Drive 2007 - Day 15 - Drives - Beneath the Waves

Drive 2007 - Day 15

article and photographs by Ben Lincoln

Nearly all the daylight hours of this day I spent exploring Yosemite National Park.

I think of Yosemite as the quintessential "nice place to go camping"^[1]. The most-frequented areas are a mix of forest, meadow, and alpine environments. This is not a National Park centered around one or more geologic anomalies, although its landscape is frequently pierced by cyclopean granite peaks and domes that reach far above the forest floor.

I was surprised to discover that there is little multispectral variation at Yosemite, especially compared to some of the other forested areas I've visited.

Yosemite National Park 1

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A 2-shot panorama from just inside the park. Due to some extraordinarily bad luck, the RGB version of the left shot and the UVA version of the right shot were corrupted, so only the NIR image is present in its entirety.

Date Shot: 2007-09-14
Camera Body: Nikon D70 (Modified)
Lens: Nikon Series E 28mm
Filters: Standard Set
Date Processed: 2009-08-08
Version: 2.0

A Soda Spring at Yosemite National Park

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This soda spring requires a short hike to reach. It was cold enough for a small sheet of ice to form, and so you can see that when frozen, water becomes more transparent to near infrared light, and less to ultraviolet-A.

Date Shot: 2007-09-14
Camera Body: Nikon D70 (Modified)
Lens: Nikon Series E 28mm(?)
Filters: Standard Set
Date Processed: 2009-07-08
Version: 2.0

Yosemite National Park 4

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One of the many iconic rock faces of Yosemite. From these photos you will see that for the most part, there is little variation to them in the NIR or UVA parts of the spectrum.

Date Shot: 2007-09-14
Camera Body: Nikon D70 (Modified)
Lens: Nikon Series E 28mm
Filters: Standard Set
Date Processed: 2009-07-09
Version: 2.0

Yosemite National Park 5

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Another giant rock face, again with a very neutral appearance across the expanded spectrum.

Date Shot: 2007-09-14
Camera Body: Nikon D70 (Modified)
Lens: Nikon Series E 28mm
Filters: Standard Set
Date Processed: 2009-07-11
Version: 2.0

Yosemite Tree Detail

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A detail of a single tree at Yosemite standing at the edge of a meadow. The thing that struck me most about this area was that it does seem to genuinely have just one palette, no matter where you're looking in the spectrum. Of course, it's possible that looking even further from visible light additional variations would be revealed.

Date Shot: 2007-09-14
Camera Body: Nikon D70 (Modified)
Lens: Nikon Series E 28mm
Filters: Standard Set
Date Processed: 2009-07-11
Version: 2.0

Yosemite National Park 7

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Even on the face of a giant rock, plants will find a way to make a living. If you look closely at the false colour images, there appears to be some sort of tiny plant life (lichen?) growing in patches on the rock as well.

Date Shot: 2007-09-14
Camera Body: Nikon D70 (Modified)
Lens: Nikon Series E 70-210mm
Filters: Standard Set For Larger-Diameter Lenses
Date Processed: 2009-07-11
Version: 2.0

Yosemite National Park 8

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A wide-angle version of the previous telephoto shot, for context.

Date Shot: 2007-09-14
Camera Body: Nikon D70 (Modified)
Lens: Nikon Series E 28mm(?)
Filters: Standard Set
Date Processed: 2009-07-11
Version: 2.0

Yosemite National Park 9

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OK, now here's something unexpected. Unlike most of the rock faces, this one is full of plants with varied multispectral colours, and it also has some strange vertical stripes, as though water sometimes runs down it and some tiny form of life is taking advantage of the fact, or some naturally-occurring chemicals were carried along with the water. There are actually two very distinct types of stripe, which is most easily seen in the NIR-R-UVA version.

Date Shot: 2007-09-14
Camera Body: Nikon D70 (Modified)
Lens: Nikon Series E 50mm(?)
Filters: Standard Set
Date Processed: 2009-07-12
Version: 2.0

Yosemite National Park 10

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This closeup of a lake is another good example of the different (and sometimes surprising) changes in reflectivity and transparency you'll see in other parts of the spectrum.

Date Shot: 2007-09-14
Camera Body: Nikon D70 (Modified)
Lens: Nikon Series E 50mm(?)
Filters: Standard Set
Date Processed: 2009-07-12
Version: 2.0

Yosemite National Park 11

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Date Shot: 2007-09-14
Camera Body: Nikon D70 (Modified)
Lens: Nikon Series E 28mm
Filters: Standard Set
Date Processed: 2009-07-12
Version: 2.0

Yosemite National Park 12

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Looking down into a valley at Yosemite.

Date Shot: 2007-09-14
Camera Body: Nikon D70 (Modified)
Lens: Nikon Series E 28mm(?)
Filters: Standard Set
Date Processed: 2009-07-13
Version: 2.0

Yosemite National Park 13

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One of the nicer views at Yosemite, looking down into a rocky valley.

Date Shot: 2007-09-14
Camera Body: Nikon D70 (Modified)
Lens: Nikon Series E 28mm(?)
Filters: Standard Set
Date Processed: 2009-07-18
Version: 2.0

Yosemite National Park 14

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An unusual tree (at least for the area), and more of the interesting plant life that grows on some of the rock faces. I'm not sure what I was thinking in terms of the bizarre blank space at the top. I experimented with a two-tone gradient UVA colour overlay for this one. The result is a little too "80s airbrush art", I think, but maybe someday I can travel back in time to 1986 and make a fortune selling posters of it in malls once I figure out what to do about the space at the top.

Date Shot: 2007-09-14
Camera Body: Nikon D70 (Modified)
Lens: Nikon Series E 28mm(?)
Filters: Standard Set
Date Processed: 2009-07-18
Version: 2.0

Yosemite National Park 15

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Here's a good example of the dramatic difference in how far various frequencies of light will reach in Earth's atmosphere.

