Desert View

Last Light on the East Palisades – South Rim, Grand Canyon National Park

 Arizona, Colorado Plateau, Colorado River, Desert, Desert View, Grand Canyon, Grand Canyon National Park, Grand Circle, Landscape, Landscape Photography, National Parks, Navajo Lands, Photography Technique, Photoshop Technique, Singh-Ray Filters, Sony α900, Split Neutral Density Filters, sunset  4 Responses »
Apr 262011
 

Last Light on the East Palisades, Desert View, Grand Canyon National Park. Shot with a Sony α900 and a Sony SAL 70-300mm lens at 70mm. Image exposed at ISO 100 at f16 for 2 seconds.

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. This image was shot near Desert View on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. This view, looking east, is one of the most spectacular on the South Rim. Here you get a real sense of the expanse of the canyon as it turns northward. Down below the Colorado River rolls through the inner canyon on its way to Lake Mead. I do not have a story about this shot. For me it just seems to speak for itself. I don’t want to suggest that it is a timeless image or that I have created some masterpiece. It is just that, for me, it captures the sheer, rugged expanse of the landscape. From my lofty position, save for a gentle wind, I heard only silence, and felt only peace. As the sun set lower to the horizon the light moved up the canyon walls till it just lit the upper precipice. The rock seemed to rise up to capture the light, to hold on to its warm embrace before night set in.

To balance out the exposure I used a Singh-Ray, 3-stop, soft edge, split neutral density filter. The soft edge of the filter has a smooth gradation and I could drop it in to compensate for the brighter sky and just hold on to the light on the canyon walls. The RAW capture was more saturated than I wanted so I dropped out some color to tone this down. I also took out some blue saturation in the inner canyon walls. The RAW image was processed in Lightroom with final finishing in Photoshop.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Hozógo nasádo (Navajo): Walk in Beauty

Bob

 

 

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Desert View Interior

 Architecture, Desert View, Grand Canyon, Mary Coulter, National Parks, Photography Technique  No Responses »
Dec 222009
 

This is an image shot inside the Desert View Watch Tower located at the eastern end of the Grand Canyon. The tower was designed by Mary Coulter for the Fred Harvey Company and opened in 1933. The dramatic tower interior is a series of circular balconies accessed by stairways around the perimeter. The interior murals were painted by Hopi artist Fred Kabotie and with indian petrogyphs painted by Fred Greer.

Desert View No. 1 was shot in the upper balcony area and exposed with only the ambient light coming in through windows above.

Desert View No. 2  was achieved with two off camera flash units and a Nikon Flash Controller. The camera was set facing upward with one flash unit placed behind and above the camera illuminating the wall and ceiling. The other flash was fixed with a snoot and aimed towards the ceiling. Several images were shot to get the flash placement correct to light up the space.

Desert View No. 1. Upper Balcony, Desert View Watch Tower, Grand Canyon National Park, Nikon D300, Nikkor 12-24mm lens at 15mm, f14 at 2 seconds.

Desert View No. 2. The Tower Room, Desert View Watch Tower, Grand Canyon National Park. Nikon D300, Nikkor 12-24mm at 15mm, f16 at 1/60 second.

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