We left Bryce on New Year’s Day 2015 and made it to Page, AZ for the night. I had never been in a slot canyon so thought I might check out if any tours were available for the next day. I was told that there were two types of tours; a regular tourist trip of about 2 hours where one could not bring a tripod and the photographer’s tour of 4 hours and one must have a tripod. No brainer, right? Au contraire, my wife could not go with me on the photo tour (I was willing to pay full price) unless she had a tripod, never mind that she would not be taking any photos. I had only brought one tripod with me and they were totally inflexible so I said thank you very much (not very nicely )and left.
So plan B, kind of on the spur of the moment, was to go on to the Grand Canyon and just cruise by on our way back to Scottsdale. Here’s where Fortune Smiled. The snowstorm that we left behind at Bryce moved east and dusted the canyon overnight. I overheard one of the rangers at an overlook say that this was a 50 year storm and that snow rarely reached the bottom of the canyon.
A couple of years later we finally made it to Page and Antelope Canyon. With two tripods in hand we both went on the photo tour. What did hack me off a tiny bit was that there was one guy in our group who did not have a tripod but did have a very high dollar DSLR and they let him come along. Considering the low light levels in the canyon I could not imagine him getting any useable shots hand held but as long as he stayed out of my way I didn’t mind. Besides, I told Chrissy that if he did get in the way just to whack him with the tripod she was lugging. Always a good thing to be armed in the presence of tourons. >=))>
Feedback Requests
Another tricky WB but with new LR tools and DxO the quality of this image is much better than when I first posted it over 10 years ago. My only minor quandary is with the blue of the sky. Does that look right to you?
Pertinent Technical Details
Sony A77
Sony DT 16-50 f2.8 @ 50mm, CPL
ISO 100, 1/320 @ f8
The light snowfall really accentuates the rock strata and gives a very nice sense of depth. The composition looks great to me, Bill.
Regarding the sky: It looks like the blue is tilting toward having too much cyan. You might try masking everything but that blue and then use a Selective Color in PS to reduce the cyan and add some black to the blues darkening them a bit in that spot.
You could also boost the saturation of the reds in the canyon walls just a wee bit (emphasis on ‘wee’) so that they pop a little more.
This is a fine image of a truly grand place. Nicely done!
-P
It’s an impressive shot Bill, the dusting of snow and the strong light really show the beauty of the canyon.
The perspective works well with the closer foreground rocks leading the eye right through the frame and up to the horizon.
I recognise the blue colour in the sky, I sometimes see it after a bit too much tweaking of a white sky. Preston’s suggestion could well help us both.
Gorgeous image, Bill and the sky is perfect in the repost. The sense of depth in this image is awesome. Long before we met, my wife was there with a friend when there was a snow in the canyon and she said photographers were coming in on chartered flights from all over to shoot it, so your timing was great.
As my mother always said, sometimes things happen for a reason. This photograph was a great result of that. Really nice…I took a minute wondering why you thought this was Bryce, and then read the rest of the paragraph. Duh…sometimes I’m a little slow.
I really like the reach of this view…foreground, distance, all the canyons, and the snow with rock give it a special feeling. Preston’s suggestion on the sky fixed my own nit. Nice work.
ML
A gorgeous image with amazing detail!! And the sky fix is just the right touch. What a wonderful Second Prize after the disappointment at Antelope Canyon!
Bill, another great look at a well know icon under unusual conditions. The revisions add very well to the view, especially the changed blue of the sky.
)and left.
>=))>