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HorseFAIL Horsetail Falls, Fire Falls Yosemite National Park, CA Although Galen Rowell first photographed the Horsetail Falls "Fire Falls" in 1973 it was only until recently, with the popularity of the internet and social media, that this became a popular scene. During 2 weeks in February the sun sets at just the right angle that the orange glow reflects off the water and granite wall giving it the appearance of fire. Thousands of photographers flock to Yosemite National Park each winter to photograph this. In order for the Fire Falls effect to happen there needs to be plenty of water in the waterfall, the angle of the sun has to be just right, and the sky needs to be clear enough not to block the light from the sun. There are 2 main locations to photograph the Horsetail Falls Fire Falls: one by the El Capitan picnic grounds (on Northside Drive) and the other along the river bank further south (on Southside Drive). Having photographed this event from the Southside Drive location in 2011 I decided to photograph from Northside Drive this year. Willie, Alan, and I drove down to Yosemite National Park on Friday afternoon and spent the entire weekend in Yosemite. My cousin and his friend also joined us. As most people have pointed out the water level this year has been awful. A few giant storms in December gave way to an extremely dry January and February. When we arrived on Friday afternoon we could barely even find the waterfall, which is supplied by snowmelt from the top of El Capitan. Although several inches of snow fell a few days earlier the water level was looking pretty abysmal. On top of that, clouds kept rolling in. Luckily the clouds disappeared an hour or so before sunset and the only issue we had to tackle was water level. Disappointingly, not enough snow melted and we ended up with a mostly wet wall and not much waterfall. Willie, Alan, and I spent the rest of the weekend freezing our tuchases off as we drove around the park trying to find other things to photograph. We also ran into a number of other photographers that we have exchanged emails, comments, and conversations with: Jean Day, Matt Granz, Michael Bonocore, Joe Azure, and Chung Hu to name a few. We decided to cut our trip short and leave the park early on Sunday morning. Just as we drove out of the park at 9:30am we noticed that Horsetail Falls was *gushing* with water. We could see it with our naked eye! Scratch the plan to leave -- we turned around and went to the lodge to get some grub. Unfortunately …. When we returned at the waterfall a couple hours later the waterfall was completely gone again! Oh well, next year! Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8 AF-D ED: 200m, f/11, 1/50 sec, ISO 100
Night's Tail Horsetail Falls, Fire Falls, via Moonlight Yosemite National Park, CA Many photographers know about Horsetail Falls in Yosemite and that every February it lights up into a "Fire Falls." In fact, I photographed this exact event in February of this year and it was spectacular. Many photographers, however, do not know that the same phenomenon occurs via moonlight on some rare occasions! On Saturday, April 16th 2011 I woke up at 3am and headed over to the Picnic Grounds at Yosemite National Park. When I arrived the moon was really lighting up the falls but the angle wasn't quite right to turn the falls red. After a couple minutes of setting up and figuring out my camera settings all of a sudden the photos started turning orange! It lasted for about 10 minutes before the falls were completely dark. Note that to the human eye the falls appeared white but to the camera it appeared red! The human eye has 2 photo-receptors: rods and cones. Cones are really good at detail and color but require a lot of light. They don't work so well in low light (night). Rods on the other hand, are really good at low light but they can't detect color. So at night, in this scene, our eye only saw the brightness of the falls but the camera sensor saw the beautiful color! There is NO saturation change to this. The only thing I did after taking this photo was a small white balance adjustment, some sharpening, and some noise reduction! I'd also like to note the difficulties in taking this photo. It was nearly pitch black and the camera cannot focus at all. Additionally, using LiveMode, as I did during the sunset Fire Falls, doesn't work either since the LiveMode displayed a completely black view. I had to set the camera to focus at infinity, took a photo, and then tweaked the focus. I continued this until I got a shot that was in focus. Additionally, since there's so little light I had to bump the ISO wayyyyyy up. Additionally, I had to turn "Long Exposure Noise Reduction" and "High ISO Noise Reduction" off or I would have missed out on taking photos of the event. I did the noise reduction later on in Photoshop. Lastly, I had to keep the shutter short just to try to keep the star trails to a minimum. Nikon D300s w/Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S VR: 112mm, f/4.8, 30 sec, ISO 2000, Tripod
Destroyer of the One Ring Horsetail Falls, Fire Falls Yosemite National Park, CA For two weeks every year Horsetail Falls, in Yosemite National Park, becomes one of the most sought after spots to photograph. Made famous by Galen Rowell in his "Natural Firefall photograph" (Ansel Adams did document this photograph but as a black-and-white landscape photo), many photographers (including myself) try to duplicate his effort. Situated on the northern side of the valley, and at the extreme eastern end of the El Capitan monolith wall, the falls catch the last rays of the setting sun for only about one month of the year.  At midwinter, the sun sets below the southwestern rim.  As the year progresses, the sun sets a bit further north along the western horizon.  By the end of January, if you are standing at the El Capitan picnic area parking lot, you can see the sun setting in the Gunsight, the V between Cathedral rocks on the eastern side of Bridal Veil Falls.  By the first few days of February, it sets to the right of the lowest Cathedral rock.  