I just returned from a long trip to Yosemite, partly to test some lenses for upcoming reviews, and partly to unwind. Although I had a great time out there, the conditions for “classic” landscape photography left something to be desired: very few clouds or fall colors anywhere.
It’s often true in landscape photography that bad weather makes for good photos. On this trip – unfortunately – the weather was good the whole time! I woke up early for all sixteen sunrises, and only one of them had more than the slightest wisp of clouds overhead. Although sunset was usually better, some of my favorite compositions didn’t have the right direction of light at sunset.
My backup plan was also a no-go. I chose to visit Yosemite in autumn instead of another season in hopes of seeing the fall color, which is one of my favorite subjects. Even simple “intimate landscapes” of yellow leaves on the ground can be beautiful, and you can easily photograph them on a sunny day. However, the extreme drought conditions this year caused most leaves to turn from green to brown with nothing in between. So, the fall colors weren’t so good either.
When I started the trip, I didn’t give these conditions much thought. I figured the fall colors would improve as the trip went on, and I couldn’t complain about a couple of sunny sunrises in a row. As the days passed, I grew increasingly disappointed in the conditions. It’s frustrating to wake up early, set up a carefully scouted composition, and leave without a photo because the sky didn’t cooperate (for the fifth time in a row).
After several days of this, I realized that I had been approaching it all wrong. Simply put, I had been trying to fight the landscape! Sure, there was a good image in my head, but the conditions simply weren’t going to create it. Rather than fixating on the photo anyway, I needed to change plans.
After some thought, I wrote a list of subjects that I knew could still be good possibilities during the trip:
- Backlit trees in the morning and afternoon
- Close-ups of frosty plants shortly before sunrise
- Milky Way and nighttime photography
- Post-sunset clouds over the compositions that I had scouted for sunrise
- Sunset outside Yosemite Valley
The last two depended on getting some good sunsets, but the first three could be done even on the bluest of blue-sky days.
The following morning, I set out to work with the landscape in front of me instead of fighting it. I caught the first bus to Mariposa Grove in the morning and stayed all day to photograph redwood trees. It was still a sunny day, but I found plenty of compositions – especially backlit in the late afternoon – that made good use of the light.
A few days later, weather conditions throughout the day were gradually building. Blue sky turned to clouds, which turned dark and eventually became a storm. All afternoon, I stood at one of my pre-scouted sunset compositions next to the Merced River, hoping for a moment of good light as the rain fell on me. (I might as well have jumped into the river considering how soaked I got.)
That day, I had left the Z7 in the car and carried my large-format film camera instead. I’m still waiting to get the film back, but I expect it to look something like this, which I took on my phone:
Once I made it back to my car after sunset, the clouds were still beautiful, though very dark. I drove to one of the locations I had scouted beforehand and took some long exposures with my Z7 and the lenses I was testing.
I did more photography in the intervening days, including some Milky Way work, but the real treat came a few days later. At one of Yosemite Valley’s many meadows, I found a trail with beautiful, backlit trees at sunrise.
Once again, I think that my best photos of those trees are on film, which I should get back in about a week. But this was the most rewarding sunrise of the trip so far – and the subject looked its best under bare sunlight, which was perfect.
I returned to this spot the next morning, and it was by accident (on my way walking back to the car after sunrise) that I found a sixth point to add to my list:
- Sunbeams catching the smoke and dust in the air
The air in Yosemite was hazy throughout my trip, but even visiting Mariposa Grove several days in a row when it opened at 8AM, I never saw any great sunbeams. Now, though, the remnants of sunbeams in one of the Valley’s forests were pretty striking even at 11AM. I went back the following morning and found some beautiful subjects to work with.
It wasn’t the grand landscape I had expected to photograph during my trip; it’s a more intimate composition. Maybe in winter or spring, I can go back and capture some of my pre-scouted compositions with better light and clouds. But I wasn’t disappointed in the results. In fact, now that I had started working with the scene in front of me, I was finally satisfied with the trip.
