Photographing Yosemite: Digital Field Guide

21.3. How Can I Get the Best Shot?

Careful scouting and walking around a bit looking for good foregrounds rewards you with the best images of Tenaya Lake. You can use a variety of lenses and filters on this subject to enhance your images.

21.3.1. Equipment

Tenaya Lake, as with most other locations, can be photographed with a variety of lenses ranging from wide-angle to telephoto, depending on your location.

21.3.1.1. Lenses

You can use the same wider-angle lenses at either end of the lake, but from Olmsted Point you will want to use longer lenses.

21.3.1.1.1. West and east shores

As you walk along the shorelines of the lake, you will find your wide-angle lenses to be the most useful for making compositions that use the natural objects found in the area as foreground elements. Lenses in the 14-28mm range are the most useful here if you want to capture the grandeur and size of the lake. The wide-angle lenses also allow you to place foreground elements in a prominent location to add depth to the image (see figure 21.4). If you want to capture the human element of the scene as someone enjoys the recreational values of the lake, a mid-range telephoto such as a 70-200mm lens is useful.

Figure 21.4. Using large boulders as a foreground element at the west end of Tenaya Lake on an autumn afternoon. Taken at ISO 100, f/18, 1/50 second with a 24-105mm zoom lens at 24mm.

21.3.1.1.2. ...