The DLWS gang hit the meadow this morning and the meadow as always, delivered. From past experience, I knew that Upper Yosemite Falls really preforms one the sun reaches its base. With that in mind, I went armed with the 200-400. While waiting for the show to begin, I trained the lens on the falls face. When shooting this mighty water, I rip the shutter. This is because you just don’t know the pattern of the water and it’s really difficult to predict.
The top image is an example of a really wimpy lookin body of water. It’s not robust, full of drama or the dynamic lines of the second photo. To heighten that power of the water crashing, I went to B&W using Silver Efex Pro.
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Then when you add a little light, then you really have a strong click. There is a few minutes as the sun paints down the face of the falls when you have light like this streaking across. The reason I prefer this shot and this moment is the base in shadow. That black just makes the white of the water whiter and more powerful. Because of this I can turn horizontal and I like that format for this scene. The sun has just begun to light things up, it’s time to boogie to the other side of the meadow for the big show.
Photos captured by D3x, 200-400VR2 on Lexar UDMA digital film