Once I finally got there (long story), I set up my tripod, camera, 300mm and 1.4 tele-converter and took some photos. Decided to switch lenses (17-40mm) so I could get a few photos of the whole lake….just because. Didn’t realize until I got home that my big lens developed a focus problem. All of them are slightly out of focus. Can’t really see it until I zoom in at 100%, so I decided to at least post them here so others can enjoy them. As far as printing them large, forget about it.

Here’s Shaver Lake showing the dam and the new liner.

Empty Shaver Lake and Dam

You can see the old dam that was built in the 1920s on the bottom of the photo. When it’s re-filled, you won’t see it.

An Empty Shaver Lake

Using my larger lens I shot a few photos of the old spillway, dam and some of the ruins including an old water wheel. I converted these to Sepia for the antique-look.

The Old Dam and Spillway

The Old Dam and Spillway

Old Website

As I usually do before I look for new changes, I cruised the net for some inspiration. Not sure if I saw any inspirational sites, but I went ahead and made a few minor changes….at first. Then I thought I would make a few more changes and a few more….you get the picture. I always use my “playground” website. This way I’m not disturbing my regular site.

New Website

A few evenings ago, I got a PM from a guy that wanted to know how I did my Facebook page. I told him I used FBML, Facebook’s version of HTML. I pointed him to the link I used when I set up my original Facebook page. In all of this, I found out that Facebook will stop using it, so I had to learn how to use iFrames. It was a bit of a rough start, but I’m really liking my new Facebook Fan Page.

So, I hope you like the new look!

In no particular order, but generally from earliest to recent…

If you’d like to buy one (or more) of these images, I listed them below for easy purchase.
1 – Swirling Clouds Over Bridalveil Falls
2 – Fire in the Sky
3 – Orange Sky at Mono Lake
4 – First Light at Convict Lake
5 – Convict Lake Abstract
6 – Sticks I
7 – Morning Has Broken
8 – Trees
9 – Peaceful Morning
10 – Panoramic View of Lake Yosemite

Happy New Year!

Case in point. I posted this a few months ago and a few claim it’s not level. It appears to be tilted because of the receding shoreline to the right and the optical illusion of the filtered sunlight through the trees to the left. I used a level and double checked it in Photoshop to make sure the reflected trees line up.

"Morning has Broken" - Level

So I tried to make it “look level” and came up with this.

Morning Has Broken - Looking Level

That one was really obvious, at least to me. The reflected trees on the “looking level” image is obvious not inline. But what about cases like this. The first one is level. To make sure, I zoomed in to the buildings, can’t see them unless you have the original file, and the vertical walls are plumb.

Lake Yosemite at Sunset - Level

To make it “look level”.

Looking Level

So what would you do? Do you make them look level or do you try to be authentic?

I would love your comments about this! If your not a “photographer”, that’s okay, I’d love your comments as well.

I got a few photos, including the sunset. Only 15 minutes to go until I should see the moon. All of a sudden I say a maintenance truck in the parking lot and I heard voices asking about whose van is that. It was mine. I didn’t realize they locked the gate at 5pm, so I had to “run” back to the van before they locked me in for the night.

As I was “running” back, I’d stop and see if the moon was visible. It wasn’t. There was a low bank of clouds that obscured it. Only until I got half way home did I finally see it, but it was too late.

Going to try again next month, this time I’ll park the van outside the gate like some of the other fishermen!

I wanted to frame the moon, the “tower” and maybe the reflection off of the lake. Unfortunately the gate was locked, so I had to shoot from “outside” of the park.

The Lunar Eclipse

Lunar Eclipse from Lake Yosemite

Reflections from Lake Yosemite

Reflections from Lake Yosemite

Reflections from Lake Yosemite

Sunrise over Merced

Sunrise Over Merced

Some of you know by now, my wife booked us (me and the kids) room at the historic Mariposa Hotel Inn for Thanksgiving. She woke me up Thanksgiving morning and told me to pack! We had no plans for the day, no Turkey to cook and her mom and dad were visiting out of state.

Sounded good to me. We like things a bit un-traditional. We found only one restaurant open and instead of ordering the Turkey buffet, we had hamburgers instead.

Since we were 45 minutes from Yosemite, I had to drive up the next day and do the “tourist thing”. My wife suggested doing the nature walk at 3pm, so that’s what we did.

Had to stop and get a picture of Cathedral Rocks.

Cathedral Rocks

Had to photograph the trees while we were on our nature walk.

Trees

We “missed” sunset as we were on the bus. Didn’t see any ‘wow’ moments anyway. Had to stop here and try and capture the last bit of light on El Capitan.

El Capitan

I was a bit disappointed from the lack of water. Doesn’t look like anything changed in almost 2 months. I do hope they continue to fill the pools with water.

Despite the low water, I “managed” to photograph the sunrise and spilled my coffee in the process. Thankfully it spilled on the ground and not in the van or on the camera.

I was happy to see (and photograph) a Black-crowned Night Heron…a first for me. I had to remove my teleconverter to be able to compose the Great Egret 10 feet away from me…another first. Usually for me, those guys fly way before I get close enough. Got a few shots of a White-faced Ibis as well.

All and all, I would say it was a good morning and hope to get back soon.

I posted my favorite fall colors last month. I was going through them and “found” a few more images, so I thought I’d share them here.