On the other hand…

Winter Chill, Bridalveil Fall Reflection, Yosemite
Sony a7RIV
Sony 24-105 G
1/8 seconds
F/10
ISO 100

On Wednesday I wrote about featuring the sky in my images, and how my love for all things astronomical and meteorological reflects in my photography. On the other hand, I’m certainly not singularly focused on the sky—it’s more a feeling that any part of my frame that’s committed to the sky must add value, and my belief that the most visual value comes from things I love: the sun, moon, stars, and meteorological phenomena, all of which I pursue aggressively.

But my sky-centric approach doesn’t preclude me from shooting when the sky is lacking. In fact, some of my favorite images have little or no sky. It really comes down to playing the hand you’re dealt, and understanding that there’s no law that dictates how much or little sky to put in your images.

One thing I won’t do is include a (boring) sky that’s nothing but a homogenous blanket of blue or gray. Given a choice, I actually prefer the gray because at least clouds cast diffuse light that cuts shadows, allowing me to photograph anything in the landscape. One the other hand, when there’s sunlight on the landscape, I either search for subjects in full shade, or try to find creative ways to use the sunlight.

Sunlight solutions

One popular sunlight techniques is a sunstar. Not only can you create a sunstar when the sun is on the horizon, it can also be achieved by positioning yourself in the shade of any terrestrial object, such as a nearby tree or rock, and letting the sun move into your frame.

The smaller your aperture, the sharper, more clearly defined the sunstar will be. I recommend f/16 or smaller, and usually go with f/18 or f/20. Sunstar quality also varies from lens to lens, with higher quality wide lenses generally delivering the best results.

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Another sunlight solution is overexposing a large part of the frame to create a high-key image with darker subjects that standout against washed out or completely white surroundings. For these images, I usually look for something backlit, such as a flower or leaves, and position myself so the leaf or flower is against the bright sky. I then meter on my darker, backlit subject and push the exposure until the sky is severely or completely overexposed, creating a brilliant canvas for my subject.

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When I find myself in a forested area with dark shade punctuated with splashes of light, I often look for a primary subject in direct light, and juxtapose it against a darker background. Sometimes some of those splashes of light poke through, creating a jeweled effect in the background.

Searching for shade

As fun as it is to try to find ways to work the sun into my images, probably my favorite boring sky solution is to work on subjects in full shade. Everything is in the same light, making exposure easy, colors saturate, and providing the opportunity to feature any subject that catches my eye. While images that use direct sunlight can be quite dramatic, images in overcast or shade often have a more soothing feel.

I almost always wait until I can find water in shade or overcast before photographing it. Not only does shade subdue contrast, it gives me more flexibility to control the amount of motion blur in the water.

About this image

I returned Wednesday from my Yosemite Winter Moon photo workshop. While the moon received top billing, there are a lot of reasons to love photographing Yosemite in winter. This week’s group hit most of them: snow (though none fell during the workshop), fog, beautiful clouds, and even enough water in Yosemite Falls to make it worth photographing.

Despite the great conditions, I had to make a few on-the-fly adjustments, as is often the case in Yosemite’s fickle winter. For example, when Tuesday’s forecast called for cloudy skies that threatened to wipe out the evening’s sunset moonrise plan, I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to photograph some of Yosemite’s normally sunlit scenes that require clouds to be photo-worthy, while secretly wishing for clear sky so the moon would come out.

When the clouds failed to materialize, I adjusted my plans again and took the group to Valley View. With its riverside views and reflections of El Capitan, Cathedral Rocks, and Bridalveil Fall, Valley View is one of the most photographed scenes in Yosemite. Even better, in winter Valley View never gets sunlight, making a good spot for blue sky photography.

With El Capitan in full sun and the Merced River in shade, the reflection was spectacular, but I was drawn more to the low fog hovering in shady Bridalveil Meadow. While of the group concentrated on the El Capitan view, I worked with a two or three just upstream from the parking lot, where the view of Bridalveil Fall was best, and the reflection wasn’t too shabby either.

I quickly settle on this composition because it completely excluded the very boring sky. Once I got was satisfied with my composition, I played with a range of shutter speeds for a variety of water blur effects. I also had to monitor the ebb and flow of the fog and time my exposures for its peak.