Half Dome Refelcted on the Merced

[Travis Rhoads]

A few Yosemite posts and mentions have me wanting to go back...I have only been once, and it was a short 3 day trip in October of 2015. The first day in the park, one of my friends on the trip badly sprained his ankle on the way back down from Artist's Point, so we were a little limited the second day on what we could do. We stuck to the flatlands in the valley, and I knew I was looking for an image of Half Dome reflected in the Merced. This was the resulting image. One of my favorites from the trip.

Canon 5DMkII | Canon 17-40L | Lee Big Stopper/3 Stop | 90 Seconds @ f/9.0 ISO 50
HalfDomeOnTheMerced-F by Travis Rhoads, on Flickr

 

[Kyle Jones]

Really nice B&W rendering!

 

[Travis Rhoads]

Really nice B&W rendering!

Thanks Kyle! This image was always going to be black and white! For me it makes a difference in how I shoot the image, I seem to pay more attention to highlight and shadow control, looking for scenes with more contrast. And being back on the 5D2, control of the exposure was a real focus too.

 

[Ben Egbert]

Very nice, love the reflections and the clouds are also cool.

 

[AlanLichty]

Beautiful! I like the effects of the 30s exposure on the clouds above Half Dome too.

 

[Travis Rhoads]

Very nice, love the reflections and the clouds are also cool.

Thanks Ben, we sat around all setup, waiting for clouds, and finally got them!

Beautiful! I like the effects of the 30s exposure on the clouds above Half Dome too.

Thank you Alan. It was 90 seconds, but it really made the light thin clouds have more presence in the image to put them in motion.

 

[Linda Combs]

Very good!

 

[Travis Rhoads]

Very good!

Thank you!

 

[MayD]

Cool. I love the reflection on the Merced.

 

[JimFox]

Her Travis,

You definitely are one of the masters of B&W! This is so good that when I saw it this morning I almost turned back around to head back into Yosemite again!

Jim

 

[Travis Rhoads]

Cool. I love the reflection on the Merced.

Thanks, glad you like it, a case where a centered horizon can work, when you are balancing reflection with that which is reflected.

Her Travis,

You definitely are one of the masters of B&W! This is so good that when I saw it this morning I almost turned back around to head back into Yosemite again!

Jim

You are being much too kind Jim. But to that point, a couple of years ago I spent almost 2 years with a black and white photography learning group, I started out as one of the students, but ended up as one of the instructors...it really, really changed the way I shoot black and white, and the way I edit for black and white. So I am glad it had an effect...

And just in case you needed some more incentive...my image for today will be black and white too, of Yosemite...just for you.

 

[Ryan10]

Most excellent Dome and reflection picture. A lot of Yosemite pics posted here lately. Ironically, I lived within a 90 minute drive for 8 years of my adult life; however, I was not into photography at that time.

 

[Travis Rhoads]

Most excellent Dome and reflection picture. A lot of Yosemite pics posted here lately. Ironically, I lived within a 90 minute drive for 8 years of my adult life; however, I was not into photography at that time.

Thank you Ryan. 90 minutes...I would not get a lot done...I would be out there a lot...probably too much!

 

[Tuan Le]

This is a lovely image Travis and I like the added interest in the sky from the extended exposure. I just got back from Yosemite 2 weeks ago and I already miss it!

 

[Travis Rhoads]

This is a lovely image Travis and I like the added interest in the sky from the extended exposure. I just got back from Yosemite 2 weeks ago and I already miss it!

Thank you. Yosemite is such a great place, I wish I was closer...I saw today that the roads are closed due to fire?