Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Fire Waterfall 火瀑布
(Courtesy of email from C Chan)
A rare sight!!
Yosemite National Park, California , USA
This park was gazetted as a national park in 1890. It is world famous for its rugged terrain, waterfall and century-old pine trees. It covers 1200 sq km and the "fire" waterfall of El Capitan is one of the most spectacular of all scenery.
The spectacular view of the waterfall is created by the reflection of sunlight hitting the falling water at a specific angle. This rare sight can only be seen at a 2-week period towards the end of Feburary. To photograph this rare event, photographers would often have to wait and endure years of patience in order to capture them. The reason is because its appearance depend on a few natural phenomenons occuring at the same time and luck.
1st, Is the formation of the waterfall - The water is formed by the melting of snow and ice at the top of the mountain. It melts between the month of December and January and by the end of February there might not have much snow left to melt.
2nd, is the specific angle of the sunray hitting the falling water - The sun's position must be exactly at a particular spot in the sky. This occur only in the month of February and at the short hours of dusk. If it is a day full of clouds or something blocking the sun, you can only take pictures of your own sorry faces on the waterfall. It coincides with the fact that the weather in the National Park at that time of the year is often volatile and unpredictable. It compounds to the difficulty of getting these pictures.
Someone did !!! and we all get to see it !!
約塞米蒂國家公園(Yosemite National Park)位於美國加利福尼亞州。這家建成於1890年的國家公園以峽谷、瀑布、千年美洲松聞名于世，佔地1200平方英里。而酋長岩（El Capitan）上的火瀑布就是公園內最罕見的景觀之一。
火瀑布是特定角度的陽光照射在瀑布上形成的光學效果。這一景觀只在每年2月末的兩個星期內有一定幾率可以看見。有些拍攝火瀑布的攝影師常常需要花費幾年時間才能拍到火瀑布的照片。之所以這麼難以看到這種景象，關鍵在於火瀑布的出現需要滿足幾個條件。
首先是瀑布的形成。這個瀑布是依靠酋長岩上的雪山融水為源的，所以並非一年四季都存在。酋長岩上的雪一般在每年的十二月和一月融化。到二月底的時候，這個瀑布很可能已經水乾瀑亡了。
其次是太陽的角度。太陽的位置必須正好將光芒覆蓋在這個瀑布上。而这个太陽角度只出現在每年一月、二月的晴天的傍晚。如果天上有雲、有其他東西，你就只能看瀑布和自己臉上的瀑布了。不幸的是，二月份正好是國家公園天氣比較無常的月份。基於這些苛刻的條件，成功拍攝火瀑布的照片並不多。
A rare sight!!
Yosemite National Park, California , USA
This park was gazetted as a national park in 1890. It is world famous for its rugged terrain, waterfall and century-old pine trees. It covers 1200 sq km and the "fire" waterfall of El Capitan is one of the most spectacular of all scenery.
The spectacular view of the waterfall is created by the reflection of sunlight hitting the falling water at a specific angle. This rare sight can only be seen at a 2-week period towards the end of Feburary. To photograph this rare event, photographers would often have to wait and endure years of patience in order to capture them. The reason is because its appearance depend on a few natural phenomenons occuring at the same time and luck.
1st, Is the formation of the waterfall - The water is formed by the melting of snow and ice at the top of the mountain. It melts between the month of December and January and by the end of February there might not have much snow left to melt.
2nd, is the specific angle of the sunray hitting the falling water - The sun's position must be exactly at a particular spot in the sky. This occur only in the month of February and at the short hours of dusk. If it is a day full of clouds or something blocking the sun, you can only take pictures of your own sorry faces on the waterfall. It coincides with the fact that the weather in the National Park at that time of the year is often volatile and unpredictable. It compounds to the difficulty of getting these pictures.
Someone did !!! and we all get to see it !!
約塞米蒂國家公園(Yosemite National Park)位於美國加利福尼亞州。這家建成於1890年的國家公園以峽谷、瀑布、千年美洲松聞名于世，佔地1200平方英里。而酋長岩（El Capitan）上的火瀑布就是公園內最罕見的景觀之一。
火瀑布是特定角度的陽光照射在瀑布上形成的光學效果。這一景觀只在每年2月末的兩個星期內有一定幾率可以看見。有些拍攝火瀑布的攝影師常常需要花費幾年時間才能拍到火瀑布的照片。之所以這麼難以看到這種景象，關鍵在於火瀑布的出現需要滿足幾個條件。
首先是瀑布的形成。這個瀑布是依靠酋長岩上的雪山融水為源的，所以並非一年四季都存在。酋長岩上的雪一般在每年的十二月和一月融化。到二月底的時候，這個瀑布很可能已經水乾瀑亡了。
其次是太陽的角度。太陽的位置必須正好將光芒覆蓋在這個瀑布上。而这个太陽角度只出現在每年一月、二月的晴天的傍晚。如果天上有雲、有其他東西，你就只能看瀑布和自己臉上的瀑布了。不幸的是，二月份正好是國家公園天氣比較無常的月份。基於這些苛刻的條件，成功拍攝火瀑布的照片並不多。
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