Gerggl
Heaven & Hell
Antelope Canyon is a photographer's heaven, and a photographer's hell.
This slot canyon in northern Arizona is breath taking. The mid-day light streams down into the narrow canyon creating magnificent beams that move across the walls and floor as the day progresses. This is a must see for anyone interested in photography, and general natural beauty.
HOWEVER, this place is the worst. The Navajo nation is doing a horrible job of limiting the number of people allowed to enter this 1/4 mile long canyon. During the last 30 minutes of my tour, there must have been over 100 people in the canyon. And trying to take photos without people walking through your multiple long exposures for HDR is difficult and frustrating. Photo tours are offered, and the guides try to keep people out of other people's shots, but it doesn't always work out. Additionally, the place is extremely dusty, it is what creates the beams anyways... I heard some stories of people ruining expensive gear from the fine grained sand and dust floating around. I completely enclosed my Canon in plastic, used a remote shutter release (the handy Promote Control) and only the end of the lens was sticking out, which had my UV filter on it (although not needed here) to protect the glass. I was not about to ruin my brand new lens or camera. So even though it looked ridiculous, my gear still works. Long story short: I have seen it once; I will probably never return.
So far, and I have not even looked at all my 200 shots from the canyon yet, this one is my favorite. It also took 8 hours to process and I had to break up the time over about 8 days. Why? There was a person in the other room of the canyon, who moved into my shot, and their body lit up and their shoes reflected some light which completely blew out. So, I spent 7 of those hours essentially rebuilding the bottom quarter of the light beam. There was also a bunch of color fringing. I think I created over 175 layers in Photoshop. Although I personally do not think this shot is perfect (especially at the pixel level), since there is still some issues from the person in the background, I don't think I have the energy to try anymore...
This is a 5 shot HDR at 1EV spacing.
Heaven & Hell
Antelope Canyon is a photographer's heaven, and a photographer's hell.
This slot canyon in northern Arizona is breath taking. The mid-day light streams down into the narrow canyon creating magnificent beams that move across the walls and floor as the day progresses. This is a must see for anyone interested in photography, and general natural beauty.
HOWEVER, this place is the worst. The Navajo nation is doing a horrible job of limiting the number of people allowed to enter this 1/4 mile long canyon. During the last 30 minutes of my tour, there must have been over 100 people in the canyon. And trying to take photos without people walking through your multiple long exposures for HDR is difficult and frustrating. Photo tours are offered, and the guides try to keep people out of other people's shots, but it doesn't always work out. Additionally, the place is extremely dusty, it is what creates the beams anyways... I heard some stories of people ruining expensive gear from the fine grained sand and dust floating around. I completely enclosed my Canon in plastic, used a remote shutter release (the handy Promote Control) and only the end of the lens was sticking out, which had my UV filter on it (although not needed here) to protect the glass. I was not about to ruin my brand new lens or camera. So even though it looked ridiculous, my gear still works. Long story short: I have seen it once; I will probably never return.
So far, and I have not even looked at all my 200 shots from the canyon yet, this one is my favorite. It also took 8 hours to process and I had to break up the time over about 8 days. Why? There was a person in the other room of the canyon, who moved into my shot, and their body lit up and their shoes reflected some light which completely blew out. So, I spent 7 of those hours essentially rebuilding the bottom quarter of the light beam. There was also a bunch of color fringing. I think I created over 175 layers in Photoshop. Although I personally do not think this shot is perfect (especially at the pixel level), since there is still some issues from the person in the background, I don't think I have the energy to try anymore...
This is a 5 shot HDR at 1EV spacing.