First snow in Yosemite, first trip w/LX5, lessons learned (big pics)

tanngrisnir3

Regular
Just got back yesterday evening after a weekend for at Yosemite w/the g/f for the first snowfall of the year, and the weather did not disappoint. This was the first time ever for using my LX5, and everything was shot manual. I shot RAW and 'fine' .jpg, and everything here is .jpg, since I only have Silkypix and have zero idea thus far how to use it to my liking. Saturday night dumped another foot (at least) on the valley.

Lesson 1: I kept looking for a long exposure function, as I had to do in my old FS7, and then, after driving out of the park, it occurred to me, "Hey, Jackass, just leave the shutter open for a long time. It's full manual, you can do that." Oi! I wish I'd thought of that for the moonrise over Valley View, but I'm so used to the camera having computer-driven options that something so simple just didn't occur to me.

Lesson 2: I could have just converted all my RW2 files over to .tiffs and THEN worked on them in Photoscape, or something else I'm familiar with, but that, too, didn't occur to me until I'd already spent time working on .jpgs.

The famous elm in Cook's Meadow, w/Halfdome juuuust coming through the mist

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The classic Valley View shot, that I usually avoid like the plague, but this one caught my eye because of the one, single yellow leaf at the bottom. I'm also happy that I could get El Cap Gully in at the left side of the shot.

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Fallen tree, Merced River, Cathedral Beach

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Same thing, different reflective view

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Another warhorse: the famous copse of trees in Awahnee Meadow. Just enough color on top to keep it interesting.

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Snow on fallen tree, Merced River, looking west from the bridge if one turns left on South Side Drive i/o going right to Curry. I can never remember the name.

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Looking NE from other side of bridge.

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Royal Arches B&W

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Finally, the shot I wish I'd had a much longer shutter open for. The moon was out for literally 1 minute. I'm converting it to a .tiff from RAW and letting my pro g/f work on it in Lightroom.

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Wowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww, is right!

I am duly impressed and very glad you brought your new LX5 along with you - these are super photos, tann! (I have to figure out a good nick name for you, tanngrisnir3). What breathtaking country - you did it proud. :bravo-009:
 
Absolutely stunning photo's - you are so lucky to have scenery like that near you, but even luckier to have the eye to do the scenery justice - well done and thanks for sharing..
 
Thanks, you guys. I am happy my new camera is happily giving me great camera happiness.

I'm still kicking myself about that last one, and not actually realizing that all I had to do was choose a shutter setting at, say, 10-15 seconds.

I was standing there scrolling like an idiot through all these menu trees on the LCD screen, knee-deep in snow, hoping to find one that said "long exposure" or something.

When I told the g/f, she justifiably laughed and noted that unlearning old habits is just as important as learning new equipment.
 
When I opened and saw the images I was totally blown away by the beauty you have captured. Really awesome job, I especially love the 1st and 2nd images. Very very nice
Well done!

Thank you
 
Fantastic photos! The timing and compostion bring it all together. What time of day were these taken and also what did you do in Photoscape? Please keep contributing!
 
I just reread your intro, tanngrisnir3, and all I can say is keep doing whatever the heck it is you're doing. Am I correct that these photos all came from jpeg and that you did not use your RAW files?

Ansel Adams just rolled over. I am am just amazed at the range of tones and detail. Don't ever forget those "lessons learned" but please share them all here!:D
 
Fantastic photos! The timing and compostion bring it all together. What time of day were these taken and also what did you do in Photoscape? Please keep contributing!

They were all taken shortly before noon, and, for some reason, totally brightened up when I used either the contrast or the 'level' controls in Photoscape. One or two looked a wee bit better w/a touch of backlighting. That's it.
 
I just reread your intro, tanngrisnir3, and all I can say is keep doing whatever the heck it is you're doing. Am I correct that these photos all came from jpeg and that you did not use your RAW files?

Ansel Adams just rolled over. I am am just amazed at the range of tones and detail. Don't ever forget those "lessons learned" but please share them all here!:D

Yes, those are straight jpegs. I've been too busy with work and other things, since we got back, to convert the RW2 to tiff and then start working on them in Photoscape. I'd do it with Silkypix, but I'm unfamiliar with it, it's not intuitive at all, and I'm a bit lost in it, i.e., I don't know how to get the same results in Silky that I know how to get in Photoscape.

What I'm assuming is that, due to the nature of RAW, if I convert them to .tiff and then work on them in Photoscape, they should be (theoretically) even better than the .jpegs, but I'm not sure if that will turn out to be the case.
 
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