Shot last February in Yosemite (from Cook's Meadow). Canon 5D Mk III, Canon 70-200 f/2.8, ISO 400, 1/200 sec, at f/8. Tripod was on mushy ground so kept the SS up. The sun set into a considerable haze killing most of the potential color of a clear sunset, so I took some liberties in LR to bring up color, but only in the Basic panel; curve was Linear and camera profile was Camera Neutral, which makes things look pretty boring but gives me a straightforward starting point. Then did a few final tweaks in PS CS 6 (a contrast mask to clean up the snow and denoise). There is some irregularity in the sky from thin, high clouds.
Your wish is my command. But my scruples are only to use composites from very close to the same scene. The clearing mist and moon (one image) was shot 40 min earlier, and just to the left of the frame presented. (And a slightly longer focal length, but this is art.) I hadn't thought to do this and just now whipped it out.
I wouldn't like to take any off the bottom, though. The openings in the trees come to an end before the bottom of the frame, leaving a simple and solid base for the image to rest on, and cutting into them would be like cutting into a reflection.
Hi Diane. I am unsure which post I like the best. Agree the sky is lacking something in the op but the rp includes more sky and takes some focus off the dome IMHO, not so keen on that. I Like the trees in the foreground and the detail you have captured despite soft ground.
Hi Diane, another vote for the version with the moon...it adds a lot of interest to the image. I was just looking through one of my old Galen Rowell books where he climbed and documented the first free ascent of the northwest face. Yikes!
Thanks, everyone! I could shrink the moon/fog to the same focal length as the original image and probably get by with the original amount of sky, or just a tiny bit more, but it would be a lot less dramatic. Wouldn't have thought to add the new sky, especially for posting here, but it does sort of fit. By the time I shot the posted image, the moon was out of the frame on the top left, but not by a huge margin. It would have been closer to this position by the next night, but unfortunately, I couldn't be.
Hi Diane, I too like the version with added clouds and moon, and I too would not have thought of that option. I might add a little contrast to the dome to better bring out it's structures.
Half Dome Sunset
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