A Story in Stone

There are a lot of little scenes like this in the Virgin Narrows of Zion, but this one seemed to come together particularly well. I really like the combination of surreal shape, texture, color and dramatic light. The lone tree clinging to life in an eroded alcove added the perfect counterpoint and scale. I missed this scene on my in, but found it coming back out thanks to two other photographers who were standing with cameras pointed toward the upper reaches of the canyon.

As I experienced the scene I was taken by the contrast between the red rock and the cooler shadows and varnish stripes which were reflecting blue light. However, I found that in post I could not find a single white balance setting that properly showed both the warm tones and cool tones the way that I experienced them. I decided to double process the RAW file, one with a warmer WB and one with a cooler WB and then blend the two images to better recreate my experience of the scene. I also found Tony's luminosity masking very helpful in controlling highlights and bringing out shadow detail.

Canon 5DII, 70-200mm f/2.8L, Circ Polarizer, 4 sec, f/16, ISO 200