POTD: El Capitan Reflection

El Capitan Reflection, Yosemite National Park, California

El Capitan Reflection, Merced River, Gates of the Valley, Yosemite National Park, California.

With one camera on a tripod taking a series of aligned images of Gates of the Valley (see my last article) in the changing light, I was using my other camera with a longer lens to capture different areas of the overall scene.

I would have preferred to have my second camera on a tripod too, but you can only carry so much gear with you when traveling by plane. When I go by car I have two tripods. Even at ISO 1600 my shutter speed was 1/50 second. With a tripod I could have used a much longer shutter speed and dropped the ISO to 100.

As the sun set and the light levels dropped, the face of El Capitan got warmer and warmer. I loved the glow in the Merced River. While I was periodically pushing the shutter button of the tripod mounted camera with a lens at 24mm, I was photographing the reflection of El Capitan among the rocks of the Merced River at about 70mm.

Photo Data: Canon 7D Mark II. Canon EF 70-300mm f/45.-5.6 lens at 70mm. 1/50 second, f/8, ISO 1600.

Link

How to Photograph Gates of the Valley