That process – “working with the scene” – is important in other areas of creative photography, too. I talk all the time about emotional messages in photography. My usual refrain is that you can influence a photo’s emotions with your decisions in the field – say, making a picture feel more peaceful by balancing your composition – and steer the photo toward the mood you want.
But what also matters is the mood of the scene in front of you. Maybe you want a dramatic photo, but the landscape is throwing you gentle, pastel colors. Or you want to take a calm photo of a winter landscape, but it’s a whirling blizzard outside. My recommendation? Cast off your initial goals, and go where the scene takes you. Don’t fight the landscape. Work with it instead.
I always internalize new things like that during landscape photography trips, no matter how many times I go out. Even though I took relatively few “classic” landscape photos at Yosemite and ended up with a bunch of pictures of trees, I couldn’t be happier. I only wish I had figured it out sooner and taken more.
In any case, I hope this article gave you some thoughts about the scouting and composition processes in photography. As always, let me know below if you have any questions.
Now that I’m back from my trip, I’m giving a free talk on composition in landscape photography for the Rising Tide Photography Summit, which my friend Angel McNall is hosting. My presentation is tomorrow and stays up for 24 hours. You can join the summit here.
Great job! I am not a photographer, but a painter. And your work captures just the
right moment (s).
So, how did that little 40 fare?
It has some optical flaws, and worse bokeh than I had expected. But considering the weight, it’s a pretty good performer. At landscape apertures, most of the issues go away.
Autumn in Yosemite is a favorite time for me. And it’s so quiet. Going on a shooting search is in itself artistically stimulating. You may shoot a zinger. Or not–but the exercise is still enjoyable.
I had a great time there, and the weather was perfect for hiking even when the clouds didn’t cooperate for photography. I agree with you wholeheartedly.
Have you had good fall colors in the Valley in the past? There were only a few small spots by the river where they were good this time. Almost everywhere else was green or yellow-brown at the best. There are photos online with better color, but it’s hard to tell what’s been Photoshopped.
Perhaps it’s my age, or because I am not not a professional photographer, but not every photo has to be “stellar” or “superb” to be meaningful. I enjoyed your photos and you took them as the conditions presented themselves. I rather enjoyed them, as they reminded me of my “film days,” decades ago, when pictures had a slightly softer, more “dreamy” look to them. Your photos reminded me of when I visited Yosemite as a boy, and they gave me pleasure. In the end, that’s what really matters.
I’m glad you enjoyed the photos, thanks, Scott. Yosemite is such a wonderful place, and not just the grand landscapes or classic photos.
In a lot of the tree photos above, I used the largest aperture of f/4 to give a bit of that dreamy or hazy impression. It’s not too strong because nothing is wildly out of focus. But I’m happy that it came through for you.
Wunderschöne Fotos
Gruß Ingrid
😄
I’m in the same boat as Mark Renner about the fishing feeling (even if I’m almost always on a bicycle ;) ) .
Wonderful text, thoughts and images.
Thanks Spencer
Thank you, Pierre! I agree, Mark’s comment was a succinct way of explaining why hobbies can be so fulfilling. Glad you have both cycling and photography to enjoy.
Thank you Spencer, I am finding myself imagining a beautiful book with all your essays and pictures. Very soothing..
Thank you, Fabrice, that’s kind of you to say! Maybe a book one day if I have time, we’ll see.
Spencer, I’ll be one of the first to buy your book. You have a great ability to inspire emotion in both your photographs and in your writing. Thank you for sharing your talents!
It’s interesting in seeing everyone agonize over all of these compositional issues. Sadly, a company that we pour millions of dollars into with our monthly subscriptions makes all of this irrelevant.
Don’t like the sky, just mask it and swap it out. Don’t like that distracting element? Just mask it and remove it. I could go on and on but the point is because of these features, it makes all photos suspect in terms of final output of being fake.
I subscribe to a strict policy of not using these options and put in the time and wait for the good light or change my angle to help eliminate distracting elements in my photos.
