Two Long Exposures of El Capitan

A few years ago I captured a few long exposure photos of El Capitan from Valley View. I thought I had some cool shots until I got home. I noticed they were a bit too soft. Since it was near dark, I had focus them manually and I guess I missed.

This time I wanted to try it again. After I shot the last light of Half Dome I packed up a drove over to Valley View. By the time I got there, it was darker than I wanted to and still try to focus. Walking around the icy rocks in near darkness and with my “mobility issues” made it seem forever to get there. Once there, I notice there was some nice light above El Capitan. I tried to focus, but it was tough do, so I just set it to “infinity” and crossed my fingers.

This is a 30 second exposure and I’m calling it “El Capitan with Red, White and Blue”

This was a near one minute exposure. There was a few cars drive into the parking lot, so I got this. I like how the rocks lit up.

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Mike is a Central Valley California landscape and nature photographer whose subjects include scenes from Merced County, Yosemite, SeKi, and the eastern Sierra. He is currently living in Atwater, CA.

The text and photographs are © Copyright Mike Matenkosky (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Mike Matenkosky.

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