Provided the sky is clear, the sunlight illuminates the entire El Capitan North America wall, and if you are in a position east of the falls, it backlights the water, making it glow with amazing colors In mid-to-late February each year, when the atmospheric conditions as well as the angle of the sun, hit Horsetail Falls just right, the entire falls look as if they are *ON FIRE*! In order for the falls to burn you need sunlight (the clouds can't be blocking the setting sun), and water (which occurs when the snowpack above El Capitan is melting). There are 3 places that you can easily view Horsetail Falls. The first, and most popular, is the El Capitan picnic area (on Northside Drive). This provides the closest view, but it's at further east and a harsher angle and some people didn't see the falls light up from this spot while the other locations did. The two other locations are along Southside Drive, with the best spot being where we snapped away (GPS coordinates 37.72783,-119.609). We got to Yosemite at about noon on Sunday, hoping that the incoming storm would keep the clouds away and light up the falls for us. We scoped out all 3 locations and decided that the Southside Dr location was best. We arrived back there at 2:30pm, which was just in time, because photographers were starting to line up and we had to rush to claim a good spot. We made friends with the photographers around us -- which was a good thing because we had 3 hours to kill while the sun set. Peak "Firefalling" was supposed to start at 5:22pm but clouds had settled in and we started to get sad that we drove/waited all this time for nothing. At about 5:31pm we noticed the bottom of the falls started to glow. Sure enough a couple seconds later the clouds parted and the entire falls lit up on fire, right before our eyes! We had 7 minutes to snap our hearts away (and stop and just gawk at this amazing site) before the sun set and the firefalls returned to waterfalls. I rented a Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 VR for this shoot. I wanted to make sure I got the sharpest images possible. I stuck my old 70-300mm lens on my D80 and an extra tripod and snapped away with that as well. I should have paid more attention to my good camera/lens because I made some silly mistakes (like allowing the photos to be over-exposed) due to my running back and forth between cameras. I hope you enjoy these photos of Horsetail Falls (Fire Falls)! Destroyer of The One Ring Taken on February 13, 2011 at Horsetail Falls in Yosemite National Park, CA
Destroyer of the One Ring (2) Horsetail Falls, Fire Falls Yosemite National Park, CA For two weeks every year Horsetail Falls, in Yosemite National Park, becomes one of the most sought after spots to photograph. Made famous by Galen Rowell in his "Natural Firefall photograph" (Ansel Adams did document this photograph but as a black-and-white landscape photo), many photographers (including myself) try to duplicate his effort. Situated on the northern side of the valley, and at the extreme eastern end of the El Capitan monolith wall, the falls catch the last rays of the setting sun for only about one month of the year.  At midwinter, the sun sets below the southwestern rim.  As the year progresses, the sun sets a bit further north along the western horizon.  By the end of January, if you are standing at the El Capitan picnic area parking lot, you can see the sun setting in the Gunsight, the V between Cathedral rocks on the eastern side of Bridal Veil Falls.  By the first few days of February, it sets to the right of the lowest Cathedral rock.  Provided the sky is clear, the sunlight illuminates the entire El Capitan North America wall, and if you are in a position east of the falls, it backlights the water, making it glow with amazing colors In mid-to-late February each year, when the atmospheric conditions as well as the angle of the sun, hit Horsetail Falls just right, the entire falls look as if they are *ON FIRE*! In order for the falls to burn you need sunlight (the clouds can't be blocking the setting sun), and water (which occurs when the snowpack above El Capitan is melting). There are 3 places that you can easily view Horsetail Falls. The first, and most popular, is the El Capitan picnic area (on Northside Drive). This provides the closest view, but it's at further east and a harsher angle and some people didn't see the falls light up from this spot while the other locations did. The two other locations are along Southside Drive, with the best spot being where we snapped away (GPS coordinates 37.72783,-119.609). We got to Yosemite at about noon on Sunday, hoping that the incoming storm would keep the clouds away and light up the falls for us. We scoped out all 3 locations and decided that the Southside Dr location was best. We arrived back there at 2:30pm, which was just in time, because photographers were starting to line up and we had to rush to claim a good spot. We made friends with the photographers around us -- which was a good thing because we had 3 hours to kill while the sun set. Peak "Firefalling" was supposed to start at 5:22pm but clouds had settled in and we started to get sad that we drove/waited all this time for nothing. At about 5:31pm we noticed the bottom of the falls started to glow. Sure enough a couple seconds later the clouds parted and the entire falls lit up on fire, right before our eyes! We had 7 minutes to snap our hearts away (and stop and just gawk at this amazing site) before the sun set and the firefalls returned to waterfalls. I rented a Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 VR for this shoot. I wanted to make sure I got the sharpest images possible. I stuck my old 70-300mm lens on my D80 and an extra tripod and snapped away with that as well. I should have paid more attention to my good camera/lens because I made some silly mistakes (like allowing the photos to be over-exposed) due to my running back and forth between cameras. I hope you enjoy these photos of Horsetail Falls (Fire Falls)! Destroyer of The One Ring Taken on February 13, 2011 at Horsetail Falls in Yosemite National Park, CA
HorseFAIL
Horsetail Falls, Fire Falls
Yosemite National Park, CA

