I took this from Yosemite's Tunnel View in June of 2023. It's the more uncommon sunrise shot. I was visiting my mother, who lived about 3 hours away. I woke up at 1:30AM to make my way to the location and arrived right around 4:30AM. As I recall, I was the first one there, so I was able to get any position I wanted. By the time I left, there were probably 50+ people there, mostly tourists and not photographers.

For my 3 hour drive, I was rewarded with a fairly dramatic sky. This was shot on my Nikon Z7, 14-24mm Z @ 24mm, ISO 64, F/9, 1 sec.

2 Comments

Awesome shot Ryan! I'm baffled by relatively low score on your photo, and I guess it takes for one to be at the spot to fully understand it. I love this angle, I only managed to get mid day shot, from a higher position, and I like this central view so much more. I know you didn't ask, and I apologize if I'm overstepping, but I'd like to see you do a bit darker version, with additional vignetting, and maybe some dodging over the trees in the middle, to create a path for the eye. I feel like that would make the sky pop a bit, and make the entire scene much more immersive.
Anyway, 4 from me!

Thank you for the feedback. I was actually trying to do what you're suggesting but probably didn't add enough of the effect to make it more pronounced. I'll probably give it a shot and work on it a little more. As for the rating. It's OK. I know there are people that gave it a 1-star because people are people.

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