Horsetail Falls Natural Firefall

Posted by Don Smith (California, United States) on 2 March 2008 in Landscape & Rural.

Hello to all of you visitng my blog. I have been debating for some time now whether to take the plunge and join the world of bloggers or sit contentedly on the sidelines. After much searching for a suitable online company, I settled with Aminus3.com. I felt their interface and templates complemented my site and made the photoblogging procedure very intuitive.

I have waited 5 years to see this incredible light on Yosemite's Horsetail Falls, so it was only fitting that this be my first post. I plan on blogging two to three times a week based on my workload. As many of you know, I am a sports and landscape photographer and I plan on posting images created in both arenas.

This image was captured while standing on a boulder in the middle of the Merced River with a couple of workshop participants and my good friend and fellow photographer Nick Lust. Posted sunset time was 5:40pm and the light had actually disappeared from the falls at 5:23pm. For over 17 minutes no light struck the falls. Many photographers had packed and left but we were willing to wait until 15 minutes past sunset (5:55pm). Incredibly the magical light began to appear 30 seconds after sunset and I recorded this image at 5:44pm after shooting many verticals. A minute later, the light flickered out and was not to be seen again.

For the past couple of years I have done extensive image searches for Horsetail Falls which is a sesonal falls off the eastern face of El Capitan and fed entirely by snowmelt. This image is special in that it takes a warm spell to get the snow melting (temperatures had been hovering in the 60's), plenty of snow to feed the falls (January had been a heavy snow month) and most importantly, a clear path to the horizon as the sun sets 1,000's of miles away over the Pacific Ocean. The red light is the last visible rays of the sun bending over the horizon and precisely striking the falls. Until seeing this with my own eyes, I always questioned the validity of the images displaying this vibrant red light. Now that I have witnessed it myself, I can concur that the light is really this color and no special Photoshop tricks were used.

Photographers come from all parts of the globe to photograph this unique scene but sadly few actually get to witness it. Nine days after I recorded this image another good friend and fellow photographer, Mike Hall, actually had light up to 6 minutes past posted sunset. He said the light turned golden but not red! What makes it turn red remains a mystery to me. If any of you have a scientific explanation, please send a post.

For now, please enjoy! http://www.donsmithphotography.com

Comments (15)

Jason Kravitz from Brussels, Belgium

Don - this is quite impressive - talk about patience! It looks like a flow of lava.

2 Mar 2008 3:13pm

Don Smith from Hollister, United States

Jason - That was the exact term I used to describe this image to my family. To witness this was incredible. I'd seen other images and always thought they were somehow manipulated in Photoshop. I can tell you now, this is exactly how it appeared.

2 Mar 2008 3:22pm

Normand from laval, quebec, Canada

Bonjour, Beautifull capture. Incredible story to get it. Bravo. The light is red cause the atmosphere is dry. The more humidity the yellower it gets. I wish there where such scenes to capture here in Québec.

3 Mar 2008 3:40am

Aidan Hammond from Seoul, South Korea

Beautiful image; what a spectacular scene; there is something special about waiting for a moment like that to happen

3 Mar 2008 4:41am

Don Smith from Hollister, United States

Hi Normand and Aidan - thanks for the comments. Normand, the evening I shot this image we had a lot of clouds out to the west, that is why the light fell off the falls for 17 minutes. The night my friend shot it, he actually had a very clear night. I was directly west of him near the coast watching it happen live on a webcam on my Voyager phone (how's that for being geeky) while picking my son up from his baseball practice. But he showed me the images (6 minutes past sunset) and the light was indeed golden but not red. So even with the clouds I'm assuming you mean there was more moisture in the air the night he shot it accounting for more diffraction of the red light rays?

3 Mar 2008 2:40pm

Jeff Cable from Saratoga, United States

Two thoughts come to mind when I look at this image. "Wow!" and "Damn, I wish I had been there to capture that!". I am so jealous that you are out doing what the rest of us want to do! Great shot.

