A nearly 3 mile slog through the desert sands brought me to this remote, seldom visited slot canyon in NE Arizona, where I spotted this unique structure high above. In fact, I was looking nearly straight up and had to hold the lens zoom in place so it would not move during the long exposure.
Even though the return trip was extremely hot and arduous, I had a smile on my face the entire time.
Any suggestions greatly appreciated!
Canon 5DII w/24-105 lens @ 73mm
10 sec. @ f16 ISO 100
After many years of photographing reflected light in tight sandstone canyons, I am still awed at the color spectrum that the camera captures and which is simply not visible to my eye. I now have a feel for what might happen, but am still amazed when I see the instant feedback from the camera's LCD. The image above is the RAW file straight from the camera with all defaults set to 0.
An amazing photo John. I love the graduation of colors with the contrast of light leading you into the photo.
Swirling sandstone is mesmerizing to me and I never tire of gazing at it.
Well seen and captured.
Posted by Doug Koepsel on June 10, 2012 at 10:52 PM
Must have been close to 100 in Page this weekend. The suffering was rewarded well. That point must have been very interesting before it broke off. Neat that you aligned the horn's end with the circles in the ceiling above.
After taking a break from staring at this image and then coming back to it, I found the original to be a bit too harsh so I deleted the 'Image Polish' layer, toned down the sharpness and recropped.
Thanks for the suggestions!
I'm so happy to see something so fresh and beautiful from a slot canyon - thanks!
Posted by Bob Falcone on June 12, 2012 at 12:13 AM
That is one very gorgeous shot! Damn nice!
Posted by Doug Koepsel on June 12, 2012 at 10:02 AM
John, in the repost, I like the decreased brightness around the horn, and the bottom crop to remove the darkest stone on the edge.
However, some of the nice "wood grain" in the sandstone was lost, particularly the oval right above the horn. Maybe a lighter polish like 5/50/0 or 10/50/0, or some midtone contrast, would restore some of this grain observed in the original?
John, this is simply spectacular and easily one of the best slot canyon shots I've seen. Beautiful gradation of colors and form! I prefer the 2nd repost myself, although there is some lost granular texture, it looks smooth and artful in the 2nd rendition.
Awesome shot John! And knowing it's not Antelope makes it that much better. I prefer the repost too, for the same reasons as Don, but seems like it would be worth playing with Doug's suggestions to get this one perfect.
Posted by Rod Chandler on June 14, 2012 at 4:26 PM
Great shot John. You amaze me with your knowledge of processing. I struggle to catch up.
Beautiful slot shot, John! Here's my take (which not surprisingly diverges from the crowd... ) I understand wanting to include the bottom blue tones, but IMHO this would be considerably stronger with the bottom cropped, so the mid point of the 'horn' is at a very strong 1/3 point, rather than the odd 4/5+ point here. That would base the image with a dark bottom third, which i feel would ground the shot, giving it a dark bottom that allows the eye to move strongly upward towards the 'enlightenment' above (out of the darkness, into the light) As it stands the bright portion on the bottom disrupts things and is interrupted by the dark above, and the eye spends too much time lost in those secondary details when the real show is up top. This is a poetic scene, and IMO it deserves a (more) poetic presentation. One could argue that the bottom blues provide a similar base, but i disagree. Cut the shot in half. The top stands on its own. the bottom half is largely superfluous (nice lines/textures, but not strong enough to stand alone) One half is too much real estate in a comp like this. 1/3 would support--1/2 starts to dominate. OK, ill get off my critics stand now...
Discussion
21 repliesEven though the return trip was extremely hot and arduous, I had a smile on my face the entire time.
Any suggestions greatly appreciated!
Canon 5DII w/24-105 lens @ 73mm
10 sec. @ f16 ISO 100
Swirling sandstone is mesmerizing to me and I never tire of gazing at it.
Well seen and captured.
Did you conciously use the Golden Ratio on this? There is definitely a Fibonacci Spiral there.
Joe Rogers
Hey Morris,
With a Golden Spiral template on the Crop tool, this does indeed conform to that interesting composition. Thanks for the heads up!
Thanks for the suggestions!
However, some of the nice "wood grain" in the sandstone was lost, particularly the oval right above the horn. Maybe a lighter polish like 5/50/0 or 10/50/0, or some midtone contrast, would restore some of this grain observed in the original?