Back to reality...

Man, what an amazing trip. I always set my sights high when I go to Yosemite, and I've yet to be disappointed. The kids had a great time, the weather was perfect and I even got to take a few pictures. Speaking of pictures ('cause that's why we're here), I had a specific type of image I was hoping to capture this trip; a star trail. The technique for this is not overly complicated, although it does require some prior planning and a lot of waiting. The tricky part is being somewhere that's dark enough to make it turn out. Turns out Yosemite is just that kinda place. It's far enough away from any major cities, has some prominent features facing the right direction, and fortunately, can have some amazingly clear weather.

My wife said I should start my Yosemite posts with my favorite image (and hers). Well, here's the result of my hour long vigil on Swinging Bridge. The falls is Yosemite Falls, the tallest waterfall in the U.S. and the reflections are courtesy of the Merced River that flows through the park.


Curiously I should have had a second star trail image to post, seeing as how I spent 45 minutes the following night at Tunnel View, but a slight technical error (not fully depressing the shutter button) left me with a one second black frame. I didn't realize this until an hour later since this technique requires the camera to take a second exposure of equal length to eliminate noise. Imagine my surprise. Lessons learned.