3 Mar 2008 6:00pm

Wysterior from Kloten, Switzerland

Great work and welcome to Aminus3. Wow - you've got a dream cam!! A Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - awesome and miles away from an EOS 400D....
Cya Wys

3 Mar 2008 8:27pm

Don Smith from Hollister, United States

Hi Jeff - I can't count the number of times I've been out looking for that elusive red light. Still looking for a scientific explanation as to why it shows so sporadically. William Neill says it is a combination of atmospheric conditions and the sun's angle, but confessed that he also doesn't understand it completely. Believe it or not, other than a slight tweak for contrast to correct for the flat RAW file, this is exactly how the color looked! I can now spot the fakes.

3 Mar 2008 8:41pm

hwalk from Utah, United States

Welcome! amazing picture--thought it was lava.

4 Mar 2008 1:45am

Jim Mahan from Glendale, CA, United States

Fantastic photo Don! I have been researching this event for a few years but have not made it to Yosemite to try to photograph it. I cancelled a planned trip this year and am now VERY sorry I did! Hope to see you there next year.

4 Mar 2008 8:04pm

Stefan Thaler from Thiersee, Austria

Looks great, wonderful!

4 Mar 2008 11:49pm

Don Smith from Hollister, United States

hwalk, Jim and Stefan - thanks for the nice comments. Jim, I have been after this elusive light for five years - anywhere form 5 - 8 days during the month of February. If a storm socks in forget it. I've gone on crystal clear days and the light wasn't there. So many things have to be in your favor in order to witness this light. I've seen it go from yellow to golden to pink, but never this red - and this all happened after sunset! The angle of the sun is one critical part of the equation, Normand from Quebec, Canada said it has to do with the humidity. I'm not 100% certain, but when it happens, it's awesome!

5 Mar 2008 2:41pm

E1006Au12 from Mons, Belgium

Amazing pictures!! It looks like lava!

9 Mar 2008 1:02pm

Kritik from Los Angeles, United States

Great stuff really but sadly trite and boring. Your landscapes shots have all been done before, from amateur and pros they all seek to do shots like these, over and over and over. Perusing through your work here and your website, I have yet to see something that I have not already seen in countless magazines and books, don't get me wrong your work is great but as I said they've all been done before, 20 or more years from now no one would be able to look at your work and say, "wow that's a Don Smith photograph..." unlike when one looks at works by Adams, Steiglitz, Bresson or even Steve McCurry. Simply put, your photographs are just like everybody else's who went and took pictures at these same places. You have not a unique, individual signature style to explicitly distinguish and separate your work from the myriads of photographers out there today. An ordinary bloke with a simple point and shoot can easily replicate your work perhaps do even better, just look around in this photo community. There are artist/ photographers and there are photographers, your work simply says you're a photographer. If the money is good and you're content with your work and happy about it I suppose that's all that matters.

6 Jun 2008 8:21pm

Don Smith from California, United States

Kritik (critic / critique?),

When a professional photographer, or any artist for that matter, decides to blog, he/she is opening themselves up to comments from anyone around the world. You sound like an intelligent person and you certainly have a right to express your feelings. Your tone is somewhat condescending and cruel, but perhaps it was meant to be that way. You are obviously not from the Amin3 community but that is alright. It's just too bad that I have no way to respond. As for "personal style," I believe artists (myself included) are always in a constant state of growth and development (especially if one is passionate about their work as I am) and style develops as a result of this. The names you listed certainly have a distinct style, but one that has developed over a career of shooting in one genre. I am a relative newcomer to the world of landscape photography. I have spent a great deal of my career shooting professional sports - landscape was basically my hobby until six years ago when I decided to pursue it with much more vigor. I am very much open to constructive criticism, I've spent 30 years making a living as a professional photographer, I've had my teeth kicked in a number of times by some of the best editors in the business. Yet I have been able to intelligently discuss differences of opinions with each and every one of those editors (who by the way are professionals) and I've grown. It would be nice if you would identify yourself - I'd love to know who you are. Are you a photographer, editor or none of the above? I think the latter may be the truth as anyone who is serious about this craft knows how difficult it truly is. Please feel free to e-mail me.

1 Jul 2008 11:40am

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Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III
4/5 seconds
F/11.0
ISO 100
180 mm