We got to Mirror Lake at abotu 5pm and the sun was starting to set. It made a really nice line of shadow across the mountains/trees but the lighting was pretty difficult still (not even). There were a couple other photographers there and we had to fight for tripod space. All of them were shooting multiple exposures and although I really didnt want to do an HDR here, the lighting was just too varied (too dark in the trees/water) and I found myself really attracted to the HDR versions.
Here you can see Mt. Watkins reflected in Mirror Lake. Its getting harder and harder to get the reflections in this lake because its losing its mirror effect. In the old days the park rangers / hotels used to dredge this lake for Ice (for the hotels) and salt (for the roads) and that helped create the reflection effect. However, now the park wants to stay all natural and dredging has stopped, which has decreased its reflectivity. I had to pull out the polarizer to get better reflections (note: if you go here, I highly highly recommend a polarizer. It really really helped increase the awesome reflection).
