Joshua Cripps
Happy Birthday to Ya, Olmsted Point, Yosemite National Park
VIEW LARGE PLEASE! Press L or click the photo.
"I want to hike Half Dome for my birthday." That's what my mom said at the beginning of the Summer to kick off this adventure. So she and a number of other women began training. But once they realized what exactly was involved in hiking Half Dome, the women started dropping off like flies. By the time my mom's birthday rolled around, only she and two steadfast friends were still gung-ho for the hike. This meant she had extra permits and so I decided to join them as well.
But a funny thing about those permits, they are for a specific date which is non-transferable. So when your day arrives, you are hiking that trail come hell or high water. And in our case it was high water: massive thunderstorms rolled in in the afternoon and absolutely drenched us, flooded Little Yosemite Valley within minutes, and turned the late-season trickles in the park into roaring waterfalls once again. Thank goodness we had already summited Half Dome and were on our way back down by the time the weather began.
Here's a shot from the night before when the tail end of a thunderstorm caught the sunset glow. I was hoping to shoot in Tuolumne Meadows but when it became clear the best light was happening back out over the Valley, I ran to Olmsted Point to witness this awesome display.
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Tech notes on this photo
-----------------------------------
Nikon D7000
Tokina 12-24 f/4 at 12mm on a crop sensor
ISO200
f/9 - sharpest spot on my lens, allows for sufficient DOF on a crop sensor
13 sec
Lee 3-stop soft GND filter
Post-Processing
----------------------
In Raw Converter (Nikon Capture NX2)
- Processed single raw file twice, once for foreground and once for sky
- Brightened foreground and added contrast
- Local contrast adjustments to sky
In Photoshop:
- Hand blend of two tiffs for master composite
- Selective sharpening of foreground
- Curves adjustment to add global contrast
- Curves adjustment to slightly darken sky near the horizon
- Color balance to remove excess magenta hue
Thanks for your visits!
~Josh
Happy Birthday to Ya, Olmsted Point, Yosemite National Park
VIEW LARGE PLEASE! Press L or click the photo.
"I want to hike Half Dome for my birthday." That's what my mom said at the beginning of the Summer to kick off this adventure. So she and a number of other women began training. But once they realized what exactly was involved in hiking Half Dome, the women started dropping off like flies. By the time my mom's birthday rolled around, only she and two steadfast friends were still gung-ho for the hike. This meant she had extra permits and so I decided to join them as well.
But a funny thing about those permits, they are for a specific date which is non-transferable. So when your day arrives, you are hiking that trail come hell or high water. And in our case it was high water: massive thunderstorms rolled in in the afternoon and absolutely drenched us, flooded Little Yosemite Valley within minutes, and turned the late-season trickles in the park into roaring waterfalls once again. Thank goodness we had already summited Half Dome and were on our way back down by the time the weather began.
Here's a shot from the night before when the tail end of a thunderstorm caught the sunset glow. I was hoping to shoot in Tuolumne Meadows but when it became clear the best light was happening back out over the Valley, I ran to Olmsted Point to witness this awesome display.
-----------------------------------
Tech notes on this photo
-----------------------------------
Nikon D7000
Tokina 12-24 f/4 at 12mm on a crop sensor
ISO200
f/9 - sharpest spot on my lens, allows for sufficient DOF on a crop sensor
13 sec
Lee 3-stop soft GND filter
Post-Processing
----------------------
In Raw Converter (Nikon Capture NX2)
- Processed single raw file twice, once for foreground and once for sky
- Brightened foreground and added contrast
- Local contrast adjustments to sky
In Photoshop:
- Hand blend of two tiffs for master composite
- Selective sharpening of foreground
- Curves adjustment to add global contrast
- Curves adjustment to slightly darken sky near the horizon
- Color balance to remove excess magenta hue
Thanks for your visits!
~Josh