Half Dome Sunset from Camp 6

Posted by Don Smith (California, United States) on 10 June 2009 in Landscape & Rural.

Yosemite's old Camp 6 affords one an incredible view of Half Dome and the meandering Merced River. This image is a combination of six exposures combined in Photoshop utilizing layers and masks which allowed me to control the dynamic range of this image - something our sophisticated cameras cannot do. This is a situation where Photomatix Pro almost got it right, but I wasn't satisfied that it could hold up to an enlargement past 16" x 24" without some noticeable artifacts rearing their ugly heads.

It was fun having this lone cloud hug the top of the famed dome as it was being lit by warm sunset light. I tried balancing the image in camera by utilizing a 5-stop soft-edge split neutral density filter, but it was too obvious.

This is where digital really shines. By utilizing masks, I am able to brush in and out just the right amount of blend from image to image. I finally applied the "Foliage" filter in Nik's Color Efex Pro which gave a bit of extra punch to the cottonwoods lining the bank. It's a longer procedure combining images in Photoshop, but in the long run, worth the effort.

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