Grand Canyon

Escalante Butte – Lipan Point, Grand Canyon National Park

Arizona, Colorado Plateau, Colorado River, Desert, Grand Canyon, Grand Canyon National Park, Grand Circle, Landscape, Landscape Photography, National Parks, Nikon D3x, Photography Technique, Robert H Clark Photography No Responses »

Aug 042011

Escalante Butte and the Unkar Plains, Lipan Point, Grand Canyon National Park. Shot with a Nikon D3x and Nikkor 70-200mm lens at 150mm. Image exposed at ISO 100 at f11 for 1/2 of a second.

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. This one is short and sweet. I am leaving early Saturday morning for the North Shore of Lake Superior for my workshop with Alec Johnson. Alec and I are heading up early on Saturday to set up for the workshop and to get in a little shooting before everything starts in earnest on Sunday. We are looking forward to a great photography event for the week. I might be able to get in a post but time will be limited so for now I will leave you with another view from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. This view is from Lipan Point on the South Rim. The massive formation in the foreground is part of Escalante Butte. This is a late afternoon shot with an open, cloudless sky, and a hard blowing wind. I used the rock outcrops on a point away from the parking area to find some shelter from the wind. With the bright sky and no clouds I choose to shoot some of the canyon details and after some exploratory compositions settled in on this view of Escalante Butte and the Unkar Plains along the Colorado River. The low sun angles lit up the Escalante formation which provided at beautiful contrast to the diffused, soft light in the inner canyon.

As to technique I shot from a low tripod position for a more solid platform to combat the high winds. I also use mirror lock-up to help eliminate any other potential camera shake. The light was not changing too quickly so I had plenty of time to wait for the winds to cycle. Pretty simple, I know, but in windy conditions it pays to be patient and consistent in your shooting methods.

Well that is about it. I’ll send out an update if I can from Lake Superior.

Thank you for stopping by today.

Hozógo nasádo (Navajo): Walk in Beauty

Bob

Coronado Butte – South Rim, Grand Canyon National Park

Arizona, Colorado Plateau, Colorado River, Desert, Grand Canyon, Grand Canyon National Park, Grand Circle, Landscape, Landscape Photography, Nikon D3x, Photography Trips, Singh-Ray Filters, Split Neutral Density Filters, sunset 4 Responses »

Jul 292011

Coronado Butte, South of the Grand Canyon. Shot with a Nikon D3x and a Nikkor 24mm PC lens. Image exposed at ISO 100 at f13 for 0.7 seconds.

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. I am a week away now from the North Shore of Lake Superior Workshop and I am busy balancing my work load and getting ready for the trip. Packing is not really a problem for me as I keep shooting and outdoor gear organized. I do not like last minute packing because this is where you can forget something in the mad rush to head out the door. I have also been working on several new blog posts and I have to pull images to present at the workshop. So its never a dull moment.

Light at the Grand Canyon can go from contrasty and dull to sublime in a matter of minutes. And sometimes it takes just a little longer for the magic to occur. Several days before I took this image I scouted this location which required an off trail climb to get out to the rim. It is a spectacular location that works equally well for sunrise and sunset. This is Coronado Butte looking east at sunset. To the west a massive cloud was blocking the sun and for over an hour I pondered my chances of the sun being able to clear the cloud bank and dropping along the horizon. I knew if the cloud shifted enough the sun would drop into a clear slot and light up the butte. Within minutes of sunset my patience payed off and Coronado Butte was bathed in a brief but beautiful light. The rim edge glowed in the warm light as the clouds overhead revealed a deep blue sky.

This image was all about pre-visualization. I knew the sun angles and given the right atmospheric conditions I would be rewarded with an atypical Grand Canyon image. I used a Singh-Ray 3-stop soft edge split neutral density filter to balance out the sky and foreground exposure. My white balance was set to 5500K which I adjusted slightly in processing the RAW file.

Hopefully I can get out another post before heading out to Lake Superior. If not I will see you back here in a few weeks.

Thank you for stopping by today.

Hozógo nasádo (Navajo): Walk in Beauty

Bob

James Uqualla- Havasupai Elder

Arizona, Grand Canyon, Grand Canyon National Park, Native American's, Nikon D3x, People Photography, Photography Technique, Photography Trips, Portrait, Portrait Photography 2 Responses »

Jul 142011

James Uqualla, Havasupai Elder. Shot with a Nikon D3x and a Nikon 70-200mm lens at 150mm. Image exposed at ISO 100 at f5.6 for 1/640th of a second.