Although Galen Rowell first photographed the Horsetail Falls "Fire Falls" in 1973 it was only until recently, with the popularity of the internet and social media, that this became a popular scene. During 2 weeks in February the sun sets at just the right angle that the orange glow reflects off the water and granite wall giving it the appearance of fire. Thousands of photographers flock to Yosemite National Park each winter to photograph this. In order for the Fire Falls effect to happen there needs to be plenty of water in the waterfall, the angle of the sun has to be just right, and the sky needs to be clear enough not to block the light from the sun.

There are 2 main locations to photograph the Horsetail Falls Fire Falls: one by the El Capitan picnic grounds (on Northside Drive) and the other along the river bank further south (on Southside Drive). Having photographed this event from the Southside Drive location in 2011 I decided to photograph from Northside Drive this year. Willie, Alan, and I drove down to Yosemite National Park on Friday afternoon and spent the entire weekend in Yosemite. My cousin and his friend also joined us.

As most people have pointed out the water level this year has been awful. A few giant storms in December gave way to an extremely dry January and February. When we arrived on Friday afternoon we could barely even find the waterfall, which is supplied by snowmelt from the top of El Capitan. Although several inches of snow fell a few days earlier the water level was looking pretty abysmal. On top of that, clouds kept rolling in. Luckily the clouds disappeared an hour or so before sunset and the only issue we had to tackle was water level. Disappointingly, not enough snow melted and we ended up with a mostly wet wall and not much waterfall.

