Some photography notes from upper Yosemite National Park

Lembert Dome

I've processed the images that I think were worth it from my brief few hours in northern Yosemite National Park. I'll say up front that the park did it's part - it was beautiful. Any deficiencies are my fault!

If you haven't read my blogs about my visit, I entered the park from the east along Highway 120, from near Lee Vining. My first stop was at the Tuolomne Meadows area. My first shots with the Nikon D610 started at 9:10 AM on a sunny day with barely any clouds (in fact, there were only a couple of very small clouds in any of my shots).

Because of the time of day, and the time of year, while Tuolomne Meadows was still wonderful to see, the grass was brown, the sky was boring, the light was bright and the shots were contrasty. Nonetheless, I took some shots. It was, after all, my first visit and as it turned out, the only visit I made to that part of the park.

You can view more images on my SmugMug site at http://RandallMorter.SmugMug.com.

Lembert Dome

Lembert Dome

Lembert Dome dominates the east end of the Tuolomne Meadows area, or at least is visible clearly from that location. The cliff face faces northwest and the rounded back faces southwest. Not having been there for sunrise (or sunset), I can't attest to the best location to shoot it from. If you shot during the summer months it might be a good shot to try to get a sunburst on the cliff face as the sun rises. If the sunset caused the face to turn red or gold that would be a good shot. Also, if you're so inclined, a shot from the top might be good. I read that the climb up the rounded back can be done by less experienced climbers. And, as always, if there are good clouds, including storm clouds, that could probably be good from any where around the formation.

Tuolomne Meadows

Tuolomne Meadows - I believe that's Tuolomne Peak

I really wanted to like the meadows, and I did to an extent, I just really want to go back in spring when the Tuolomne River is flowing higher and the grass is green and maybe you can catch some fog on it. Again, no fault of the location - I just wasn't there at the best time of day or year.

The Tuolome River runs through the meadows, meandering to and fro. I really wish I'd had more time to walk along it, to get away from the built up area next to the road.

As it was, I stopped a few places around the meadow: at the road to the horse stables (nearest Lembert Dome), at the bridge near the Dana Fork but east of Tuolmne Meadows Grill (there are some falls up the road that turns of just west of the bridge but I didn't drive up to see what they looked like in September), on the side of the road near some boulders in the meadows, and on the side of the road about .7  miles west of the Cathedral Lakes Trailhead. 

Tuolomne River near the bridge

I want to interject that for some reason I didn't feel compelled to attach my GPS to my camera. I have no idea why, I thought about doing it but I just didn't want to go through with it.

As for the Tuolomne River, I think you need to walk along it to find really good shots. The one I took from near the bridge isn't great. I was on the east side of the river, south of the bridge. On the west side of the river is a road. I had to wait until cars had got out of my shot. I was also somewhat shooting into the sun (you can see the flare in the image at right). I did use a polarizer and when I was shooting perpendicular to the sun it was okay but there were footprints in the sandy bank, I wasn't interested in shooting the bridge, and I didn't want to take the time to hike the river right then. 

Boulders at Tuolomne Meadows

I found the area with the boulders to be interesting but due to the time of day it was pretty contrasty and with the direct light, not terribly fantastic for photography purposes. 

I would love to see this in spring, and especially if you caught a deer out there feeding in the morning or evening light! 

I'll make another interjection here too - while my photographs didn't turn out to be world class, I still enjoyed the heck out of being there, and that was why I decided to go at this time of year. I'd originally wanted to go in February of 2016 but health issues kept that out of reach. When I had my third surgery of the year in August, 2016 and things started looking like they were improving, I made the plan to go around Labor Day knowing the falls would be dry, the grass would be brown, etc., but I didn't care - I wanted me some Yosemite!

The west end of Tuolomne Meadows

The end of the meadows that you can visit from roadside, a bit past the Cathedral Lake Trailhead, is cool in that there is some granite that comes right down to the meadows. There's also a trail that goes right along the base of the granite. 

