I like the juxtaposition of the modern road, with bright yellow lines, leading to the grandeur of El Cap, which has survived millions of years of erosion.
The edge that you can see between shadow and light is called the nose, and is one of the most famous rock climbs in the world. The average time to climb this route is 5 days, but it has been free climbed in under 3 hours.
Whilst staying in the valley, I read books about the two men most closely associated with Yosemite- John Muir and Ansel Adams. I guess you already know about Ansel Adams and his iconic photos… but John Muir highlighted the need for preservation of places like the Yosemite and his creation of the Sierra Club and his ability to influence important politicians saved the Yosemite and other important National Parks.
“…El Capitan Rock, regarded by many as the most sublime feature of the Valley, is seen through the pine groves, standing forward beyond the general line of the wall in most imposing grandeur, a type of permanence… unrivaled in height and breadth and flawless strength”
Moving round to the right and at an earlier time of the day shows El Cap’s true place in the valley. El Cap rises 3,593 ft above the Merced River and is thought to be the largest block of exposed granite in the world. I’ve chosen to crop the photo to fit the panoramic view.
Different views and interpretations of El Capitan
In the summer of 2009 I had the opportunity to go to California.
The first time I heard about the Yosemite National Park was when a friend showed me photos of his visit. The photo I remembered best was of a large granite cliff, called ‘El Capitan’.
I have built this portfolio based on my three day visit to Yosemite. There are different views of El Cap to show how my understanding grew of its place in the valley, its history, and its relationship with the people who live and visit the valley.
01 Valley View
We entered the park, standing for the first time at Valley View.
El Capitan guards the left hand side of the valley, but from the valley view it is slightly obscured and the evening light favours the other side of the valley, highlighting Cathedral Rocks and Bridalveil falls.
We were up really early walked for two and a half miles up the Narrows of the Virgin River. Most of the walk was in shadow, but as we returned the sun started to gain access. The colour of the sun on the sandstone, together with the shafts of sunlight through the gorge made for magnificent views. (handheld - iso 100 - 12mm - 1/200 sec at f5.6)
Found this place from Photosecrets - San Francisco. Being inside with the sky scrapers towering makes for a great view. Its actually a shopping centre with loads of places to eat. (12mm - iso 100 - 1/5sec at f18)
Amazon Review 31st December 2009 
Like many people these days, I am a keen amateur photographer with a DSLR capable of many megapixels. I have learnt a lot in the last few years about taking a good photo and how to process that raw photo using Photoshop CS3 and more recently Lightroom 2. I needed to find out more about ‘known unknowns’ such as sharpening and why a print looks different to the image on a monitor; and have subsequently found ‘unknown unknowns’ such as edge burning. This book has provided key information about making optimal images and prints which I have not found in any other books and RS explains things very clearly with specific settings to try out in PS and LR2.
I agree with most of the points made by previous reviewers, but I will add a few observations of my own.
- I think it is perfectly justified that RS includes what makes a good photo as this is integral to achieving a good print at the end of your workflow.
- I already knew about monitor calibration and many of the suggestions for how to take a good picture. However, RS includes lots of print specific hints to illustrate many of the suggestions which are worth knowing in a print context
- RS really knows his stuff and explains some high end concepts (for me anyway) such as sharpening and masks in a lot of detail. - For those of us brought up on the ‘doing’ though photo magazines and using the software this is an ideal level of explanation and explains the ‘why’ of techniques I have been using but not knowing why…
- The book that I bought is the ‘New’ guide, which follows three previous editions. Therefore it not only includes information that has always been relevant to good prints, but it is also fully up-to-date with DSLR lore and examples for Raw photos and Lightroom 2. This is not the case with several other much-touted photography books.
I disagree with an earlier reviewer that the ‘print early, print often’ suggestion is controversial. I know my printer well enough already for everyday printing. I don’t think I will ever know my monitor and printer well enough not to have to print several proofs for competition entries… If you are at the stage of needing this book, you will know that there is a world of difference between what you see on the screen and what you see with a final print. And that readers, is a photo fact!
Other reviewers have indicated 5* if you have an Epson printer, 4* if you don’t. I happen to have an Epson R2400, but most of my learning from this book is independent of the make of my printer. I would still score this book 5* if I owned a different make of printer - although I am even happier having an Epson. You will probably get more from this book if you have at least six cartridges in your printer, and even more if like me, you have eight/nine cartridges and print colour and B+W… This book has improved my understanding a great deal and I now need to invest time and ink to achieve better prints. Incidentally, if you don’t already use a bulk ink flow system you really should start looking into it for pigment ink at a sixth of the price…
And finally… p.58 “Let me be straight with you. You get better photographs by taking lots of pictures and better prints by making lots of prints, not by following a workflow. Photography and digital printing are crafts. You can study them and learn about them, but to gain the experience of what works and what does not requires you to ‘do them’… to master any craft, you need to work at that craft.”
I agree whole heartedly with this view, and I recommend this book to anyone who wants to enjoy their photography more by improving their digital printing - whether or not they own an Epson printer.
Fireworks at Disneyland California. I waited 2 hours just off the main concourse to be able to get this location with this view of the castle in the foreground. I used tripod/manual release and bulb setting. The trick I have found with fireworks is to use about a 15 second exposure, but hold a dark piece of card in front of the lens to block out the actual explosions of each firework. This avoids the burnt out flashes that take the attention away from the overall pattern.
I was so lucky to have a wide angle lens for this, as there was only one place to stand to take the photo, and its a biiig waterfall to fit in - this was 10mm - the maximum for my 10-20mm lens and I had to crop the filter vignetting. I tried to get the symmetry of the rainbows at the base, whilst freezing the movement of the water (1/200 sec at f/9.0).
Saw a coyote on the road on the way down to this position, and was to see a black bear on the drive back. Had to get up early for this, and waded barefoot across the river to get the view I wanted. Sooo peaceful. 12mm / 1/10 sec at f/20.
