Here are some more pictures of my visit to Lower Antelope Canyon last week.
#1 - One difference I noticed between Upper and Lower Antelope Canyon is how narrow Lower Antelope is compared to the Upper canyon.
#4 - Another view showing the narrowness of the canyon. This is an area where you also step down lower into the camera. Thanks for looking. Comments and critique always welcome.
Lovely images. I think the second (the close up) loses some detail given the shorter focal length. The others, however, are wonderful. Did you use flash or long exposures with a tripod? I'm plotting my next trip to the area and Antelope Canyon is on my list.
Speaking for myself, unfortunately there is no wow factor with these comps due to having seen so many images of the Antelope's. That's certainly not your problem, it's my problem! In fact, Ive never been there but feel like I have. Your freinds and family will be blown away and that's what matter most. Technically I think everyone of them are good to very good and overall I like them collectively as a set. I also think you did a great job taking advantage of the nice lighting.
#3-you may want to clone out the bird droppings. I also think you would have been better off setting your comp about 20% lower, allowing the nice horizontal curve at the bottm to breath a bit and eliminating some of the brighter highlights up top.
#4-I love the clean transition from light to darks. Just not a big fan of ft-prints in the sand for desert landscape images.
#2-I think this one needs a little more work. I cant tell if the image is out of focus or just not sharpened enough. I'm leaning toward the image just not having enough depth of field. I would also consider cropping out the distracting knob at the bottom left.
Marylynne, they were done using a long exposure and tripod. That is one benefit of Lower Antelope canyon in that there are less people and you can take more time to setup a photo.
Posted by Peter Coskun on November 1, 2012 at 7:15 PM
Another nice set. I like the lines and patterns in #3 and the overall feel of #4. I agree with Kane's assessment of the footprints, but unless you were willing to crop more of the bottom to rid of the entire sand area you could have a nice square crop. It looks like you focused primarily on the bottom half of the wall in #2 so my eyes stay put there. In #1 I think you could crop out the entire portion that shows the bottom of the canyon. The patterns further into the canyon are what I'm interested and would make a very fine image alone. That being said, these images make me want to get up here as soon as possible.
Posted by Glenn Randall on November 1, 2012 at 11:30 PM
Of the four, I'd pick #1 as my favorite. I have to agree with Kane's comment on #2: it would have been a stronger composition, in my opinion, if you had given the curve at the bottom a little more room. Right now it feels crowded against the bottom of the frame. I read in an interview with David Muench that he carries a whisk broom to brush out footprints in desert shots. Who knew such a cheap "photographic" tool could be so essential!
Posted by Ron Bailey on November 4, 2012 at 12:09 AM
I like #1 and #3 and would probably like them even more with some more contrast?
Posted by Doug Koepsel on November 4, 2012 at 10:59 AM
Preference to #1&4. I like the depth of the canyon seen in 1. You might consider cropping down a little from the top to eliminate the brighter area at the top middle as I think the eye would go down the slot better.
For #4, wonder of one could gently drag out the footprints with a wisk broom and heavy cloth/jacket without raising dust.
#2 seems a little soft on top compared to the bottom of the image.
My favorite is #1 of this series. Like Doug, the depth of the shot and the tones are nice too.
Posted by John Mumaw on November 4, 2012 at 4:19 PM
#3 is my favorite due to the more abstract nature of the composition. Definitely clone out the bird poop.
#2 would have been close but for the out of focus top. These types of shots necessitate using a small aperture and/or focus stacking.
#4 has potential for an abstract, esp. with the golden 'wall' against the cooler background. You would need to crop this up almost two inches in order to achieve that goal.
This place is well worth revisiting to tighten up your vision and skills.
Discussion
12 replies#1 - One difference I noticed between Upper and Lower Antelope Canyon is how narrow Lower Antelope is compared to the Upper canyon.
#3-you may want to clone out the bird droppings. I also think you would have been better off setting your comp about 20% lower, allowing the nice horizontal curve at the bottm to breath a bit and eliminating some of the brighter highlights up top.
#4-I love the clean transition from light to darks. Just not a big fan of ft-prints in the sand for desert landscape images.
#2-I think this one needs a little more work. I cant tell if the image is out of focus or just not sharpened enough. I'm leaning toward the image just not having enough depth of field. I would also consider cropping out the distracting knob at the bottom left.
For #4, wonder of one could gently drag out the footprints with a wisk broom and heavy cloth/jacket without raising dust.
#2 seems a little soft on top compared to the bottom of the image.
#2 would have been close but for the out of focus top. These types of shots necessitate using a small aperture and/or focus stacking.
#4 has potential for an abstract, esp. with the golden 'wall' against the cooler background. You would need to crop this up almost two inches in order to achieve that goal.
This place is well worth revisiting to tighten up your vision and skills.