color shift in the sky works very well also. While I might have noticed the “eye” in the “yelling head”, I’d have never figured out what it was without your description. Knowing that it’s climber(s) is a fun tidbit. I do think that some dodging of the stars, lower down would be a good improvement, if you can do that with minimal changes to the sky brightness.

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Lon,

I do not know how you do this. Your images are just so captivating! Does this work? A resounding yes from me. It looks totally believable and not only that, what my eyes would expect. I love that soul light on El Capitan. It simply beautiful and captures the beauty of the Sierras in the twilight of dawn.

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A novice at night photography, you say. Well you could have fooled me, this image looks way better than many of the night images out there on the internet. That color gradient up to the stars looks simply gorgeous, it doesn’t get much better than this. Great example of how to make something beautiful out of a bald, cloudless sky. Very well done Lon. If you hadn’t discussed the climbers light in your back story, I was going to leave you a comment that you had a hot pixel on your sensor :smile:

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I am generally not much of a nightime photography fan, but this one works really well. It looks more like dawn photography and therefore has a nicely realistic look to it. I quite like it. While the light on El Cap combined with the story is great, as a stand-alone image without the narrative, the light does look like a bad pixel. Does it work? Yes and no, depending on whether the story accompanies the print.

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Hi Lon,

I like this. For me the this image is about the analogous colour transition and I think you’ve managed it very well. I think key to enabling this to work is that you’ve let the sky dominate the frame and the stars are sharp and noise free. I didn’t;t notice the fading to be honest.

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Thank you all for the comments! Much appreciated.

@Alan_Kreyger, thank you so much - and for noticing the treeline. Getting the distant ridgeline, trees and stars was a challenge - trial and error actually. Thank goodness one can zoom in on the lcd to check.

Mark, funny you should mention this. I actually cloned/masked quite a few of the lower stars for the simple reason they wouldn’t be visible at the time when the sun was just 30 min or so from rising. Because of the composite, I did have stars in the lower sky, but chose not to show them as it didn’t seem realistic.

Thank you so much for your kind words @Youssef_Ismail! The only thing missing was a crescent moon… :wink:

Thanks also to @Ed_McGuirk, @Harley_Goldman and @Nathan_Klein . Harley, I totally agree with the back story of the climbers. The teenie light in the frame is really just a “hot pixel” as Ed points out. I’m likely to clone it out if I was ever to do anything with the image.

Thanks again folks!

Lon

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This is a wonderful image, Lon. Personally, I think the simplicity of the scene is what I appreciate most. Capturing the silhouetted tree line is a great touch.

The composite work is nicely done and looks very realistic. And great story to add catching the climbers light on El Capitan.

Every time I see images of this place, It keep getting higher and higher on my bucket list.

Congrats!

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A resounding yes!! The sky is exquisite.

1 Like