El Capitan

Tunnel View Moving On In (2/4) – Year of Yosemite (YOY) – Day 234

Jeff

Tunnel View

El Capitan and Half Dome – the stars of Tunnel View

Yesterday’s post showed a picture I took several minutes prior to this one in which I tried to capture the complete scope of Tunnel View from where I was standing. Of course the major attractions did not appear at their best since they were dwarfed by the wide and distant scene. There I was at Tunnel View with El Capitan and Half Dome looming large before me. The three brothers were off to the side.

I wanted to come away with the best picture I could capture. The problem was, I couldn’t decide which shot that was to be. Imagine visiting this area and not being able to find to frame the best photograph; forget about the perfect shot.

The approach I adopted was not “spray and pray,” but instead, I started wide and worked my way in. This was my systems approach. I didn’t have a wide angle lens and needed to do the best I could with the equipment I had.

I began to narrow in on the features I thought would be given center stage and move in for increasingly tighter shots. I needed to avoid the disappointment of not being able to record a photograph that would satisfy me. I wanted to “do justice” to the iconic features of Yosemite.

 
Do you have a question about our visit to Yosemite? Ask it in the comment section.

 

JBRish.com originally published this post
*All photographs Copyright by Jeffrey B. Ross with all rights reserved.

 
See previous Year of Yosemite (YOY) posts HERE. If you want to read the introduction to the YOY series, CLICK HERE.

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Meta Data – Day 234 YOY – Year of Yosemite

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Taft Point – El Capitan – Year of Yosemite (YOY) – Day 225

Jeff

Rock Formations - Taft Point Trail

A view of El Capitan from Taft Point

Once we arrived at Taft Point, the beautiful views opened up before us in a number of directions. The photo above shows El Capitan and the valley meadows. You might be able to discern the Merced River just off to the left of the meadow nearest El Capitan’s nose.

As you can see, I was standing relatively close to the edge, but leaning over a secured railing. It was quite a drop off and it was reassuring to have the “safety net” of a railing to lean against as I jockeyed for a position that would yield the desired picture.

 
Do you have a question about our visit to Yosemite? Ask it in the comment section.

 

JBRish.com originally published this post
*All photographs Copyright by Jeffrey B. Ross with all rights reserved.

 
See previous Year of Yosemite (YOY) posts HERE. If you want to read the introduction to the YOY series, CLICK HERE.

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Meta Data – Day 225 YOY – Year of Yosemite

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El Capitan’s Nose – Year of Yosemite (YOY) – Day 210

Jeff

El Capitan's Nose

El Capitan – East Face and Nosew

The final picture of El Capitan for this series is a decent photograph taken in the meadow as we approached the mountain. This is an improvement over my other shots of that side of the mountain because there is a bit of the foreground which helps give perspective to El Capitan and the trees also enable the viewer to appreciate the size of this Yosemite feature.

BTW – Did you know that El Capitan has a nose? It is the vertical ridge running from the bottom left to the upper right partially shown in the above image. You can see it highlighted with more detail HERE.

 
Do you have a question about our visit to Yosemite? Ask it in the comment section.

 

JBRish.com originally published this post
*All photographs Copyright by Jeffrey B. Ross with all rights reserved.

 
See previous Year of Yosemite (YOY) posts HERE. If you want to read the introduction to the YOY series, CLICK HERE.

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Meta Data – Day 210 YOY – Year of Yosemite

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El Capitan: A Better View – Year of Yosemite (YOY) – Day 209

Jeff

El Capitan's West Face

El Capitan – West Face – Better View

This picture was taken very near the same spot where YOY Day 208’s shot was captured. I moved a bit to the west, decreased the zoom on my bridge camera and moved closer to the prevailing trees so they would frame El Capitan and lead the viewer’s eye to the main attraction.

This was getting close to the golden hour and the wispy clouds add a bit of personality to the photograph.

 
Do you have a question about our visit to Yosemite? Ask it in the comment section.

 

JBRish.com originally published this post
*All photographs Copyright by Jeffrey B. Ross with all rights reserved.

 
See previous Year of Yosemite (YOY) posts HERE. If you want to read the introduction to the YOY series, CLICK HERE.

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Meta Data – Day 209 YOY – Year of Yosemite

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Canon PowerShot SX50 HS

 

El Capitan From the West Side – Year of Yosemite (YOY) – Day 208

Jeff

El Capitan’s West Face


As this picture clearly shows, it isn’t just the subject matter that helps to make a great photograph. The skill is in the eyes and vision of the photographer. In the picture above, a view of the more popular west face of El Capitan, the large monolith looks much like any other mountain one may encounter and not really anything special.

There are a couple of reasons why this might be the case. The trees cover the bottom of the mountain and reduce the viewer’s ability to appreciate the full height and “heft” of El Capitan. Including more foreground was not appropriate because there was much detritus on the ground. While this is better than the photograph of YOY Day 207 as far as being picturesque, it still is not an excellent picture. The color of the light was good, but a different angle and point of view is required to raise the beauty factor.

 
Do you have a question about our visit to Yosemite? Ask it in the comment section.

 

JBRish.com originally published this post
*All photographs Copyright by Jeffrey B. Ross with all rights reserved.

 
See previous Year of Yosemite (YOY) posts HERE. If you want to read the introduction to the YOY series, CLICK HERE.

