Utah Slot Canyons & Zion Views
The Southwest is crowded with beautiful national parks and monuments. The Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce, Cedar Breaks, Grand Staircase-Escalante, Vermilion Cliffs, Canyonlands, Wupatki, Bears Ears, Arches, and Mesa Verde just to name a few. All are members of the Colorado Plateau club, a region who’s center is just west of the Four Corners where Utah, Arizona, Colorado & New Mexico intersect. All have unique and stunning natural world landscapes. Big view scenic panoramas and intimate natural world abstracts around every corner. A photographer’s paradise!
August Photo Trip
A recent photo trip landed us in Glendale, Utah equal distance from Bryce, Cedar Breaks and Zion. Thorough exploration of all three would take months. We were there just four days. I focused on two photo targets; Red Hollow Canyon and an east end viewpoint in Zion National Park.
Red Hollow Slot Canyon
Red Hollow is a high wall slot canyon in Orderville, Utah. We hiked it during daylight hours. Photographically it had great potential. I returned the next morning.
I set out early and arrived with enough time to reach the canyon entrance before sunrise. I walked a section of the canyon. I tried to predict how the light would enter from the top. I mentally recorded a couple of possible compositions.
I knew the steepness of the canyon walls would create some unique natural light and color variations. I also knew conditions would change rapidly. Each passing minute would provide a new and different photo opportunity that wouldn’t last long. Color would cycle through blue, purple, and magenta, yellow, red, and orange.
The bottom of the walls in my first images was bluish while the higher reaches were red-orange. The light was soft, consistent, and without harsh contrast. I used a focus stacking technique to make sure everything in the photo was tack sharp (see Tech Talk below).
As the sun rose I moved through the canyon opting for a spot where tight corners created a compressed rock wall layered look. The colors were amazing, purple, magenta and dark orange all in one frame.
The light, a bit more harsh now, made it easy to emphasize texture and contrast. The final composition was more a natural world abstract than a typical nature photo.
Zion Sunset View
The next evening I drove to Zion. Sunset sky predictions looked pretty good. I had a particular trail and viewpoint in mind but had not been to the location. The selected trail would ascend to an overlook with south and west facing views.
Despite having a map, a good deal of guess work went into finding a parking turnout near the trailhead. As it turns out, I wasn’t in the right spot but sunset wouldn’t wait.
I hiked in the direction I knew would lead me towards the viewpoint. I passed beautiful rock-sandstone abstracts created by wind, rain and geological forces. I stopped to photograph a few but quickly packed up and marched on to the primary target.
I found a high spot, not the overlook I intended to reach, but a spot with a wonderful south view. Clouds congregated over the distant mountain peaks. I was confident the under side of the clouds would pick up the color of the setting sun.
I stood at the top of a canyon. Pines and junipers grew up from the orange-white rock formations in the canyon valley below me. I composed the photo so that the distant mountains rose up from the far end of the canyon.
The underside of the mostly blue clouds did begin to take on a sunset pink color as expected. I worked quickly to take a series of focus stacked, panorama images (see Tech Talk below). It was pretty amazing to be up there all alone with a view that few have a chance to experience. The textures, color and mountains against the blue sky was magical.
As usual, the best light happened just after the official sunset time. That meant packing gear in low light and using a headlamp to navigate my way down the canyon. I told myself I’d be back. Of course I say that about almost all the places I photograph! Too many places too few hours in the day.
Thanks for your interest and support.
Cheers,
Steve
Photo Enthusiast Tech Talk
I used a couple of different techniques to capture the images above.
Focus Stacking
For both of the slot canyon images I used a focus stacking technique. If you plan to experiment with this technique you’ll need a tripod, photo editing software capable of stacking images, and some patience to learn the editing technique.
Focus stacking technique requires taking several, typically 3 to 5, images focused at different depths-of-field (foreground, mid ground & background). Afterwards the images are ‘stacked’ together to create a tack sharp, front to back photograph.
Here’s a couple of field tips to keep in mind if you plan to experiment with this technique.
Take your images in RAW. This will give you more editing flexibility and a high quality final file.
Do not change your focal length. Changing your focal length during the series will make it impossible for the software to correctly stack & merge the series. It’s probably a good idea not to change your exposure settings either, especially if you are new to the technique. Focus stack PLUS exposure bracketing is possible but a bit extreme for most photo enthusiasts.
Manually focus each image. Even if you don’t change your focal length, most camera’s make minor adjustment when auto focusing a composition. This can create stacking issues, mostly around the edges of the photos. I suggest you focus on the closest element and work towards the furthest.
Ask yourself: Is anything in the frame moving? If something moves i.e. people, trees, flowers, etc., the software will struggle to merge this part of the photo. Trouble shooting options include; fast shutter speed and/or learning how to you use ‘anti-ghosting’ software features.
An alternative to focus stacking is the hyperlocal technique. This technique requires a bit of trial and error to figure out exactly where to focus to achieve whole scene, front to back, sharpness. You take some of the guess work out of the filed process by using a phone app like PhotoPills. You input your camera model, focal length, aperture into the app and presto it tells you exactly at what distance to focus to get a full frame sharp focus! This is a handy technique if you have a close up foreground element.
Single Row Panorama Photo Technique
The Zion photo was taken using a single row panorama technique. Here’s a couple of field tips to keep in mind once you selected a composition. These are standard panorama tips.
Use a tripod. It is possible to take panorama images without a tripod, however, be sure you are using a fast shutter speed to avoid ‘hand-shake’.
Level tripod and camera. Level the tripod first and then level the camera. Most tripods have a level bubble included. And most cameras have a vertical & horizontal leveling feature you can display in live view.
Check full pan level. With the live view leveling feature turned on, pan left to right to be sure the camera maintains its level state.
Use manual focus. For most scenes it is practical to use an aperture of f/10 to f/13. Focus in the mid-ground and turn off the auto focus. If you have a close up foreground element, you may need to focus stack series, three sets total, one series for the foreground, another for the mid-ground and third for the background. I suggest excluding a low wide angle panorama series if you’re new to the technique.
Use average exposure setting. Pan the scene and watch your histogram. Pay particular attention to the shadow and highlight representation (left and right margins respectively on the histogram). I like to expose for the highlights knowing it is easier to recover shadow detail with most digital cameras.
Overlap by 40%. Overlap each frame in the pano series by 30% to 50%. This allows the software to find common elements to create a clean merged final photo.
Keep practicing and good luck.
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