Tuolumne River Cascades

Posted by Don Smith (California, United States) on 26 July 2008 in Landscape & Rural.

The Tuolumne River cascades over glacial granite about a mile above the Glen Aulin High Camp in Yosemite National Park's high country. I used a Singh-Ray variable neutral density filter to allow for a 30-second shutter speed to convey the sensuous flow of the water. The filter (which allows for a range of -2 to -8 stops) renders the scene nearly dark through the viewfinder, thus composition must be set prior to dialing down the filter for the desired effect. To see more of my images and learn about upcoming workshops in Yosemite, the eastern-Sierra, Big Sur, Mendocino, Death Valley and northern Arizona, please visit my website at http://www.donsmithphotography.com

Comments (12)

Mackenzie from Salem, Oregon, United States

This is gorgeous, nice exposure and composition. That's for the explanation on how you did this!

26 Jul 2008 5:47am

Kylie Greenan from Richmond, Australia

Lovely compostion and time exposure, it caught my eye as I have something similar up tomorrow. Well captured.

26 Jul 2008 9:28am

Eleftheria! from Athens, Greece

Thank you very much for showing this beauty!

26 Jul 2008 10:02am

Stefan from Thiersee, Austria

wonderful long time exposere, fine composition!

26 Jul 2008 10:37am

Ana Lúcia from Leiria, Portugal

Very well exposed.

26 Jul 2008 1:58pm

April from Wuhan, China

magnificent image....love the soft glow of the water making it a calming shot....

26 Jul 2008 3:04pm

Don Smith from California, United States

Hello everyone,

Thank you all for your comments. Wasn't sure how this image would play out. Prior to this filter, shots like this in bright sunshine were impossible (unless you attached numerous ND filters). It's fun to be able to get creative with water at 2pm in the afternoon on a clear day!

26 Jul 2008 3:15pm

One from Açores, Portugal

Very nice effect.

26 Jul 2008 4:04pm

DarkElf from Perth, Australia

wow! 30 seconds of exposure sure made this shot! great effect and you have not overexposed a bit - great work!

27 Jul 2008 4:38am

Don Smith from California, United States

Hi One and DarkElf,

Yes, it's fun to be able to do "motion" studies in sunlit conditions. As you know, water is easy to overexpose. This is where keeping an eye on the histogram and exposing as far to the right as possible without clipping helps tremendously. Your histogram tells you everything you need to know about your exposure (I just wish Canon would make it easier to see the edges of the graph in daylight). Another bonus: if you shoot in RAW, generally you have another stop of overexposure to play with. The "Recovery slider in Adobe Raw Converter can actually reclaim what appears to be lost data. This is not to say go ahead and be sloppy with your exposures, but it's nice to know there is some fudge room unlike the good old days of shooting chrome!

27 Jul 2008 3:12pm