Willie, Alan, and I spent the rest of the weekend freezing our tuchases off as we drove around the park trying to find other things to photograph. We also ran into a number of other photographers that we have exchanged emails, comments, and conversations with: Jean Day, Matt Granz, Michael Bonocore, Joe Azure, and Chung Hu to name a few.

We decided to cut our trip short and leave the park early on Sunday morning. Just as we drove out of the park at 9:30am we noticed that Horsetail Falls was *gushing* with water. We could see it with our naked eye! Scratch the plan to leave -- we turned around and went to the lodge to get some grub. Unfortunately …. When we returned at the waterfall a couple hours later the waterfall was completely gone again! Oh well, next year!

Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8 AF-D ED:
200m, f/11, 1/50 sec, ISO 100
HorseFAIL Horsetail Falls, Fire Falls Yosemite National Park, CA Although Galen Rowell first photographed the Horsetail Falls "Fire Falls" in 1973 it was only until recently, with the popularity of the internet and social media, that this became a popular scene. During 2 weeks in February the sun sets at just the right angle that the orange glow reflects off the water and granite wall giving it the appearance of fire. Thousands of photographers flock to Yosemite National Park each winter to photograph this. In order for the Fire Falls effect to happen there needs to be plenty of water in the waterfall, the angle of the sun has to be just right, and the sky needs to be clear enough not to block the light from the sun. There are 2 main locations to photograph the Horsetail Falls Fire Falls: one by the El Capitan picnic grounds (on Northside Drive) and the other along the river bank further south (on Southside Drive). Having photographed this event from the Southside Drive location in 2011 I decided to photograph from Northside Drive this year. Willie, Alan, and I drove down to Yosemite National Park on Friday afternoon and spent the entire weekend in Yosemite. My cousin and his friend also joined us. As most people have pointed out the water level this year has been awful. A few giant storms in December gave way to an extremely dry January and February. When we arrived on Friday afternoon we could barely even find the waterfall, which is supplied by snowmelt from the top of El Capitan. Although several inches of snow fell a few days earlier the water level was looking pretty abysmal. On top of that, clouds kept rolling in. Luckily the clouds disappeared an hour or so before sunset and the only issue we had to tackle was water level. Disappointingly, not enough snow melted and we ended up with a mostly wet wall and not much waterfall. Willie, Alan, and I spent the rest of the weekend freezing our tuchases off as we drove around the park trying to find other things to photograph. We also ran into a number of other photographers that we have exchanged emails, comments, and conversations with: Jean Day, Matt Granz, Michael Bonocore, Joe Azure, and Chung Hu to name a few. We decided to cut our trip short and leave the park early on Sunday morning. Just as we drove out of the park at 9:30am we noticed that Horsetail Falls was *gushing* with water. We could see it with our naked eye! Scratch the plan to leave -- we turned around and went to the lodge to get some grub. Unfortunately …. When we returned at the waterfall a couple hours later the waterfall was completely gone again! Oh well, next year! Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8 AF-D ED: 200m, f/11, 1/50 sec, ISO 100" href="javascript:openLB(2381415456,'',XLarge,'',513,768);">HorseFAIL Horsetail Falls, Fire Falls Yosemite National Park, CA Although Galen Rowell first photographed the Horsetail Falls "Fire Falls" in 1973 it was only until recently, with the popularity of the internet and social media, that this became a popular scene. During 2 weeks in February the sun sets at just the right angle that the orange glow reflects off the water and granite wall giving it the appearance of fire. Thousands of photographers flock to Yosemite National Park each winter to photograph this. In order for the Fire Falls effect to happen there needs to be plenty of water in the waterfall, the angle of the sun has to be just right, and the sky needs to be clear enough not to block the light from the sun. There are 2 main locations to photograph the Horsetail Falls Fire Falls: one by the El Capitan picnic grounds (on Northside Drive) and the other along the river bank further south (on Southside Drive). Having photographed this event from the Southside Drive location in 2011 I decided to photograph from Northside Drive this year. Willie, Alan, and I drove down to Yosemite National Park on Friday afternoon and spent the entire weekend in Yosemite. My cousin and his friend also joined us. As most people have pointed out the water level this year has been awful. A few giant storms in December gave way to an extremely dry January and February. When we arrived on Friday afternoon we could barely even find the waterfall, which is supplied by snowmelt from the top of El Capitan. Although several inches of snow fell a few days earlier the water level was looking pretty abysmal. On top of that, clouds kept rolling in. Luckily the clouds disappeared an hour or so before sunset and the only issue we had to tackle was water level. Disappointingly, not enough snow melted and we ended up with a mostly wet wall and not much waterfall. Willie, Alan, and I spent the rest of the weekend freezing our tuchases off as we drove around the park trying to find other things to photograph. We also ran into a number of other photographers that we have exchanged emails, comments, and conversations with: Jean Day, Matt Granz, Michael Bonocore, Joe Azure, and Chung Hu to name a few. We decided to cut our trip short and leave the park early on Sunday morning. Just as we drove out of the park at 9:30am we noticed that Horsetail Falls was *gushing* with water. We could see it with our naked eye! Scratch the plan to leave -- we turned around and went to the lodge to get some grub. Unfortunately …. When we returned at the waterfall a couple hours later the waterfall was completely gone again! Oh well, next year! Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8 AF-D ED: 200m, f/11, 1/50 sec, ISO 100
HorseFAIL
Horsetail Falls, Fire Falls
Yosemite National Park, CA

