Waterfall below Mt. Ritter, CA

Here is a new photo of one of the waterfalls below Mt. Ritter (and above Ediza Lake), CA.

The details: Canon 5D, EF17-40mm f/4L USM at 22 mm, aperture f/11, 0.5 sec exposure, ISO200, B+W circular polarizer, taken 7/25/2007.

Copyright 2007 Richard Mitchell, Touching Light Photography

Waterfall above Lake Ediza, CA

Here's a new photo, taken along one of the rivers that cascades into Lake Ediza from the glaciers and snowfields below Mt. Ritter. This photo was taken in late July, when many wildflowers were still present in the meadows and along the streambeds around Ediza.

I took this photo with a 5 second exposure, using a 6-stop neutral density filter (Singh-Ray). I usually carry a 6-stop and a 10-stop ND filter with me, and they work well for daylight stream images such as this. It is really tough to see through these filters, however, so everything has to be prefocused, then the filter is put on. These filters also cause me to have one gripe about my Canon 5D camera...it is impossible to read the meter settings through the viewfinder when one of these filters is used in the bright sunlight of midday. I wish the meter display in the viewfinder would remain bright enough to see the shutter and meter settings under such circumstances (of course, I merely have to look at the settings on the LCD panel on the top of the camera...but I generally rely on the display in the viewfinder). Oh well...the 5D does indeed take some pretty great images, so this is a minor complaint.

Sunrise Over Mono Lake, CA - July 23, 2007

Here's another photo, this one taken just before sunrise over South Tufa, Mono Lake, CA. Here are the details:

Canon 5D, Canon EF17-40 f/4L at 20mm, f/10, 1/4 sec., ISO100, using a Gitzo 2540 with an AcraTech Ballhead.

- Richard

Star Trails Over Mt. Adams from Takh Lakh, Washington - August 10, 2007

This photo (taken 8/10/2007) is a composite (digital equivalent of a "double-exposure") with the first image taken at sunset using a Canon 5D camera, Canon 24mm TSE (tilt-shift) lens shifted about 6 degrees, f/16, 1.3 sec, ISO 100, with a 2-stop split-neutral density filter (to tone down the highlights in the snow fields on Mt. Adams). The second exposure (the star trails) was taken at 10:20 PM (on August 10, 2007) ISO 250, f3.5, 30 minutes (I was trying to catch the Perseids meteor shower, but very few meteors were visible, and only one is visible in this image (barely)).

At this time of the year, this meteor shower directs meteors directly over Mt. Adams (pointed straight at the peak!), but this year's display wasn't too brilliant! Nonetheless, the lake was remarkably still, with a hint of fog over the water and still enough to reflect the stars flawlessly for the full 30 minute exposure...a grand show!

Richard