I've cloned out some of the signs in my image. I didn't try getting lower into the meadow to hide the trail because there were signs right there telling you to stay out of the meadows.

Tenaya Lake

Tenaya Lake

About 5.5 miles farther down the road I stopped on the side of the road at Tenaya Lake. What a pretty location!

Tenaya Lake is oriented from southwest to northeast. The southwest end has a park which could be a good location for sunrise shots since there are a number of peaks around the lake. 

Conversely, the northeast end might be good for sunset shots. There is a pullout right at the northeast end that you could hike from, or just beyond the northeast end of the lake is the Tenaya Lake Picnic Area although the walk would be a little longer from that starting point.

Peak north of Tenaya Lake
Wide view

The best I did was getting down at the waters edge and getting my camera low, trying to use some of the rocks to generate a leading line into the shot. If it was at sunset and if there were clouds in the sky I think it'd be a nice shot.

While I was there I also climbed up the granite on the north side of the road, just a bit. I really wanted to feel it with my own hands - the John Muir granite! I laid on it, rubbed it, enjoyed it. And then I heard some distant yelling. There were people climbing above me!

I didn't have my long lens, just had my 16-35mm attached, but took some shots anyway.

The wide view at right is cropped a bit (due to levelling), shot at 35mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 100. This give some sense of scale. If you click on it to see the larger version you'll see the climbers in the upper right of the face.

This other shot at left is a crop from the same image above, focusing in on the climbers. What I don't like is that they just aren't very sharp. I don't remember if I used my tripod for this shot. If not, I'm okay because I know my jittery hands just don't yield great handheld shots. If it's a tripod shot I am not that happy with the sharpness.

Regardless of the picture quality, what they're doing is pretty impressive!

I don't see a name for this peak, but it's the one that is on the north side of Tioga Road at Tenaya Lake.

I did not pull in to the park area at the southwest end of the park, where Tenaya Creek flows and where you can find the Clouds Rest Trail.

Olmsted Point Overlook

Yosemite Valley from Olmsted Point Overlook

About 1.7 miles west of Tenaya Lake is Olmsted Point Overlook. That's where you get your first view of Half Dome when you enter the park from the east. I wasn't really prepared for it but when I figured out what I was looking at I felt like I had arrived!

Olmsted Point Overlook provides a view of Half Dome from the northeast which is the opposite direction it's normally photographed from. I believe the distance to Half Dome from Olmsted Point Overlook be about 5.5 miles as the raven flies.

I shot this pic on the left with my 70-200mm lens - I wish now I'd at least taken a shot also with my 200-500mm lens.

If you view this at 1:1 you can see the Half Dome Cables - this is the side you can climb up if you're healthy and brave enough. There are permanent cables (well, I think they take them down in the winter months) for hikers to pull themselves up. If you've never looked into this, there are some YouTube videos of folks hiking up there (search for "youtube half dome cables"; click HERE for a sample). The number of hikers allowed to do it is limited by the park but it still looks crowded!

I think this location could provide a great sunset shot. Half Dome is oriented similar to Lambert Dome - the face points northwest. In the summer months when the sun sets farther north it could potentially light up golden or red and this angle could provide for some great reflections. And it has the advantage of being from a different angle than most shots taken from the other side of the valley.

Half Dome Cables (click to see larger version)

As you can see, my shots are maybe better than iPhone snapshots with respect to image quality but they're certainly nothing spectacular. I think Ansel Adams can continue to rest peacefully.

As a general photography note, I will say that I felt comfortable shooting. The last couple of times I've gone out I've started to feel like I know my camera and know which lens I want to use to get the shot I want and that I have a nice selection of lenses that cover my desires. I truly don't have any needs for anything more or different, except perhaps another graduated neutral density (GND) filter which might have helped out on a couple of my shots. But I also think that GND's are best for these mid day shots and frankly I just don't really like these mid day shots anyway, even if I had a GND.