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. My last visit to the Grand Canyon was work related and included attending the grand opening ceremony of the new South Rim Grand Canyon Visitor’s Center. Prior to the opening ceremonies for the visitor center a Native American Blessing Ceremony was performed by James and his sister, Dianna Sue Uqualla. It was a beautiful dance at the new amphitheater, located at the rim of the Grand Canyon near Mather Overlook. After the ceremony I had the opportunity to talk with James and to thank him for his words which all seemed to touch each person in a different way. I have always though of the canyon as the “center of the earth” and a place from which I seem to draw energy. James’s words touched on this asking each person to draw strength from this sacred place and pass it on in the name of peace.

I met up with James a little while later after many people had left and asked if I could shoot a portrait. He agreed without hesitation. In my mind the light seemed just right and I suggested a few test shots to determine my histogram. But as I raised my camera to the viewfinder and focused in James’s eyes just pierced the lens and straight into me. I fired three shots and just lowered the camera. The shot was done. James did not really pose. He just looked in to me with a sense of peace and calm. I felt it immediately. Normally I would take all manner of images but I just stopped after the three. I never checked the histogram knowing that it was right. I thanked James and we parted ways. Later in the afternoon I had a chance to photograph James and his sister performing an Eagle Dance and while I like some of the images they do not speak to me in the same way as this portrait. It is hard to put into words but when I look at this shot I feel his connection to the place and ultimately to me.

Originally I thought of this shot in black and white but in processing felt some color tones should be included. So the RAW file was processed twice, once for color, and once for black and white. The two files were layered in Photoshop and I went through some exploratory processes to achieve the final look. I worked on the file off and on for about a week to get to this final rendering.

Thank you as always for stopping by to visit.

Hozógo nasádo (Navajo): Walk in Beauty

Bob

South Kaibab Trail – Grand Canyon National Park

Arizona, Colorado Plateau, Colorado River, Desert, Grand Canyon, Grand Canyon National Park, National Parks, Nikon D3x, Photography Composition, Photography Trips, sunset, Uncategorized No Responses »

Jul 122011

Along the South Kaibab Trailhead, South Rim of the Grand Canyon. Shot with a Nikon D3x and a Nikon 70-200mm lens at 200mm. Image exposed at ISO 100 at f13 for 1/2 of a second.

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. One of my favorite things to do when visiting the Grand Canyon is to get a cup of coffee and take and evening walk along the Rim Trail. It is a wonderful way to wind down after a busy day and experience twilight along the South Rim. Invariably I will meet other strollers and engage in the kind of general small talk reserved for such occasions. As the vastness of the canyon recedes in the dying light the subject of conversation often turns to the notion of scale. Many first time visitors, and even those who return often, are struck by the sheer enormity of the canyon. I have many trips to the canyon and never tire of its sense of scale, or in reality, my perception of it. It is of such proportions as to leave you spellbound. But the sense of scale can be confusing. Standing along the rim near the El Tovar you can see down to Indian Garden and out to Plateau Point on the Tonto Platform. As a rock falls, so to speak, it is not that far. But take the hike down and you soon realize that it is much farther than you thought.

Looking across towards the North Rim and the vastness is almost incomprehensible. When I was on a helitack crew at the canyon I had the opportunity to make many helicopter flights into the inner canyon and along the Colorado River. Dropping off the sheer cliffs of the Abyss towards the Tonto Platform was like taking a roller coaster ride. You soon understood how small you were in relation to the canyon environment. Huge, vertical walls, towering pillars of stone, buttes and temples, warrens of confusing canyons and washes all combined to overpower the senses.

Consider today’s image. It is a shot of the upper portion of the South Kaibab Trail. To find the trail just come down the upper slope from the rock pillars to a horizontal line that angles slightly down from right to left. Do you see it? This is still near the top and there are many miles to go before reaching the inner canyon and the Colorado River. Beyond is the North Rim. In a shot such as this, compressed by the telephoto lens, scale is hard to determine. Not even the trail helps. But take a look at the image below. It is an enlargement of the image. Look inside the white circle and you will see two small hikers. If you look very closely you can just make them out in the image above.

Detail from the South Kaibab Trail. Look inside the white circle to see the two hikers.

