Photo Tips USA – Kings Canyon National Park – Motifs along the Kings Canyon Scenic Byway (Rt-180)

„In the vast Sierra Wilderness far to the south of the famous Yosemite, there is a yet grander Yalley of the same kind. It is situated on the south fork of the Kings River beneath the shadows of the highest mountains in the range, where the canyons are deepest and the snowladen peaks are crowded most closely together. The general characters, however, are wonderfully alike, and they bear the same relationship to the fountains of the ancient glaciers above them.“
John Muir, Century Magazine 1891

The Middle and South Forks of the Kings River flow around the Monarch Divide massif in the shape of a large V, as visible from the heights. The canyons of the two rivers are also V-shaped. Below the Spanish Mountains, Kings Canyon reaches a depth of more than 2400 m (7874 ft) and thus holds the North American record. But if you push further into the heart of the park, you will recognize the original U-shape of the valley and thus its glacial origin better and better. – Like huge planes, glaciers worked here thousands of years ago and prepared the ground for the erosive power of the flowing water.

Past Kings Canyon Lodge, the Scenic Byway leads to Yucca Point, which is only 4 km (2.5 mi) from the confluence of the South and Middle Forks. The road still takes advantage of the comfortable space the canyon offers, but with the prominent nose of Horseshoe Bend, the canyon narrows to a gorge only 55 m (60 yd) wide, forcing the asphalt close to the foaming spray. At Boyden Cave, washed out of the granite, the road changes sides, and after another 8 km (5 mi) the Grizzly Falls are reached. The short way to the waterfall invites you to linger and process the impressions gathered up here. The border of Kings Canyon National Park reemerges just a few miles away. Up until this point, the Rt-180 traverses through the Sequoia National Forest. Once you reach Cedar Grove Village, the narrow section is behind you, and the canyon widens again. The elevated Cedar Grove Overlook documents this particularly well. It can be reached on foot from the village (8 km/5 mi round trip, 365 m/1197 ft elevation gain, 3-4 hrs) and the spectacular view over the length of the canyon is worth the sometimes difficult walk. Given the canyon’s general west-to-east orientation, the following viewpoints offer excellent timing and lighting. 1,6 km (1 mi) past Cedar Grove Village, you pass the Canyon View vantage point, from which the glacier-carved U-shape of the valley to the east is particularly striking. Another 2 km (3.2 mi) toward the end of the road, a sign points south to Roaring Falls, which has water almost year-round. The path leading to the 25 m (82 ft) high waterfall hardly merits mention. Hopping over some big boulders, you easily reach the center of the pool and the best shooting position. Zumwaldt Meadow is the final and nearly ideal location along the road. Standing in the middle of the meadow after a 2 km (3.2 mi) walk, one would think that such an idyllic place could only come from imagination. Bright reeds alternate with lush grass and large boulders; the Kings River flows by almost silently; tall dark firs line the edge of the meadow, and the mighty North Dome (2657 m/8717 ft) and Grand Sentinel (2596 m/8517 ft) formations tower overhead to the east. If you hold out until sunset, you can perfectly combine the grandiose red coloration of the last rays of the sun on these two sentinels with the reeds or the river in the foreground. It’s an ensemble that works well even in the shallow afternoon light. Looking back west on the north side of the canyon, you can see a steep cliff face set against the sunset, reminiscent in shape of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. Zumwaldt Meadows‘ bedrock, by the way, is the soft sediment of an ancient lake, which you can always feel off the wooden-planked trail. On the return journey to the village, the 4,8 km (3 mi) long Motor Nature Trail is an obvious choice. The gravel road runs as a one-way road on the north side of the Kings River and provides ample opportunities to photograph the canyon landscape from this side as well. However, I do not recommend driving it with motor homes or similar vehicles.

On the way back west out of the canyon, it is advisable to start as early in the morning as possible, because just as the sun shines on the entrance to the canyon in the late afternoon, you can then place this motif in a dramatic backlight from the height of Rt-180. From the same location, you can capture a stunning picture of the wonderful streak of light on the mountain ranges of the Monarch Wilderness Area. Exposure on analog silver film is tricky in both cases because of the large differences in brightness. Find a patch of medium brightness on the gray rocks as a starting point and work your way around it in ½ increments up to +/- 1.5 exposure stops. Shooting digital, you can work with this, of course, but in principle, you have it better because you don´t need to worry about exact values. A quick series of shots consisting of correct exposure and +/- 2 exposure steps, which is later combined on the computer by means of Dynamic Range Increase to a pseudo High Dynamic Range Image (HDRI) makes his life easier. „Pseudo“ because it is stored in an 8-bit format that provides only 256 brightness levels for each color channel. However, in order to store the actual range of brightness available, as real HDR images do, more bits, i.e., more brightness levels, are necessary. You should achieve under- and over-exposure by adjusting the exposure time, not by stopping the lens down or up. The latter also alters the depth of field, a change rarely desired. If the subject is moving excessively, the following trick can be helpful when developing the image in RAW: Develop once on the highlights and once on the shadows, so that you have two images that have details in the respective areas. The image processing program then combines both to create a single image with the desired characteristics. – The results are definitely worth getting up early for!

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