P311V – Yosemite Falls at Night - Lit by a Full Moon

This photograph of Yosemite Falls was taken just before midnight during a full moon. In the month of June, when the moon is at its highest point in the sky, you can capture what’s called a moonbow (or lunar rainbow), which is a rare optical phenomenon caused by the refraction of moonlight , rather than sunlight, through atmospheric water droplets.

On this particular evening, the sky was clear so I knew this was my chance to capture this long awaited photo. Around sunset, I started up the Yosemite Falls trail (which I know caused some confusion to the people I passed coming down the trail). It’s a rather long hike, but the best vantage point is about level with the base of Upper Yosemite Falls.

Given that the moon does travel fairly quickly across the sky, a time exposure can’t be much longer than a few minutes, otherwise the moonbow will move across the bottom of the falls too quickly and blur out the colors. Even though the moon is full, you can still see some stars above the waterfall. In fact, the North Star is actually in the photograph, to the left of the top of the waterfall. You can see that the other stars in the area are circling around it.

The waterfall was raging, causing a non-stop wind on the trees, plus getting myself and my camera wet, even from the distance I was at. Regardless, I feel this is a unique photograph and well worth the trip.