Now the immense scale of the canyon is evident. Dwarfed by the landscape the hikers have entered a world that can literally swallow them. The next time you make a visit to the canyon I would invite you to take the opportunity to experience this landscape up close and in person. Move away from the rim and let the canyon swallow you for a few hours. I can promise you will have a different sense of scale when you return.

Thank you as always for stopping by to visit.

Hozógo nasádo (Navajo): Walk in Beauty

Bob

South Rim Sunset, Lipan Point – Grand Canyon National Park

Arizona, Colorado Plateau, Colorado River, Desert, Grand Canyon, Grand Canyon National Park, Grand Circle, Landscape, Landscape Photography, National Parks, Navajo Lands, Nikon D3x, Photography Composition, Photography Trips, sunset No Responses »

Jul 092011

South Rim Sunset, Lipan Point, Grand Canyon National Park. Shot with a Nikon D3x and a Nikon 70-200mm lens at 85mm. Image exposed at ISO 100 at f13 for one second.

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. I am finally home after being away for the last ten days to participate in my daughters pole vaulting camp. Not too much in the way of landscape shooting but a lot fun photographing the vaulters. Now that I am back I can concentrate on some of my latest landscape shots from my last trip to the Grand Canyon.

Today’s image was made from Lipan Point on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. If I had to make a choice of favorite shooting locations on the South Rim, Lipan Point would get the nod. The vista looking towards the East Rim Palisades is truly remarkable. In my humble opinion when I think about the grand landscape my mind invariably goes to this view. It is an arguable point and some of you may choose other locations from Yellowstone, Glacier, or even Yosemite. But my heart lies here. On a recent trip to the National Gallery of Art I found myself pondering some Albert Bierstadt paintings. In many of his paintings the foreground was rendered in detail which gave way to a vastness of suffused light and detail. His paintings often used atmospheric effects such as dramatic lighting, fog, clouds, and mist to complement his work. Though I am not comparing my image to the work of Bierstadt, his paintings were on my mind as I shot this day. The late afternoon light was beautiful. A gusty wind whipped up dust in the inner canyon and the Painted Desert beyond. The wind, in fact, was brisk and I had to find a sheltered shooting position on a point out from the overlook. Shooting with a large lens like the 70-200mm can present problems with camera shake in the wind. To help I shot from a lower position with my tripod legs spread wide to provide more stability. Focusing was done manually through live view and I used a small weighted beanbag on top of the lens to dampen some of the wind movement. I also set the camera to shoot with Mirror Lock-Up. In most cases, not always though, wind comes in cycles of high intensity to near stillness. When confronted with wind pay attention to the cycles and wait for the calm cycle to trip the shutter.

At this time of the day, and year, it pays to understand how the sun will illuminate the canyons features. As the afternoon sun moves lower in the sky, light will begin to soften in the inner canyon to the point where certain landforms are lit while others are not. In this image the sun is strongly illuminating Escalante Butte, to the left, and Cardenas Butte, to the right. The inner canyon light is softer and there is only a hint of light along the upper rim of the East Palisades. The effect is truly beautiful and dramatic. The image has a strong foreground with detail that gives way to an atmospheric condition brought on by wind blown dust particulates. The paintings of Bierstadt were indeed on my mind this day. To understand how the light changes and is affected by other environmental conditions compare this shot with the June 23, 2011 post which was shot on a different day.

The image was processed to emphasize the leading lines that draw your eye into the image. The line of “light” running up Escalante Butte on the left gives way to the darkened ridge line that frames Cardenas Butte. From there I increased the contrast and detail in the Colorado River to lead the eye towards the lighted rim of the East Palisades and the mass of Temple Butte in the Upper left. This image remains one of my favorite shots I have taken from this location.

Thank you as always for stopping by to visit.

Hozógo nasádo (Navajo): Walk in Beauty

Bob

South Rim Sunset – Grand Canyon National Park

Arizona, Colorado Plateau, Colorado River, Desert, Grand Canyon, Grand Canyon National Park, Landscape, Landscape Photography, National Parks, Nikon D3x, Photography Technique, Photography Trips, Singh-Ray Filters, Split Neutral Density Filters, sunset 2 Responses »

Jun 282011

South Rim Sunset, Grand Canyon National Park. Shot with a Nikon D3x and 24mm PC lens. Image exposed at ISO 100 at f11 for 8 seconds.

