Glacier Point Views Under Moonlight

To see the world in a new way sometimes all you need is some different lighting. While out photographing moonbows last month, at Glacier Point lookout, I enjoyed watching Yosemite valley transform as the full moon rose above the horizon.  To my amazement the moon low on the horizon painted the valley a subtle orange hue as you might expect to see during a sunrise.  I shouldn’t have been too surprised as the moon merely reflects sunlight albeit at a lower intensity, but I was. Academically knowing that something like this happens hardly diminishes the wow factor of actually seeing it happen before your eyes.

Having seen numerous photos of Half Dome from Glacier Point I particularly liked how the shape of Half Dome was highlighted with a kiss of light by the moon under subtle star streaks.

Half Dome illuminated by moonlight as seen from Glacier Point - Yosemite National Park, California

The granite walls near Yosemite Falls took on a particularly intense orange hue from the earliest light of the moonrise.

Yosemite Falls lit by a rising full moon, as seen from Glacier Point - Yosemite National Park, California

[tags]Yosemite, photographs, pictures, stock photo, stock, Yosemite Falls, Half Dome, Glacier Point[/tags]