153/365: Enter the Yosemite Valley.

The day we rolled into the Valley, we stopped at the Tunnel View overlook that stands on the outer edge of the park, looking in. We were anxious to whip out the cameras and shoot some timelapse, but first we had to bundle up. A bit colder than muggy North Carolina was that morning...

Sufficiently wrapped, we joined the HORDES of photographers at the rim of the overlook and started snapping. The last light of day was creeping up the valley and El Capitan. Good time for a few minutes of timelapse. I was also out for stills in general, and though I believe a single frame of a timelapse should completely stand on its own as a single photograph, sometimes you can't get the same effect in still form, and vice versa. For instance, the weather wasn't anything too special. Some clouds hovering over Half Dome. Looks great in motion, but pretty boring for a still. It would be a BEAR to have to add more clouds to every frame of the timelapse, so I just did the one.

Believe nothing that you see. But click the pic above for a bigger version.

-llg

PS - There may or may not be some pundits that will cry foul at the use of photoshop to sweeten a picture like this. And if I was working for a news pub, or Nat Geo, it would be a foul indeed. By Ansel Adams spent YEARS in Yosemite, waiting for the right weather and light to come together when he was ready with his camera. I had four days. What, you want me to come back with crap, just cause the clouds sucked? If it means anything to you, the clouds did come from another moment during this trip. What, it doesn't matter to you? Well shut up, you're lucky I didn't lie to you and say it was shot straight up on a Hasselblad.