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. Well I am on the road again for the next week and a half. I might get in a little shooting but this is strictly a father daughter affair as we are heading to south Georgia for a pole vault camp session with Kay’s coach. It is way down below Macon. Way down in the deep south, below the gnat line, where it will be hot and muggy. So I will be out of pocket, so to speak, for a little while.

While I am out of town I will leave you with a another image from my recent Grand Canyon trip. This shot is looking west along a succession of ridge lines on the South Rim. Cloud cover extended over much of the canyon this day and I was not sure anything would happen. In fact, this was the same front that caused me to cancel my Canyon X trip in Page. Somewhat defeated by this turn of events I drove back to the canyon only to find the same dull, gray cloud cover. But though Mother Nature can “take away” an opportunity, she can also provide. On this day Canyon X was not to be. But the gift of a glorious sunset lifted my spirits. This was shot from a remote overlook point that I had scouted several days before. Reaching the spot requires a bit of a climb but the views east and west are amazing. For most of the late afternoon the sun was veiled by the clouds and a fairly stiff wind blew along the ridge line. Higher up the wind was pushing the clouds apart and a hole opened up along the horizon. The clear horizon allowed the light to come through and provided a beautiful show.

This was a delicate shot to balance. I needed to have enough exposure to bring out the trees and Kaibab stone along the ridge but at the same time balance the sky so the two parts remained in visual harmony. At this time of the day if the land had appeared too bright in relation to the sky the overall effect would have appeared unnatural. To help with the balance I used a Singh-Ray, 4-stop, hard edge, split neutral density filter to hold back the sky during the exposure. I watched the histogram and tried to get as much of it to the right as I could, without too much highlight clipping. Though a little clipped in the upper highlights, it was easy to recover in Lightroom during RAW processing.

Though the day started with disappointment it sure ended with a fireworks. I was able to capture several other images from this evening shoot and I will post those as soon as I can get them processed.

Thank you as always for stopping by to visit.

Hozógo nasádo (Navajo): Walk in Beauty

Bob

Lipan Point Sunset – Grand Canyon National Park

Arizona, Colorado Plateau, Desert, Grand Canyon, Grand Canyon National Park, Landscape, Landscape Photography, National Parks, Navajo Lands, Nikon D3x, Photography Trips, sunset, Uncategorized No Responses »

Jun 232011

Lipan Point Sunset, Grand Canyon National Park. Shot with a Nikon D3x and a Nikon 70-200mm lens at 70mm. Image exposed at ISO 100 at f13 for 0.8 seconds.

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. As I promised I am beginning to post some of my recent images from my shoot at the Grand Canyon. The shooting conditions were difficult due to the high winds and I found that I had to wait through intensive cycles of strong gusts or seek out secluded perches where the wind was blocked. Some of the gusts reached 40 mph and at this intensity I had to hold on to the camera to keep it from going over the edge. To help me I shot from lower camera positions with the tripod legs spread wide. This also helped me create a more stable base and I could use my body as a wind block. Though difficult, I had to be patient and time my exposures as the wind cycled to a low point. I was using a long lens which can be a problem in windy conditions but the end results were pleasing due to the beautiful, late afternoon light on Cardenas Butte and the East Rim Palisades. The muted sky is due to the smoke and particulates from some of the Arizona fires. All in all it was not a bad way to start the trip. Stay tuned for more images from this trip.

Thank you as always for stopping by to visit.

Hozógo nasádo (Navajo): Walk in Beauty

Bob

Enveloping Storm – Grand Canyon National Park

Arizona, Colorado Plateau, Colorado River, Desert, Grand Canyon, Grand Canyon National Park, Grand Circle, Landscape, Landscape Photography, National Parks, Photography Trips, River, Sony α900, Zeiss Lenses 4 Responses »

May 292011

Enveloping Storm, South Rim, Grand Canyon National Park. Shot with a Sony α900 and a Zeiss 24-70mm lens at 40mm. Image exposed at ISP 100 at f16 for 1/2 of a second.

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. This image was shot at Moran Point on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. I woke on this day to a canyon enveloped in storm clouds and while I did not hold out much hope for any photography this morning I still drove out to the rim to check on the conditions. When I arrived a stiff wind was blowing and the clouds began to lift and roll out from the canyon floor. At sunrise the clouds lifted towards the east to reveal the sinuous curves of the Colorado River. Ever so subtle, the rising sun lit up the river, and brought shape to the canyon beyond. Within minutes however, the eastward blowing storm soon enveloped my position and pelted me with ice and rain. I had a dickens of a time keeping the lens clear of water droplets. I was able to get 6 shots off before the vista became cloud bound again. By this time the rain was falling in earnest and I had to pack up.