I’m upset with these options that are now available in software because even if you have an amazing real photo that you have worked hard on it could be discredited with comments like “great sky replacement” or “you composted that in” or etc… (of course, they can delete those comments, like they have deleted mine).
To see more of my work, visit www.RobertAllen-Photography.com
I found the tone of your post to be rather combative, particularly the first sentence, though there were many to choose from. Especially because it was not at all true. I didn’t find anybody agonizing over their compositional issues in these posts.
To me, sky replacement is not photography. It may still be “art” (photorealistic digital art) depending on how you subjectively define art. I understand why you’d be frustrated that the sky replacement tools even exist, because you’re right – they can cast doubt on the real images that photographers capture. Photorealistic artificial intelligence tools look like they’ll soon do something similar.
I agree with Elaine regarding your first sentence. If anyone here is agonizing, I’m not seeing it. It is really nice to talk about composition and the creative process, though.
OK, maybe agonizing is too strong of a word. I didn’t mean to sound combative. That is not at all how I feel or meant to project.
No worries, I misinterpreted you – I’m sorry for that. In hindsight it sounds like you meant “agonizing over” in the sense of thinking long and hard about something.
Yes, correct Spencer. Thanks for helping to clarify.
Removing distracting elements is a fantastic tool and can be indispensable in human-made or human-altered environments when one wants to focus on specific elements or feature. Perhaps they are indeed ways to show those with a particularly clever perspective, but clients for city marketing, regional tourism etc. often aren’t interested in using their website, brochure etc. to showcase how inventive the photographer is. Sometimes it’s also just a matter of not having the time; a distraction might be moved in two hours, but it’s a rare client indeed who is going to pay for those hours.
Spencer, thank you for this illuminating (🤔) piece of writing. You are spot on with your observations and it will hopefully provide me with inspiration going forward. I prefer sunrise shots of landscapes here in Scotland and in the evening I scan many weather apps for advice on the following mornings conditions. I live close to the coast and recently found some sea stacks I didn’t know existed. I checked last nights weather which forecast overcast poor conditions so didn’t set my alarm for 7.30 sunrise.
You will not be surprised to hear that as I enjoyed my breakfast the sunrise was awesome and I missed it!
In future I will take your advice and head out no matter what and shoot what I see. Like fishing, it’s the process that I really enjoy. Catching a fish or getting a great pic are just a bonus.
This morning was not a waste of time however as I found time to read your article. Keep up the good work!
Overcast conditions are sneaky! They make for dull and lifeless sunrises/sunsets nine times out of ten. And then one time out of ten, it’s some of the best light ever. At least you live close to the sea stacks and can give it another shot!
I just came back from an RV trip to Russellville, Arkansas and Petit Jean State Park. We drove through Ozark National Forest on the way down and back but saw little color. They were supposed to be at peak but had not reached that stage yet and maybe not at all. We did see some colors around Branson, Missouri on the way back up. Colors seem to be later this year and uneven. I was at the Tetons mid to late September and the colors were just starting to develop. But fortunately there are a lot of good hikes there and the moose were everywhere (saw 7 on one day including 3 big bulls).
I aways say that you have to take advantage of what is in front of you concerning nature photography. Sure, I wanted to see bears, but they just did not materialize on my last trip.
I see you used the 24-120 quite a bit and at the long end quite a lot (I presume for perspective). I have the 24-70 and the 100-100 for my Z7 and not sure I see enough benefit to sell my 24-70 and purchase the 24-120, especially given the additional cash outlay.
The fall colors have been getting later and later here in Colorado too. We’ve steadily pushed our fall colors workshop back each year to compensate. The leaves just aren’t turning in mid-September like they used to, so now our workshop goes through early October. Drought + hotter weather are the culprits, and fat chance that’ll change any time soon.
If you have the 24-70mm and 100-400 already, I don’t think you need the 24-120mm (unless you leave the 100-400 at home a lot, and are frustrated with the 24-70mm’s focal lengths for walk-around photography). The gap between 70mm and 100mm isn’t significant, and image quality in the shared range is pretty comparable between those two midrange zooms. So I think you’re good.