Trip to Yosemite, best places to go ??

I just got back from my trip to Yosemite very very late lastnight and I have to say it was well worth it. Even if I didn't go for pictures, the park itself was well worth it. Awe inspiring beautiful. The smoke and haze was a problem at certain times of the day but Tioga Pass and the road leading up to it was much much less affected producing some extraordinary scenes. Wow !!! Saturday, the Valley was pretty thick with smoke so I pretty much stayed away from this area. Explored it briefly to get my orientation with the park but stayed up in the high sierra most of the day. The meadows didn't seem to be affected at all by the smoke, beautiful skies, but no clouds. Sunday morning until about 11 am, the Valley was breathtakingly beautiful. Many clouds and very very little haze or smoke. But as it got closer to noon, the haze and smoke started to come in a bit more but nowhere near as bad as the previous day.

Took quite a few pictures that morning in the Valley. Very very little haze and smoke present in the pictures but also my polarizer helped quite a bit I'm sure but still beautiful blue skies with gorgeous clouds. At about noon, packed up my stuff and headed up Tioga Pass with even more beautiful scenes. Absolutely stunning and no doubt can make you a bit emotional seeing it, how stunning it is and that such a place is present in Cali, totally surreal !!! Since we were headed on our way out of the park, made a few stops going up Tioga Pass for some pic opps but not nearly as much as I wanted. On our way home, we stopped at Mono Lake as well as Mammoth. If conditions are good this weekend in Yosemite, I'll definitely be making the trip back up there, no doubt but I'll see what happens with that.

One thing I found with Yosemite and being with another photographer who has a nicer camera than mine, it makes you realize the inadaquecies of your camera and how limiting it can be. Mine is an Xti and no doubt has been used heavily over the last year but have nice lenses as I do not use the kit lenses that came with the camera when I bought it. I've been wanting to upgrade to the 5D for the past 4 or so months but no hurry or real want to get it. Well, it looks like I will be upgrading to the 5D sooner than what I thought !!!! Hoping within the next few weeks will have my new camera. Being in Yosemite no doubt can make the photog bug bite even harder !!!!

Again thank you so much, everyone, for so much help and info, greatly appreciated. Out of everything I have read and seen before heading up there, in my opinion, the reports were exaggerated, even the web cams can't give the entire picture. There was haze and smoke but no where near as bad as I was expecting. It was very well worth the trip out there and money well spent !!!!

Glad to hear you still made the trip and still had a ball! I'm heading up to Bishop and the Eastern Sierras next week for a few days of outdoor and photographic adventures.

And don't worry about someone's 5D making your equipment feel small and inadequate!!
It's just a different tool for the job.

madhatter04 wrote in post #5823556
Glad to hear you still made the trip and still had a ball! I'm heading up to Bishop and the Eastern Sierras next week for a few days of outdoor and photographic adventures.

And don't worry about someone's 5D making your equipment feel small and inadequate!!
It's just a different tool for the job.

Thanks, madhatter, you've been a great help !!! very much enjoyed the trip out there and honestly thinking very seriously about heading up there this weekend perhaps, although will be checking the conditions beforehand. You are right about the camera deal but amazing the color saturation on his shots, so beautifully clear, detailed. My primary lens is a 24 -70 mm f2.8L and produces gorgeous results. But given my camera body, I haven't been able to fully see if you will what that lens is capable of producing which I have seen images and no doubt they are amazing. I just posted a shot on my page from my trip out there but it was a shot taken at 65 mph from my car window going up Tioga Pass.... and I'm still amazed at how beautiful the scenery is out there. I know with the color saturation that I can play with it in Photoshop and fine tune it there and I do play with PS but still so nice to have many more features on your camera. But I'm still happy with what my Xti produces as compared to my rinky dink Kodak P&S. But no doubt the 5D is my next toy !!!!

Well, I'd normally try to say otherwise, but I'm thinking of going to the 5D soon to give me a bit more control with wedding photography! So, cheers to the both of us!

I'll be up there July 9th through the 13th.

I was up at Yosemite last Wed-Fri and I thought all the haze and smoke made for some really interesting conditions. Hetch Hetchy looked amazing in the murky haze.

Believe it or not the the strong westerly winds from the Pacific was blowing in bad haze from the California fires during the Fourth of July week in Glacier National Park.

I just saw this (again). While I love my 5D, most of my Yosemite landscape photos are taken with my old 300D and kit lens. But, I haven't been able to get out there as much as I was 2-3 years ago, so....I need to take a trip....soon!

Glad you had a good time!