WD wrote:
1) Kaweah Basin. Shooting into the sun. I cannot seem to get around this. Plus the north
faces are always in the shadows. I was there in September, which may have added to the
poor photos. Lighting is bad, everything looks dull and tired. A bit of lingering forest fire
smoke in the air did not help either.
2) Kern River Canyon below Junction Meadow. Tight canyon. All I get are unimpressive
foreshortened views.
3) Valhalla. Three attempts and no good luck. The valley smog seems to seep into the area
and all my photos look like they were taken in LA.
4) Ritter Lakes. Very dark rock and bright white snow. I have yet learned to handle this
high contrast
Hi WD
Kaweah Basin tends to best at sunrise, especially if there was thunderstorm activity the
evening before or during the night. This will give you not only the soft light that you
get during the magic hour, but some vibrant colors that make Kaweah Ridge sing with
color. As discussed before one needs to time the trip around such meteorological events
otherwise you will not get much color in the ridge or clouds in the sky.
Here is a color photo taken in the upper part of the basin, there were some clouds to the
east that helped with color, but not clouds in the vicinity:
http://WildernessApertures.com/img/s9/v ... 0982-6.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The best place to take the ultimate photo, would be from the ridge between Peak
12972 and Peak 12457 western end in Kaweah Basin. This would grant an encompassing
view of the entire Kaweah Ridge, but one would need to be up there before sunrise, or
if a storm has cleared some, than for sunset, if safe.
When thinking about Kern Canyon you have to either showcase the river or the canyon.
For me the canyon is about towering cliffs on both sides, and a view that goes on for
miles. The best place for this is near the top of HST as it climbs out of the Kern going
west. It affords a dramatic view that is unparalleled from any other spot along the Kern.
Staying at Upper Funston the night before, where I got rain, and hail for a couple of
hours, this set up for the possibility of getting the right atmospheric conditions. Had to
get an early start to find the opportune spot, and wait till the sun rose a bit so some of
the rays would hit the cliffs on the western side of the canyon. With all the thunderstorm
activity the night before, some haze had formed miles down the canyon, which added some
depth to the shot, and some color.
http://WildernessApertures.com/img/s10/ ... 4759-6.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Valhalla is not easy to photograph because as you mention conditions may not be right.
Also personally the best spot to photograph it would take a some effort, if at all possible.
The location would be from the peak right across from it, south of Valhalla, and it would
take more effort than I think it is worth.
Also when there is haze present, even though you said you do not like to do it, but black
& white lends itself to these conditions sometimes, like here:
http://WildernessApertures.com/img/s3/v ... 3469-6.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Unfortunately my Ritter Lake photo's where part of the major collection accidently
discarded years ago during a move.
Very dark rock, and bright white snow are way beyond a camera's dynamic range.
Here are 3 articles that will give you an explanation on how to deal with this sort of
situation, and they work extremely well in most landscape when there is no movement
(clouds or water).
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutor ... tion.shtml" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutor ... ures.shtml" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutor ... ding.shtml" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;