In Yosemite, the best oak color will be found this weekend in El Capitan Meadow. As with the black cottonwoods, back lighting and side lighting combined with a polarizing filter will make the colors really stand out. Otherwise the color will be rendered very pale. This photo was made on November 3, 2010 with a Canon 24-105mm zoom lens set at 24mm on a Canon 5D MkII full frame sensor camera. The exposure was 1/90 sec. at f-9.5 using ISO 400 and a polarizing filter. I let the sun peek through the branches for a nice little sun star for effect. For information on exposure, lighting, filters and composition, please check our Tips and Techniques section.