Although Galen Rowell first photographed the Horsetail Falls "Fire Falls" in 1973 it was only until recently, with the popularity of the internet and social media, that this became a popular scene. During 2 weeks in February the sun sets at just the right angle that the orange glow reflects off the water and granite wall giving it the appearance of fire. Thousands of photographers flock to Yosemite National Park each winter to photograph this. In order for the Fire Falls effect to happen there needs to be plenty of water in the waterfall, the angle of the sun has to be just right, and the sky needs to be clear enough not to block the light from the sun.

There are 2 main locations to photograph the Horsetail Falls Fire Falls: one by the El Capitan picnic grounds (on Northside Drive) and the other along the river bank further south (on Southside Drive). Having photographed this event from the Southside Drive location in 2011 I decided to photograph from Northside Drive this year. Willie, Alan, and I drove down to Yosemite National Park on Friday afternoon and spent the entire weekend in Yosemite. My cousin and his friend also joined us.

As most people have pointed out the water level this year has been awful. A few giant storms in December gave way to an extremely dry January and February. When we arrived on Friday afternoon we could barely even find the waterfall, which is supplied by snowmelt from the top of El Capitan. Although several inches of snow fell a few days earlier the water level was looking pretty abysmal. On top of that, clouds kept rolling in. Luckily the clouds disappeared an hour or so before sunset and the only issue we had to tackle was water level. Disappointingly, not enough snow melted and we ended up with a mostly wet wall and not much waterfall.

Willie, Alan, and I spent the rest of the weekend freezing our tuchases off as we drove around the park trying to find other things to photograph. We also ran into a number of other photographers that we have exchanged emails, comments, and conversations with: Jean Day, Matt Granz, Michael Bonocore, Joe Azure, and Chung Hu to name a few.

We decided to cut our trip short and leave the park early on Sunday morning. Just as we drove out of the park at 9:30am we noticed that Horsetail Falls was *gushing* with water. We could see it with our naked eye! Scratch the plan to leave -- we turned around and went to the lodge to get some grub. Unfortunately …. When we returned at the waterfall a couple hours later the waterfall was completely gone again! Oh well, next year!

Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8 AF-D ED:
200m, f/11, 1/50 sec, ISO 100
See photo in original gallery.
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