Darvin Atkeson
Storm over Yellowstone Falls
Back in 2003 I traveled to Yellowstone National Park with one of my first
digital cameras, an Olympus C5050Z. I had recently read on the Internet
about a guy who had stitched together a 1 Giga-pixel image and since my
field of view was limited I thought I'd try my hand at it. Needless to say,
when I got home and tried using his technique my results were less than
stellar. A shame since the scenery was so stunning. While browsing the
old images and thinking man, I wish I had my Nikon D300 back then. Then I
remembered that I had been having considerable luck stitching with newer
versions of Photoshop. Piecing the images together wasn't easy as it is
with my Nikon images but with a lot of work it finally started to come together. Back when I took this I was still new to digital photography and shooting in Program Mode so needless to say, none of the images matched exposure or metering. A bit
more work in Photoshop and finally it started to look like an image. I
still wish I had the Nikon back in 2003 but it's equivalent (or
approximation of what was available at the time) would have cost more than
my car.
So here, hopefully for your enjoyment, is the finished result of the storm that blew in over Yellowstone Falls in Yellowstone National Park. This is actually the lower Yellowstone Falls. The upper falls are just around the bend and out of sight. The
lower falls drop in to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and the name is
fitting. Bright yellow and orange rocks surround the falls and steep canyon
falls. It's not hard to understand why this became the world's first
National Park. The lower falls is a 308ft drop. The blue green river
water is a stark contrast against the yellow rocks. The roar of the falls
can be heard clearly from where the picture was taken. More than 63,000
gallons of water flow over the fall every second in the spring time. The
image was taken from the famous Painters Point which is a small outcropping
that extends into the canyon providing one of the most awesome sites you
will ever see. The only place that has perhaps moved me more than this
view is that of coming through the tunnel at Vista Point in Yosemite
National Park. The two parks are in stark contrast. Yellowstone is carved
by fire while Yosemite is carved by ice. Two places I would put at the top
of any nature lovers list of places to see in your lifetime.
I hope you enjoyed the image and if you read this, the story behind the
picture. Because technology continues to improve, I never throw out any
digital image. Storage is cheap. Loosing this image would have cost me
much more.
Darv
© Darvin Atkeson
California Photographer
Storm over Yellowstone Falls
Back in 2003 I traveled to Yellowstone National Park with one of my first
digital cameras, an Olympus C5050Z. I had recently read on the Internet
about a guy who had stitched together a 1 Giga-pixel image and since my
field of view was limited I thought I'd try my hand at it. Needless to say,
when I got home and tried using his technique my results were less than
stellar. A shame since the scenery was so stunning. While browsing the
old images and thinking man, I wish I had my Nikon D300 back then. Then I
remembered that I had been having considerable luck stitching with newer
versions of Photoshop. Piecing the images together wasn't easy as it is
with my Nikon images but with a lot of work it finally started to come together. Back when I took this I was still new to digital photography and shooting in Program Mode so needless to say, none of the images matched exposure or metering. A bit
more work in Photoshop and finally it started to look like an image. I
still wish I had the Nikon back in 2003 but it's equivalent (or
approximation of what was available at the time) would have cost more than
my car.
So here, hopefully for your enjoyment, is the finished result of the storm that blew in over Yellowstone Falls in Yellowstone National Park. This is actually the lower Yellowstone Falls. The upper falls are just around the bend and out of sight. The
lower falls drop in to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and the name is
fitting. Bright yellow and orange rocks surround the falls and steep canyon
falls. It's not hard to understand why this became the world's first
National Park. The lower falls is a 308ft drop. The blue green river
water is a stark contrast against the yellow rocks. The roar of the falls
can be heard clearly from where the picture was taken. More than 63,000
gallons of water flow over the fall every second in the spring time. The
image was taken from the famous Painters Point which is a small outcropping
that extends into the canyon providing one of the most awesome sites you
will ever see. The only place that has perhaps moved me more than this
view is that of coming through the tunnel at Vista Point in Yosemite
National Park. The two parks are in stark contrast. Yellowstone is carved
by fire while Yosemite is carved by ice. Two places I would put at the top
of any nature lovers list of places to see in your lifetime.
I hope you enjoyed the image and if you read this, the story behind the
picture. Because technology continues to improve, I never throw out any
digital image. Storage is cheap. Loosing this image would have cost me
much more.
Darv
© Darvin Atkeson
California Photographer