While on a recent desert trip which included taking in Upper and Lower Antelope Canyons, I couldn't resist taking the night photo tour at Upper. Amazing how brilliant that sandstone is with a long exposure.
All in all, as great day of photography at these slots. Started at 10:30am and didn't end until 11:30pm. Fortunately, I had a 4 hour break late in the day.
When I get the chance, I'll process and post additional slot images for critique and comment.
Posted by Scott Fricke on April 28, 2013 at 5:50 PM
I like your comp Ken, it's always great to see unique perspectives from well known locales. The colors compliment each other nicely.
Interesting, I didn't know they did the Night Tour thing. Are they providing selective light in there?
The comp here is simple but effective in my opinion, so I’m going straight into the processing which probably occupied more of your time vs the shooting of this image. I'm glad you posted the larger option because the processing in the smaller image looks good. The larger image unveils the beginning of a few potential issues for printing bigger.
I'm assuming you used at least two exposures for this one? The night sky exposure looks spot on, zero star trails and great color. The foreground exposure also looks dialed. Overall color in this image is perfect to my eyes.
I’ll assume this is a layer blend. The result looks good for smaller printed images. Moving on to the larger image; it comes down to the wavy and vertical “micro” line that provides the tight transition between the slot canyon rim, and the sky. Blow this thing up as a big print, I'm concerned that this thin black line becomes more noticeable. This may be a left over artifact from the quick selection tool in PS...just guessing.
Personally I really like the image and I'm looking forward to seeing more of the same; maybe one with a wider perspective.
Again, just guessing about your post processing; I only have my own PP experiences to refer to.
Posted by Joe Rogers on April 28, 2013 at 11:02 PM
Looks like night tours are being offered by Lionel Bigthumb on scheduled basis as well as special tours by appointment.
Joe Rogers
Actually, this is not a layer blend, Kane. It is a straight 30 second exposure. Lionel Bigthumb (navajoantelopecanyon.com) who runs the night tour, brings an assistant who utilizes LED lights to lighten the canyon walls. We focused on the very top of the slot utilizing one of the LED lights. Because of a brighter sky last week, we could use a ISO of 800 at 5.6. I was greatful for that since I don't use a FF camera and pushing to 1600 creates noise issues. But the brightness did limit the number of stars.
Surprisingly, the PP only consisted of some serious curves adjustment, local contrast, and sharpening.
You have a good eye to notice the transtition line, but it appears to be natural. Since I haven't printed this image yet, I don't know if it would be a distraction or not.
Joe,
One just has to contact him via email to set up your particular evening. He limits the night tours to 7 photographers. 3hrs, $150.00. Sounds expensive but just being in the Antelope with only 7 others is special in itself. He is a fairly good photographer himself and obviously had a good grasp at what camera settings and camera positions would work best. Being the best open slots are in the beginning, we didn't venture that far into the slot.
Thanks for posting the larger version, Ken. Really helps to see all of those wonderful stars! This is a real unique view from the canyon and I like it a lot! My only suggestion might be to 'edge burn' the right wall top and right side oh so subtly to help keep the viewer's eye inward. Looking forward to seeing more from here!
Posted by Rajeev Thomas on April 30, 2013 at 3:06 PM
Ken... what an amazing picture! You outdid yourself here ...very unique... the stars are bright, can't believe this is one shot! I agree about the 'burning the edges' idea...
Posted by Kurt Bowman on April 30, 2013 at 3:20 PM
I like the comp on this a lot. Looks like you got a couple great suggestions already....so i will also just second John's comments about thanks for posting the large version., It shows a lot better with being able to see the stars easier.
I could abstain and be polite, but as you know im always honest but only occasionally polite. It looks like a photoshop creation to me. Not necessarily a bad thing, since art is art and this is pretty, graphical, well composed. But it just doesn't grab me because it looks like a couple artifically lit slot walls pasted on top of an artificially created sky. I know that's not how you created it, but that's how it appears to me, the sky for example is an even blue with seemingly even stars, no real variation in it--like a sky i can create in photoshop in other words. So, it doesnt place me at the scene, and that's what i prefer photographs to do---just my take!
