Bridalveil Falls - Rainbow appears at about 5:30 p.m. in May when shot from parking lot. One of better shots is from the west end of the parking lot right after you enter.
Golden Hour - By 6:15 most of the Valley is in shade in May. Exception is Bridalveil Falls.
Tioga Pass Road - Cool new place to shoot across from Pywiack Dome ( 37°51'19.99"N, 119°26'22.40"W). Small turnout driving toward Tenaya Lake. Granite "ramp" runs uphill from road is covered with erratics. Nice shot with erratics in foreground and peaks across the road.
Marmots still at Olmstead Point, but we didn't see any golden mantled ground squirrels or Clark's nutcrackers. There seem to be far fewer pikas because of climate warming. Pikas are moving up mountains for cooler climate. Some are along rock piles below road near Pywiack Dome. Look for marmots at first turnout below Olmstead Point toward Tenaya Lake.
Tuolumne River cascades below Pothole Dome ( 37°53'12.41"N 119°23'17.92"W) is an amazing area to photograph. We only hiked down to the second curve that turned the river west. From there, it went straight west and dropped more gradually. Next time, we need to continue hiking down river until we reach the meadow below. It looks like it might be another mile.
Tuolumne Meadows postcard shot with reflections in lake. Try 37°52'36.84"N 119°22'25.46"W.
Dana Tarn is good sunset spot. Sun remains on peaks until about 20 minutes before sunset.
Yosemite Falls and much of Valley starts moving into shade about 3:00 in May and June.
To do time lapse movies of star movement, you have to wait until the sky is evenly dark. There doesn't seem to be any way to guess on the exposure adjustments as the sky darkens after sunset.