As my Yosemite workshop approached in November 2017, I shared the following note with my customers:
“The weather forecast couldn’t be better for my Yosemite Fall Colors workshop this coming Wednesday through Sunday! Clear to partly cloudy to light showers and intermittent light snow! After a clear moonlit night for star trails, the stormy skies can add a lot of dramatic lighting. Moisture can create morning ground fog and mist hanging around the Valley’s granite walls.”
I couldn’t be more pleased that the weather delivered as forecast! To lead people to the best opportunities, it’s not enough to know a few good photography sites; it’s best to also know weather, and how it’ll interact with the local terrain. Had we gone to the typical Tunnel View overlook for sunrise instead, having talked to people who did just that on this morning, we would have missed all this unique drama unfolding at the other end of the Valley.
There were controlled burns in the Valley, as well as some campfires and morning ground fog, so the air often picked up a little sunlight, rendering a painting-like quality to many of the scenes..
I recently upgraded my Adobe Lightroom to version 6 to get access to multi-image panoramas.. The upgrade isn’t widely publicized, but if you contact Adobe they’ll direct you to a link where you can buy it. If I had upgraded to Lightroom CC I would have also gotten a “dehaze” filter.
With wildfires increasing in number and severity as the planet warms, and with air quality declining globally as the United States now receiving as much as 30% of its smog from Asia, and with domestic air quality declining further as politicians undermine domestic pollution standards, I may need the dehaze filter to simulate healthier conditions. But for the moment I choose to embrace conditions as they are, embracing what was there. If the light isn’t good, I might not take a shot. But nature and our natural lands are spectacular even with some unsightly haze, and if air quality is declining, people deserve to see and know it. And while interesting light often produces great photos, slightly particle-laden air can better reveal light rays from a rising sun or moon.
None of this is to say that air pollution is good… it’s one of the leading causes of death in the world. But purely from an aesthetic standpoint, haze doesn’t ruin images. The existence of a dehaze filter doesn’t mean that you have to use it. Whether produced by a desert dust storm or smokestack or tailpipe, look for atmospheric effects and use them to your advantage
If you might like to join me sometime to pursue shots like these, check out this year’s workshop schedule for Yosemite.
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