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No Meta Data – Day 208 YOY – Year of Yosemite

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Capture time: 6:40:05 PM
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Focal Length: 27mm
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Nikon D3300

 

El Capitan From the East Side – Year of Yosemite (YOY) – Day 207

Jeff

El Capitan’s East Face


Many of us probably prefer to be photographed from one side as opposed to the other. We might even prefer a particular angle of the camera. I know that I have a good side and a side that is okay, but not as photogenic as the other.

El Capitan too has a more photogenic side and the picture above is not it. This is the less photographed (IMHO) east side. From this angle and relationship to the surroundings, it is easy to note that this is a large, massive mountain, but it is not as glorious as it appears in other photographs. It is still impressive, just not as impressive!

 
Do you have a question about our visit to Yosemite? Ask it in the comment section.

 

JBRish.com originally published this post
*All photographs Copyright by Jeffrey B. Ross with all rights reserved.

 
See previous Year of Yosemite (YOY) posts HERE. If you want to read the introduction to the YOY series, CLICK HERE.

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No Meta Data – Day 207 YOY – Year of Yosemite

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Capture time: 10:48:04 AM
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Focal Length: 5.43mm
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Canon PowerShot SX50 HS

 

El Capitan A Yosemite Star – Year of Yosemite (YOY) – Day 206

Jeff

l Capitan Webcam
El Capitan Webcam at Turtleback


Once again I am bending the YOY rules a bit since this is not a photograph that I took, but I am going to use it to set up my next series of posts. It is of interest to me that some people admire El Capitan so much that they have increased its celebrity by having a webcam trained on it for “real time” viewing.

The photo above was provided by a webcam funded through the Yosemite Conservancy. As you will note, El Capitan isn’t the sole star in this picture even though it does get the close up positiion. Half Dome is looming off to the right and therefore hogs a bit of the spotlight; literally and figuratively.

The photograph is of El Capitan from the Turtleback Dome (taken on January 13, 2017).

 
Do you have a question about our visit to Yosemite? Ask it in the comment section.

 

JBRish.com originally published this post
*All photographs Copyright by Jeffrey B. Ross with all rights reserved.

 
See previous Year of Yosemite (YOY) posts HERE. If you want to read the introduction to the YOY series, CLICK HERE.

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No Meta Data – Day 205 YOY – Year of Yosemite

 

Year of Yosemite (YOY) – Day 184 ( El Capitan Photo – Better)

Jeff

A better photo of El Capitan

A wider view of El Capitan

The photograph of El Capitan above is certainly more visually pleasing than the photograph posted yesterday as part of YOY Day 183. The differences are obvious. The trees can be easily used as a “yardstick” to gain a sense of scale. The orientation of the frame, i.e. portrait mode accentuates the vertical height of El Capitan.

This is not to say that this is a dramatic photograph of El Capitan, but it is certainly better as a measure of the strength, size and grandeur of the mountain.

 
Do you have a question about our visit to Yosemite? Ask it in the comment section.

 

JBRish.com originally published this post
*All photographs Copyright by Jeffrey B. Ross with all rights reserved.

 
See previous Year of Yosemite (YOY) posts HERE. If you want to read the introduction to the YOY series, CLICK HERE.

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Meta Data – Day 184 YOY – Year of Yosemite

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Year of Yosemite (YOY) – Day 183 (El Capitan – OK Photo, Not Great)

Jeff

El Capitan from the meadow

While hiking the meadow area, El Capitan appears and reappears in many places

The picture above is anything but an awe-inspiring image of El Capitan. Part of the problem is, once again, the context of the mountain. We can see that it is large, but it is lost among the tops of the trees. There really is no clear definition of where the ground is and thus we are left to intuit how tall the trees are.

The full height of El Capitan is not appreciated. Because the trees are in the foreground, they look relatively large in comparison to El Capitan. This could serve as a picture of record to explain the jaggedness of El Capitan along with other physical features, but it does not present the monolith as the huge presence it is in the valley.

 
Do you have a question about our visit to Yosemite? Ask it in the comment section.

 

JBRish.com originally published this post
*All photographs Copyright by Jeffrey B. Ross with all rights reserved.

 
See previous Year of Yosemite (YOY) posts HERE. If you want to read the introduction to the YOY series, CLICK HERE.

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Meta Data – Day 183 YOY – Year of Yosemite

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Year of Yosemite (YOY) – Day 162 (Sentinel Dome – El Capitan)

Jeff

El Capitan is well within view from the top of Sentinel Dome

El Capitan is well within view from the top of Sentinel Dome

Moving up onto the very top of Sentinel Dome and looking west, El Capitan stood out among all of the other mountains. This colossus of the valley asserts itself into the minds of Yosemite visitors as well as the camera rolls of numerous smart phones.

Also shown is the topography of the distant hills as well as the dome. Sentinel Dome’s colors and textures where on display as it drops off into the wooded hillside below.

 
Do you have a question about our visit to Yosemite? Ask it in the comment section.

 

JBRish.com originally published this post
*All photographs Copyright by Jeffrey B. Ross with all rights reserved.

 
See previous Year of Yosemite (YOY) posts HERE. If you want to read the introduction to the YOY series, CLICK HERE.

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Meta Data – Day 162 YOY – Year of Yosemite

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