In all honesty when I got up that morning it was all I could do to force myself out into storm. I was thinking a little more sleep and breakfast at the El Tovar Hotel sounded like a much better idea. But I had never seen the canyon like this before so I just willed myself to move. Six shots. That is all I got. Six photographs captured on a CF card. But it is not all that I got. I will tell you that watching the storm roll through nearly brought me to tears. The sheer power and majesty of being in that moment is still with me today. I can still see the swirling clouds rolling up from the canyon floor. The North Rim horizon was completely socked in. Scale and distance was lost in the clouds, swept away to the east on a brisk wind. I can still feel the stinging touch of ice and hear its pinging notes as it struck my camera. Nature put on a show for me that morning and I felt small and humbled by this gift. Six shots. That is all I got. That and a lifetime of memories. Oh, and I did get breakfast at the El Tovar.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Hozógo nasádo (Navajo): Walk in Beauty

Bob

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

Hopi Point Sunrise – Grand Canyon National Park

Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Lightroom Workflow, Arizona, Colorado Plateau, Colorado River, Desert, Grand Canyon, Grand Canyon National Park, Grand Circle, Landscape, Landscape Photography, Lightroom, National Parks, Photography Trips, Photoshop Workflow, River, sunrise No Responses »

Jan 312011

Hopi Point Sunrise, South Rim, Grand Canyon National Park. Shot with a Nikon D300 and a Nikkor 28-70mm lens. Image exposed at ISO 200 at f18 for 1/20 of a second.

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. In past posts I have eluded to the fact that I often revisit files in an effort to tweak out more detail through better processing. This image is one of those that has been processed several times and each time I do I get a little closer to realizing my original vision for the shot. The image was made from Hopi Point located on the West Rim Drive on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. The large formation in the foreground is known as “The Alligator” and the formation to the right is part of “The Tower of Ra”. The shot was made just after sunrise and illustrates just how intense the sunlight can be as it illuminates the canyons buttes and landforms. The intensity of the light striking The Alligator was difficult to balance with respect to other formations in the shot and for some time how I wanted to process the shot escaped me. Shooting red rock formations such as these can pose some problems in terms of the luminosity of the image capture. In this case the light was so intense that much of the buttes detail was lost in a wash of intense color. The trick was to retain the beautiful sunrise color but dial back the colors luminosity and recover the detail. The way to do this is to reduce the color saturation slightly and then dial back the color luminance. Using the sliders in the HSL/Color/B&W panel in Adobe Lightroom I selected HSL and clicked on Saturation. Here I reduced the saturation in the Red and Orange channels. Next I clicked Luminance and reduced the Red and Orange channels. The net result decreased the color intensity and enabled me to recover some beautiful detail in the rocks. Working the Color Sliders along with manipulating the Curves achieved a good RAW file to import to Photoshop for final finishing.

Proper RAW file development is one of the cornerstones in creating a good image and you should not rush through this process. After selecting an image to work on I always start by “zeroing” the image to return it to the RAW state captured by the camera. I almost never rely on the established development Preset in Lightroom. From there I set the White and Black Point and manipulate the Curve Sliders while also working with the Fill and Recover sliders. It is a back and forth process where I am looking to bring out the maximum detail in the shot. Once I finish the major curve manipulations I look to adjusting the color saturation and luminance. In some cases I work these sliders along with the curve sliders. The final step is to apply capture sharpening and noise reduction.

Thank you for stopping by today.

Bob

Older Entries

Robert H Clark Photography Blog

Grand Canyon

Escalante Butte – Lipan Point, Grand Canyon National Park

Coronado Butte – South Rim, Grand Canyon National Park

James Uqualla- Havasupai Elder

South Kaibab Trail – Grand Canyon National Park

South Rim Sunset, Lipan Point – Grand Canyon National Park

South Rim Sunset – Grand Canyon National Park

Lipan Point Sunset – Grand Canyon National Park

Enveloping Storm – Grand Canyon National Park

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

Hopi Point Sunrise – Grand Canyon National Park

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