Lower Antelope Canyon, LeChee Chapter of the Navajo Nation, Arizona, USA
The Upper and Lower Antelope Canyons had been on my bucket list for years. I finally got the chance to go in 2016. At the time, I had the Canon 5DS R, with a 50MP sensor. I was not able to use a tripod, so I went in with a Zeiss 15mm lens and the camera, planning to hand hold the whole time and crop later in post.
Unfortunately, I did not anticipate how dark it would be. I had to boost the ISO to 3200 in the Lower canyon and 6400 in the Upper canyon. Back then, Canon’s dynamic range and noise weren’t the best. I came back with images I was quite disappointed with because of all the noise.
Well, today, the tools for processing are much improved. I ran my images through DXO PhotoLab to work the noise and sharpness, then back into Capture One for final processing. I am astounded at the improvement. This is an ISO 3200 image with 2016 sensor technology.
Type of Critique Requested
Aesthetic: Feedback on the overall visual appeal of the image, including its color, lighting, cropping, and composition.
Technical: Feedback on the technical aspects of the image, such as exposure, color, focus and reproduction of colors and details, post-processing, and print quality.
Specific Feedback and Self-Critique
Since I had 50MP to play with, I decided to crop for creative/hopefully artistic intent.
One of my favorite destinations. I love the complexity of your image David, as well as the textures and detail. Is there any more detail in the dark center area? Not a big deal especially in this canyon
If you can believe this, back in the 90’s I did an adventure race at Lake Powell and the course took us through upper Antelope Canyon. Crazy experience. At any rate, the first thing I noticed about your image is the realistic color palette. Seems common for photographers to go crazy w/ saturation in slot canyons (I’m certainly guilty) but I appreciate that yours are vibrant but not over the top. I also like the composition and the darker shadows contrasting with the rich, warm reflected light. Nothing I’d do different - just a beautiful image!
This looks pretty darn good for ISO 3200, David. The warm tones look natural and vibrant without being over the top and the shadows have some nice details. I also find the lines and shapes a visual treat as they funnel me toward the light in the BG. Bummer about the tripod. Why are they prohibited as foot traffic was allowed? Just curious. Anyway, very nicely done. No suggestions from me.
Seems this place was and still is on everyone’s bucket list. Much like you, I photographed this place 3 or 4 times around the same time you did, maybe a little earlier and I noticed the same thing, noise. My first trip was early enough that they allowed tripods but you had to move so quickly it was nearly impossible to set up for a shot. That place is a zoo but it’s incredible. I love the color tones you decided to use, not too over the top and totally believable and it appears that the wonders of new technology have indeed enabled you to remove most of the noise and yet keep the image sharp. Nice looking window into the canyon with lots of textures, swirls, lines and light. After seeing this I think I need to revisit some of my images from a decade ago. Thanks for the memories, David!
Eva, I did some work on that center dark space and will post a revision above. It’s hard to get the detail without messing up the colors there…the change is very subtle, but hopefully enough.
Brett, I can’t imagine an adventure race through that canyon! Wow. Thanks for the comments about the colors and saturation. That means a lot to me.
Ed, I’m not sure what the rules are these days, but you could join a photography tour and take your tripod in. But you’re really just sharing the space with the rest of the visitors and it’s way to hard too get some decent time and space to photograph.
David, yes, you should recheck your images with today’s tools. I was shocked at the improvements…
I am not sure how I missed this, especially being so colorful and full of wonderful textures.
I guess it was just bad timing (as to when this was near the top).
The color is amazing and it’s a place I would love to go to someday, we are planning trip to the Grand Canyon so maybe we can visit this during that trip, not so much to photograph it but just to see it in person.
I doubt I can match the quality of other images like this one so photographically, I’m happy to view yours and others that are similar
I think you did very well at raising the details in the shadows in the rework and there’s no need for more than what you show in that area in my opinion.
I don’t see any ISO noise so the software and your skill using it made the difference. It looks very clean so I would have guessed that this was shot at ISO 64 or ISO 100 at the most (judging from the shadows).
Wonderfully composed and thanks for sharing it with us!
Wondeful image from the slot canyons. I’ve not had the priviledge or experience of visiting there so I only get to go by images I’ve seen posted over the years. Even with that, I would agree with Brett that I like that you’ve tempered the common habit of boosting color and saturation - so kudos on that.
One of the great features of this image that I don’t think has been mentioned is the depth. Exploring the entire scene and you get drawn through the center deeper and deeper in to the image - making one wonder how far back does this go?
Regarding the darker middle - most definitely an improvement. No doubt the extreme light and shadows present make it pretty darn difficult to get the full range so I think you’ve extracted the best you can given the new tools and techniques. Well done!