Date Shot: 2007-09-14
Camera Body: Nikon D70 (Modified)
Lens: Nikon Series E 28mm(?)
Filters: Standard Set
Date Processed: 2009-07-18
Version: 2.0

Yosemite National Park 16

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Another of Yosemite's valleys.

Date Shot: 2007-09-14
Camera Body: Nikon D70 (Modified)
Lens: Nikon Series E 28mm
Filters: Standard Set
Date Processed: 2009-07-18
Version: 2.0

Bridalveil Fall, Yosemite National Park

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Bridalveil Fall seems to have gotten its name from its gauzy, mist-like appearance during most of the year. As usual, you can see that where there's water, some form of plant life will find a home. The patches on the right side of the image (which are moss, I think) barely register in visible and UVA light, but jump right out in infrared.

Date Shot: 2007-09-14
Camera Body: Nikon D70 (Modified)
Lens: Nikon Series E 28mm
Filters: Standard Set
Date Processed: 2009-07-19
Version: 2.0

Yosemite National Park 18

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Another of the large rock formations for which this area is famous.

Date Shot: 2007-09-14
Camera Body: Nikon D70 (Modified)
Lens: Nikon Series E 28mm
Filters: Standard Set
Date Processed: 2009-07-19
Version: 2.0

Yosemite National Park 19

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This isn't my favourite picture of Yosemite, but the area itself is one of the ones I liked best, due to the strange "council of stone giants" appearance.

Date Shot: 2007-09-14
Camera Body: Nikon D70 (Modified)
Lens: Nikon Series E 28mm
Filters: Standard Set
Date Processed: 2009-07-19
Version: 2.0

Yosemite National Park 20

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Date Shot: 2007-09-14
Camera Body: Nikon D70 (Modified)
Lens: Nikon Series E 28mm
Filters: Standard Set
Date Processed: 2009-07-25
Version: 2.0

Yosemite National Park 21

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Another of the very stripey rock formations.

Date Shot: 2007-09-14
Camera Body: Nikon D70 (Modified)
Lens: Nikon Series E 28mm
Filters: Standard Set
Date Processed: 2009-07-25
Version: 2.0

Half Dome, Yosemite National Park 1

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This is the initial view of Half Dome you'll see if you enter Yosemite from the east entrance like I did. I prefer the second shot, below.

Date Shot: 2007-09-14
Camera Body: Nikon D70 (Modified)
Lens: Nikon Series E 28mm
Filters: Standard Set
Date Processed: 2009-07-25
Version: 2.0

Half Dome, Yosemite National Park 2

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This view of Half Dome is one of the most famous of Yosemite, although I don't know that anyone has photographed it this way before. This set was created as a 4-shot panorama.

Date Shot: 2007-09-14
Camera Body: Nikon D70 (Modified)
Lens: Nikon Series E 28mm
Filters: Standard Set
Date Processed: 2009-07-25
Version: 2.0

Glacier Point, Yosemite National Park

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This was created as a 5-shot (with the camera rolled 90 degrees) high-resolution panorama. The most interesting thing about it is how it serves as another example of how structures built by humans jump right out when you start looking in the ultraviolet (see the G-B-UVA version for the highest contrast).

Date Shot: 2007-09-14
Camera Body: Nikon D70 (Modified)
Lens: Nikon Series E 28mm
Filters: Standard Set
Date Processed: 2009-07-26
Version: 2.0

Yosemite National Park Infrared Tree

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I did this "looking up the trunk of a tree" shot handheld in infrared on a whim, but it turned out better than I expected.

Date Shot: 2007-09-14
Camera Body: Nikon D70 (Modified)
Lens: Nikon Series E 28mm
Filters: Hoya R72
Date Processed: 2009-08-08
Version: 2.0

If you haven't been to Yosemite and would like to camp there, be sure to clean and vacuum your car thoroughly first, and pack your food and other scented items in a way that makes it easy to transfer them to a food locker at night (for example, put all of your food in a single medium-sized bag). There are many bears in Yosemite, and they will gladly remove the hard, inedible shell of your car to get to the tender and delicious food inside. Don't let this discourage you from visiting - bears generally avoid humans - just be prepared and you'll have a much easier time.

Yosemite was my last destination in California^[2], so I drove north well into the night. Just before sunset, I happened upon Don Pedro Lake. I only had a few minutes to take photos, but it seemed like a great place to explore for a day.

Don Pedro Lake, California

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Taken at sunset.

Date Shot: 2007-09-14
Camera Body: Nikon D70 (Modified)
Lens: Nikon Series E 28mm(?)
Filters: Standard Set
Date Processed: 2009-08-08
Version: 2.0

A short distance north of Redding, I stopped for the night.

Date: 14 September 2007
Starting Mileage: 67790
Ending Mileage: 68323
Distance Travelled (Day): 533 miles
Distance Travelled (Trip): 5969 miles
Gallons of Fuel Purchased (Day): 17.5
Gallons of Fuel Purchased (Trip): 189.4

GPS Map of Day 15

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Footnotes

1.	My fellow Star Trek nerds may recall that the fifth film ("The Final Frontier") opened with Kirk, Spock, and McCoy camping at Yosemite. The rock face Kirk climbs is El Capitan. If you have not already seen it, don't take this as an endorsement - it is the second-worst of the series, with only Nemesis edging it out by way of The Black Hand of Berman.
2.	I had originally planned on visiting Lassen Volcanic National Park and San Francisco, but by the end of the second week I was feeling like I couldn't absorb any more sights without taking a break. Lassen has been recommended to me by at least four people since then, so I have it on my list to see the next time I'm in California.