Stan,
Actually a co-worker who saw the image had the same first initial comment as you. Once he knew it was basically just a time exposure, he appreciated the image a bit more. Oddly enough, that image has less editing done to it than most of my images.
Yea, art is in the eye of the beholder for sure. Typically, I prefer to view images that are simple and convey the moment as seen. But the more time I spend behind the lens, the more I appreciate a vision that renders a scene uniquely. That is probably why star trail, Milky Way, oil bubble, fisheye, and light painting images are interesting; the are somewhat outside the norm. Those images are not what we see, but an interpretation of the scene. In fact, even soft focus floral images do not represent the scene properly. Our eyes see sharpness throughout the scene. And that is one reason I enjoy focus stacking, It recreates DOF as seen.
That all said, I really did appreciate your honest opinon. That is why I post here. I can always get 100% positive feedback from friends and family.
There seems to be a light halo in the sky more along the left wall's edge. I wonder if this is a sensor thing as I notice wierdness in the dark sky around a bright moon shot. My thoughts would be to decrease the brightness of the right wall slightly, and maybe add an additional slight vignette to help keep the viewer's eyes towards the middle.
Discussion
13 repliesAll in all, as great day of photography at these slots. Started at 10:30am and didn't end until 11:30pm. Fortunately, I had a 4 hour break late in the day.
When I get the chance, I'll process and post additional slot images for critique and comment.
Interesting, I didn't know they did the Night Tour thing. Are they providing selective light in there?
The comp here is simple but effective in my opinion, so I’m going straight into the processing which probably occupied more of your time vs the shooting of this image. I'm glad you posted the larger option because the processing in the smaller image looks good. The larger image unveils the beginning of a few potential issues for printing bigger.
I'm assuming you used at least two exposures for this one? The night sky exposure looks spot on, zero star trails and great color. The foreground exposure also looks dialed. Overall color in this image is perfect to my eyes.
I’ll assume this is a layer blend. The result looks good for smaller printed images. Moving on to the larger image; it comes down to the wavy and vertical “micro” line that provides the tight transition between the slot canyon rim, and the sky. Blow this thing up as a big print, I'm concerned that this thin black line becomes more noticeable. This may be a left over artifact from the quick selection tool in PS...just guessing.
Personally I really like the image and I'm looking forward to seeing more of the same; maybe one with a wider perspective.
Again, just guessing about your post processing; I only have my own PP experiences to refer to.
Joe Rogers
Surprisingly, the PP only consisted of some serious curves adjustment, local contrast, and sharpening.
You have a good eye to notice the transtition line, but it appears to be natural. Since I haven't printed this image yet, I don't know if it would be a distraction or not.
One just has to contact him via email to set up your particular evening. He limits the night tours to 7 photographers. 3hrs, $150.00. Sounds expensive but just being in the Antelope with only 7 others is special in itself. He is a fairly good photographer himself and obviously had a good grasp at what camera settings and camera positions would work best. Being the best open slots are in the beginning, we didn't venture that far into the slot.
Joe Rogers
Actually a co-worker who saw the image had the same first initial comment as you. Once he knew it was basically just a time exposure, he appreciated the image a bit more. Oddly enough, that image has less editing done to it than most of my images.
Yea, art is in the eye of the beholder for sure. Typically, I prefer to view images that are simple and convey the moment as seen. But the more time I spend behind the lens, the more I appreciate a vision that renders a scene uniquely. That is probably why star trail, Milky Way, oil bubble, fisheye, and light painting images are interesting; the are somewhat outside the norm. Those images are not what we see, but an interpretation of the scene. In fact, even soft focus floral images do not represent the scene properly. Our eyes see sharpness throughout the scene. And that is one reason I enjoy focus stacking, It recreates DOF as seen.
That all said, I really did appreciate your honest opinon. That is why I post here. I can always get 100% positive feedback from friends and family.