Star Trails Over Yosemite Falls

[kurtlawson]

On a windless spring night in Yosemite Valley lit by half a moon, I sat on the boardwalk in Cook’s Meadow in the dark and just listened to the roar of the falls and the symphony of frogs inhabiting the flood waters around me. Aside from a few people that passed by on foot and on bike very briefly, I had the whole meadow to myself. The roar of Yosemite Falls was definite, and drowned out completely the murmur of a car here and there that lit up Northside Drive with their lights as they passed by. Over the course of fourteen five minute exposures, the Earth silently turned on its axis, rendered visible in the sky by the pinpoints of old light swirling around to the north. The waxing moon that provided light for the valley below had just achieved First Quarter a few hours earlier and lit up some of the Sierra’s finest granite wonderfully. I just started the exposures in time to capture swollen Yosemite Falls completely illuminated. Spring flooding like this is an annual ritual as the vast snowpack hidden from the view here begins to go into melting overdrive with the seasonal onslaught of impending summer. The fourteen five minute exposures were added together to get 70 minutes worth of the Earth’s rotation. Several airplane trails were also removed along with illumination on a few frames from bicycle headlights.



Star Trails Over Yosemite Falls by Kurt Lawson, on Flickr

 

[AlanLichty]

Definitely some unusual light that works quite well in this image. Delightful result.

I wish the grasses down in front were a little less busy but not sure how to avoid that short of masking most of the layers down in that area so that only one layer of the grasses is visible..

 

[kurtlawson]

Definitely some unusual light that works quite well in this image. Delightful result.

I wish the grasses down in front were a little less busy but not sure how to avoid that short of masking most of the layers down in that area so that only one layer of the grasses is visible..

I think the answer to that was to be there a week or two earlier when the water level was higher above the grass. I'm not sure if it has gone down or up in the month since as waterfall flow should be reaching its peak soon. Probably higher now after rain over the weekend.

 

[JimFox]

Very nice Kurt! I have shot the stars from that very same spot and I have done just as you have with those grasses in the water. I like how they frame around Yosemite Falls.

 

[Alisa]

WOW! this is awesome! I do agree with Alan about the grass.

 

[Mike Lewis]

Great result - it all is definitely working for me. I do see what is being discussed about the grass, but for me it is not an issue.

Not clear from the write up even as detailed as it was - is this a separate exposure for the ground combined with the stacked frames for the stars, or is the entire scene stacked up from 14 images?

ML

 

[Douglas Sherman]

Nice image Kurt. There sure is a lot of traffic along the highway. What time of night is this>

 

[kurtlawson]

Great result - it all is definitely working for me. I do see what is being discussed about the grass, but for me it is not an issue.

Not clear from the write up even as detailed as it was - is this a separate exposure for the ground combined with the stacked frames for the stars, or is the entire scene stacked up from 14 images?

ML

Entire scene stacked with all 14 images, but the grass blacked out on two of the layers (just painted the grass to pure black) because they were super illuminated by passing bicycle headlamps, keeping as much of the other water reflection as possible.

Full spec is 14 x 5 minutes, f4.0 wide open, ISO 800, Sony A7r3, Canon 11-24mm at 12mm (I must have bumped the zoom lol meant to be 11). Processed in Lightroom and then stacked in Photoshop with Lighten.

Nice image Kurt. There sure is a lot of traffic along the highway. What time of night is this>

Starting at about 10pm so roughly 10pm to 11:10.

 

[Mike Lewis]

Kurt,

Thanks, that extra amount of info is truly helpful. Just a lovely result form the stacking - I am super impressed with how the overall exposure came out. I would say even at 12mm it is still a keeper Thanks for taking the time to fill me in on your excellent technique on this one.

ML