Another clearing winter storm

[Diane Miller]

You may have to know El Capitan (in Yosemite National Park) to like this one. It's a massive cliff rising 3000 ft from the valley floor. If there has been any rain it can have some very nice clouds in the morning, as happened this day. (The morning before I finally got Horsetail Fall.) I decided to go in closer and exclude trees from the base. I share Adhiks'a love for the abstractions of longer focal lengths. The early warm light had faded, but I went for it anyway.

This was only 70mm (it's all relative). Canon 5D3, 24-70 at 70, ISO 400 at f/11. Could have gone to a wider aperture, in retrospect. I had been including some trees and didn't think to change settings, but noise was no problem at ISO 400 so no need to think about it. (Who thinks after a sunrise run before breakfast?)

[Glennie Passier]

Diane, after the Horsetail Falls image, of course this one is not so dramatic. The trees on the top give this cliff face, scale. I really like the diagonal ligther cloud through the middle of the cliff...and where it would intersect with the top of the cliff, the cliff runs off diagonally in the opposite direction. My only thought would be is to consider darkening, ever so slightly, some of the darken some of rifts in the cliffs...The 24-70 would have to be my favourite lens. I haven't used it for a while. Since my bird obsession.

[dankearl]

I am not sure what the point or focus or interest is here. Not sure if this works as a landscape or an abstract......

[Adhika Lie]

I don't think a photo should have a clear cut definition of which category it should fall into but I would argue that this is a lovely minimalist take on the grand El Capitan, Diane. The grand El Capitan blanketed by low clouds and with some snow on the ground (yes I adore whatever snow visible on the top there, Diane. Awesome detail!)... I think this picture needs a lot of context to appreciate. I have stood in the valley admiring this granite slab and that really brings this picture to live. Thanks for sharing this Diane! It's awesome!

[Don Railton]

Hi Diane

I have never seen this spot " in the flesh" so to speak, but I find it a very impressive cliff... For me the critical element in this photo is the presence of the cliff face through the cloud at the lower parts of the image.. Along with the trees at the top it provides a sense of scale, aided by the swirling cloud... Well done.

DON

[Diane Miller]

Thanks! This is certainly intended to be a minimalist image. That's what nature provided and I loved the opportunity! There are so many "classic" shots of Yosemite, I'm always looking for a different take. And finding a clearing mist is always so dramatic for this huge cliff. You have to have stood beneath it to appreciate it. This is looking toward the famous Dawn Wall climbing route, 3000 vertical ft, which was free climbed for the first time about a year ago.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/01/150114-climbing-yosemite-caldwell-jorgeson-capitan/

Some remnants of this mist were still hanging around that evening to provide a BG for Horsetail Fall, which was off on the right.

I did compose some with the trees at the base and a FG of some branches of an old oak. I'll post when I get time.

[David Cowling]

A different and interesting image of a geographical feature that I have only seen in photographs. I like the clouds and the glimpses of the cliff face but I feel that the image is lacking a focal point so I will appreciate it as an abstract image rather than a landscape.

[Diane Miller]

I just now found time to look through the March issue of Outdoor Photographer and was struck by a quote from Minor White, in an article by Ian Plant (on pg 45): "One should not only photograph things for what they are but for what else they are." Plant goes on to say, "Try to think of elements in your scene not as waterfalls. mountains and trees -- the literal interpretation of these objects -- but rather in terms of perspective (depth and scale), space (the placement and arrangement of visual elements) and shapes (triangles, curves, lines, circles and other shapes). Composition is nothing more than figuring out a way to make all of these abstract components relate to one another. Learning to think abstractly is the single most important thing you can do to improve your artistic skills."

[Andrew McLachlan]

It is nice to see a different view of this iconic feature in Yosemite. I only wish for a touch more detail in the cliff face in the lower portion of the frame...not sure if detail extractor would pull some out or just make it noisy looking though. The details in the upper most section of El Capitan is fabulous!

[Diane Miller]

Thanks, Andrew! Easy to pull out more detail there in LR without noise or other adverse effects. I left it on the low contrast side there and pulled out more at the top to hope to avoid pulling the eye toward the bottom, but I'll have another look.

Thanks for appreciating it!