Night Photography in Yosemite Valley

[Rick Russell]

I will be in Yosemite Valley shooting on January 1-3. In part I selected this timeframe because of the full moon. I have researched basic information regarding longitude and latitude, and the time of sunset, moonrise and moon transit, but am not sure the direction in which the moon will be rising.

My present intent is to shoot with medium speed, fine grain B&W film, unless I am presented with conditions calling for color. Any advice and/or suggestions regarding shooting at night with a full moon, particularly relating to the Yosemite Valley, would be greatly appreciated.

Rick Russell

[John Kasaian]

Rick,

The moonlight reflecting of the granite walls in the valley is spectacular and with a little luck you might have snow on the valley floor as well. The last time I shot nocturnals in the valley was in the summer with TMAX400 which is my favorite film for that kind of work----minimal film reciprocity and I'm baaad at working the math. One thing to consider is how much sky you'll have in your photos because you'll get star trails (not so bad--you might even like the effect however I find that satillites kind of bug me---a straight line looks painful among all the graceful curves) The Bridge across the Merced river at the Housekeeping camp is one of my favorite places to shoot at night. The lighting at Camp Curry can provide some interesting effects among the trees...even better if there is snow.

[dietcookie]

Oooh, my plans were to go to Yosemite Valley for that weekend, but won't be full moon till the 3rd or so, so I chose somewhere closer to home, I'm jealous! For B&W, I always use TMAX 100, full moon normal conditions, I always get around 12-15min F8...reciprocity is pretty nice with TMX. I've been meaning to try out TMY, just haven't had the chance.

I usually take my DSLR and crank the ISO to 3200 and open the lens up all the way, usually determine the exposure using the histogram, translate the exposure for my film + reciprocity. http://mkaz.com/photo/tools/moonlight.html has a great calculator for a number of films, definitely check it out.

http://www.yosemite.org/vryos/ Has webcams for certain areas of the park, including the valley. Should give you some good ideas on how the weather will be. Have fun! I wish I was out there.

[George Stewart]

The full moon typically rises opposite to the setting sun. In this case, the moon won't be overhead until midnight or there about.

My best night shot was done with MF B&W from Glacier Point, which won't be accessible in winter except with skis. In that shot I got some cool star trails with a meteor going through.

The best shot I've seen was a color MF shot done of Yosemite falls. It was lit by moon light and had star trails and a rainbow. I'm sure the rainbow would not have been discernable to the naked eye. So, you may wish to try a heavily bracketed bunch of color shots for this and other falls.

[Keith S. Walklet]

I've not done any BW moonlight exposures, but have done quite a bit with color transparency film in Yosemite. I use 4 minutes at f-4 with 100 ISO film as the base exposure. That is a landscape illuminated by a full moon with clear sky. Haze can double the exposure. Move two days off full moon either direction and the exposure is at least a stop longer. A couple more days and it is two stops different. I favor Provia 100 ISO film for a more neutral color palette and routinely push my film two stops for some extra speed. With a compass, map and data from: http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneDay.html one can get a pretty good fix on where the moon will be rising in relation to specific spots in the park. There are also programs that calculate that for you.

Regarding the moonlit scene George, it may have been my poster of the Moonbow on Yosemite Falls. The falls won't be running big this time of year, unless it is warm. The spray typically freezes to cliffs surrounding the falls overnight and flakes off when the sunlight warms it mid-day. Winter water is quieter, but still beautiful.
Since the webcams were mentioned, I'll add that there are now time lapse movies of scenes from the three cameras consolidated at www.halfdome.net

One of the best shows the moon rising from behind Half Dome from the Ahwahnee Meadow on a misty night.

[Ron Marshall]

Fuji Acros has the best reciprocity characteristics of any film. Depending on the light level you may be better off with an EI 100 film and lower reciprocity.

[Eric Leppanen]

Michael Fry's book The Photographer's Guide to Yosemite Valley has a decent discussion regarding night photography, winter photography and capturing lunar rainbows. It also is a good general guide to Yosemite.

http://www.amazon.com/Photographers-Guide-Yosemite-Michael-Frye/dp/1930238002/sr=8-1/qid=1166567308/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-5278468-5282467?ie=UTF8&s=books

Some of the compositions have changed due to foliage growth (some of the photographs were taken 10-15 years ago), and the old pine tree on Sentinel Dome is no more. It is also written for a 35mm-shooting audience so you'll have to translate focal lengths, f-stops, etc. But I found it to be an excellent book.

[Keith S. Walklet]

>Michael Fry's book The Photographer's Guide to Yosemite Valley has a decent discussion regarding night photography, winter photography and capturing lunar rainbows. It also is a good general guide to Yosemite.

Eric is correct. That's a "must have" for any photographer visiting the park. Not just for the night time information, but for locations and much more. Since you have some time before you leave, it would be worthwhile to pick up a copy on-line to read in advance of your arrival. www.anseladams.com or www.yosemite.org both have it. And perhaps you will be lucky enough to bump into him while you are there.