Roadtrip Images

There are many beautiful views in Yosemite and a photographer can spend years here. Here are three that with the right weather can be awesome.

Yosemite National Park hardly needs an introduction. It’s arguably the most photogenic national park in North America if not the world. As such, it’s probably also the most photographed. Nothing wrong with that. If it’s your trip and you only get to go once or twice, go ahead and shoot the iconic views. But if you want a memorable image from these well visited locations you need to have some weather. Clearing storms are perfect for that. Drama in the sky and dramatic light. Add some snow to the mix and you have the makings for something unique. 

On our recent visit, we had lots of weather. From wind storms and toppled trees to monsoon like conditions and then snow. Lots of snow. It’s the snow that we came for. Yosemite in winter is a real photographers paradise. Many scenes really come alive with a fresh coating of new snow. And if you’re really lucky there will be sunshine the next morning after the snowfall. A brisk, cold morning with fresh snow and sunshine is a real blessing as a photographer. 

One thing to note is that Yosemite in winter requires carrying tire chains. And the rangers do check. If it’s snowing and the road have snow on them you must carry tire chains. There is a system in place with R1, R2, and R3 designations that you need to be familiar with. Here’s a link to CalTrans that explains the whole system. On the sections of the Park that receive heavier snow the rangers actually stop cars and check to see if you have the right equipment (chains, 4×4, snow tires) so come prepared.

It’s a bit presumptuous to use that title since it’s the name of Ansel Adams’ famous image of the same scene. But I’ll use it anyway. The weather and light we got that evening was nothing short of awesome. I’ve been shooting Tunnel View for many, many years from my large format film days to now and the conditions we experienced for the featured image above were the best I’ve ever seen. It alternated from winter white out to blue skies and sun several times. And we just waited it out. Tunnel View does that. Towards the end of the day the sun found a hole to shine through and caught El Capitan and the clouds with some perfectly placed light. You couldn’t have ordered up a better scene.

Nikon D850 with Nikkor 24-70mm @ 50mm. f/11 at 1/125 of a sec. ISO 64

This next location is a real gem. This is the place for those perfect mornings where all the conditions line up. Fresh snow, cold, sunshine and still air for a perfect reflection in the Merced. This shot can be either in landscape(horizontal) or portrait (vertical) mode depending on your tastes. When going for a reflection try to include the entire mountain. Don’t cut off the top for example. Reflections are an example of where putting the horizon line in the middle is fine. Normally the upper third or lower third is better. For another perspective shoot just the reflection with a little bit of shoreline in the image. You can also get some nice shots of El Capitan from this location but make sure there are some clouds. A bare sky with El Cap doesn’t look near as nice.

Nikon D850 with Nikkor 16-35mm @ 16mm. f/11 at 0.6 sec.  ISO 64

This is another of my favorite views in winter. After a fresh snowfall all the rocks in the Merced are capped with nice puffs of snow adding nice contrast with the dark river. This can be a morning or evening shot. In mid morning the entire scene is filled with light and the sun makes the fresh snow on the rocks sparkle. Too much later, and the snow starts to melt a bit unless it’s really cold. In the evening El Capitan catches the last rays of light from the sun along with any low hanging clouds. This is another fabulous clearing winter storm location. On this evening we had a similar set of conditions to the Tunnel View shot above. Once again, right at sunset, the light found a hole in the clouds and hit El Capitan just perfectly. It was pretty iffy whether this would happen as the sky was pretty heavy with clouds. But having all those clouds gave the scene much more drama and interest. The rocks in the river still had a coating of snow as did the trees. Having a longish exposure really smoothed out the river too. You may need to add a neutral density filter at times to create this effect.

Nikon D850 with Nikkor 24-70mm @28mm. f/11 at 0.6 sec.  ISO 64

Well there you have it. Three classic views of Yosemite in winter. There are more of course. Many more. But if you have the right conditions these locations will give you photographs to be proud of and they’re all easy to get to. One thing they all have in common is they are taken at the edges of the day. Either morning or evening. Those are generally the best lighting conditions for landscape photographs.

So this wraps up our winter Yosemite visit. We spent several weeks there and had some very dramatic weather. Shooting during snowstorms, catching the Firefall and getting these classic views made for a wonderful trip. If you have the chance, try Yosemite in winter. It’s one of the best times for photography.