El Capitan At 8:35 A.M.

Gallery: LandscapePosted August 14, 20111,075 views25 comments

This photograph was taken on May 18, 2011. It is a six image HDR. The series of exposures was taken from (and in) the Merced River. Muck Boots really come in handy for shots like this!

Nikon D300 ,Nikkor AF-S DX 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR
1/10s f/16.0 at 24.0mm iso200
Manual exposure mode, polarizer

Thanks for looking. Comments and critiques welcome.

Comments

25 comments

Comment posted by Dennis Harding on August 14, 2011 at 4:41 AM

This is a very nice photo and an excellent processing job of the HDR. I like the all over feeling I get from viewing this image Jay. Personally I would like to have seen a little more of this very dramatic cliff face. If that was possible.

Registered on January 19, 2011, 33 Posts, 408 Comments

Comment posted by Nick Bristol on August 14, 2011 at 8:36 AM

Nice work here Jay. This looks great to me and I think this comp works quite nice. The mist / fog / clouds add a nice look and feel. I also like the bit of water at the bottom. Gotta love those mucks! I use them all the time here!

Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI

Registered on February 1, 2004, 752 Posts, 14140 Comments

Comment posted by Tony Kuyper on August 14, 2011 at 9:25 AM

That's really special, Jay. The processing looks good.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 364 Posts, 22328 Comments

Comment posted by Nancy Lea Sandy on August 14, 2011 at 10:04 AM

Beautiful. The rising mist really adds to the drama.

Registered on January 24, 2011, 576 Posts, 6942 Comments

Comment posted by Cory Freeman on August 14, 2011 at 10:30 AM

this turned out really nice Jay!

Registered on December 16, 2003, 107 Posts, 1341 Comments

Comment posted by Chris Chamberlain on August 14, 2011 at 11:24 AM

Love this view/perspective, it turned out very nice!

Chris

Registered on March 13, 2007, 500 Posts, 8365 Comments

Comment posted by Michael Lotito on August 14, 2011 at 11:28 AM

Wow what a wonderful shot. I really like this HDR!

Registered on June 26, 2009, 181 Posts, 1558 Comments

Comment posted by Stan Rose on August 14, 2011 at 11:29 AM

Beautiful scene, great light and nice presentation! The sky (mist up top) looks a bit funky to me--maybe reintroduce some of the brightness in the whites there, to match the brightness of the snow below. FWIW, you probably could have manually blended this with 2 exposures, and that likely would have improved the quality at large scale (since there is inevitably going to be some movement in the trees over the course of 6 exposures).

Registered on September 15, 2005, 836 Posts, 17099 Comments

Comment posted by dean hebert on August 14, 2011 at 11:55 AM

I really like the comp and perspective of the rockface looming above! I think you've done a good job of the processing, but I think I would like to see a bit more contrast as this seems to be a sunlit image.

Registered on August 4, 2010, 70 Posts, 1132 Comments

Comment posted by Ben Horne on August 14, 2011 at 12:17 PM

The drama of the cliff matches very well with the trees, and the frosting ofn snow on the trees is a nice addition. I'm going to have to go against the grain regarding your use of HDR though. I'm just not a big fan of it. The tones end up quite flat -- based on the thumbnail, I thought this was a reflection shot in the river that was flipped upside down to read correctly. I thought that based on the lesser contrast of the image. To me, it doesn't so much look like a photo -- more like an illustration. That makes it difficult to make an emotional connection with the image, and feel as though you can walk into the scene.

Registered on August 27, 2009, 51 Posts, 959 Comments

Comment posted by Hamed Musharbak on August 14, 2011 at 1:46 PM

this is awesome, i like the processing

Hamed

Registered on June 1, 2009, 372 Posts, 2282 Comments

Comment posted by R.Bill Moser on August 14, 2011 at 2:38 PM

Excellent and well processed.

Registered on January 29, 2010, 285 Posts, 4281 Comments

Comment posted by Jay Levin on August 14, 2011 at 3:10 PM

Stan, as far as I can recall, the mist at the top came out the way it looked. I'm happy with it. The 6 exposures were taken with auto exposure bracketing and went fast. I doubt the sturdy trees moved at all. If you notice the river, there was no wind at the bottom. If anything was moving, it was the mist at the top, but I don't believe it moved at all during the exposures. I think ghosting was not a problem here.

Registered on April 24, 2009, 21 Posts, 184 Comments

Comment posted by Jeff Hackett on August 14, 2011 at 4:06 PM

I think this is awesome, what a moment in nature! You should be very proud of this one.

Registered on March 13, 2006, 65 Posts, 1119 Comments

Comment posted by Floris van Breugel on August 14, 2011 at 4:16 PM

The mist here is really lovely, and the processing works great. Well done!

Registered on December 19, 2008, 306 Posts, 4840 Comments

Comment posted by Art Escobado on August 14, 2011 at 6:56 PM

This is nice - do you have more of the left side?? I like the processing.

Registered on January 7, 2007, 0 Posts, 775 Comments

Comment posted by Jeffrey Sipress on August 14, 2011 at 7:16 PM

HDR or not, this is one fine image.

Registered on February 17, 2004, 236 Posts, 1197 Comments

Comment posted by Jay Levin on August 14, 2011 at 9:19 PM

Art, there was more on the left side, but I felt it was a distraction to El Capitan, so I cropped it out.

Registered on April 24, 2009, 21 Posts, 184 Comments

Comment posted by David Edwards on August 15, 2011 at 2:40 AM

A beautiful scene with some magic light, Jay. I love the painted look of the image and your vertical comp. Nice work.

Registered on December 6, 2008, 142 Posts, 2623 Comments

Comment posted by Bruce Omori on August 15, 2011 at 3:42 AM

Beautiful work, Jay! The mist really adds a dimension to the overall feel of the composition... great execution!!

Registered on December 6, 2010, 6 Posts, 175 Comments

Comment posted by Harley Goldman on August 15, 2011 at 12:34 PM

Great combo of the new leaves, the mist and the snow. Beautiful take on a great scene.

Registered on November 19, 2003, 586 Posts, 11271 Comments

Comment posted by Joseph Campisi on August 15, 2011 at 2:42 PM

Technicals aside, this is a great scene Jay. It's the misty clouds and snow covered trees that make it for me.

Registered on November 24, 2008, 304 Posts, 3211 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Hartmann on August 15, 2011 at 10:57 PM

This is beautiful. The fog adds to the majestic feel and the processing is wonderful.
This tight comp of the big rock is powerful but I wonder how it might look with just a bit more sky.

Registered on January 15, 2009, 13 Posts, 772 Comments

Comment posted by Zack Clothier on August 17, 2011 at 8:16 AM

I like this, although I find the composition to be a bit tight and wish for a slightly wider view. The sky looks a little funny (to blue maybe), probably due to the HDR processing. The light is really special here however.

Registered on January 28, 2010, 343 Posts, 2257 Comments

Comment posted by Jody Grigg on August 18, 2011 at 8:13 PM

Great job with the processing, it works for me!

Registered on February 7, 2004, 165 Posts, 1227 Comments