HDR and Antelope Slot Canyon

A friend (hi Janet!) asked how I created my final Antelope Slot Canyon pictures. Here’s an example of a final version (click each image to see a larger version):

First, I used my (new!) Nikon D800 which allows me, like many other cameras, to take bracketed exposures. I should also add that the D800 lets me take giant photos so in the end I can crop like crazy and still have a lot of pixels to play with. I set up my camera to take 5 sequential shots, each with an exposure difference of “1 EV”. If you saw me on the trip, this was why I was often carrying a tripod.  Here’s are the thumbnails of the 5 shots I took for the picture above:

Then, I put these pictures into a computer program called Photomatix Pro. It will take the 5 images, merge them into one image, and pull the details out of each photo. So for example the first photo above is too dark, but there *are* details in the lighter area. The last photo is too light, but there *are* details in the darker area.  Once “merged” into an HDR (high dynamic range) image, this is what it looked like, still in Photomatix:

Now comes the fun part. Still in Photomatix Pro, you can do “tonemapping” – or apply settings to bring out the details.  Here’s the results after fairly default tonemapping (can you say “wowzer”?:

Next, *still* in Photomatix Pro, I modified the contrast and sharpness a bit, to get the image below. I noticed the purples in the lower left corner and wanted to bring those out more.

(We’re getting close!). Almost done now, I saved the photo as a .jpg. Then I imported that .jpg file into Lightroom (fabulous program) where I emphasized the purples a bit, cropped quite a lot, and voila – the final version:

I have another post about HDR images, from a previous trip. I was using a much simpler camera, and still got great results.  Click here to see this other post.

 

Day 11 – HOME!

Whew. Our last day was long, and frankly boring – but totally due to where I live.

Our last buffet too – breakfast was another bowl of hard-boiled eggs, oatmeal, toast, and bananas (believe it or not, there were few bananas on the trip). Thank goodness it was the last buffet. Not sure I want to see another one for a long time.

I had a wait for my shuttle, then a two-hour shuttle ride from St. George to the Las Vegas airport. Through security without a problem. Had a good mocha from The CoffeeBean is you’re ever there. Long wait until boarding the plane, but it was fun watching the people gambling right there in the airport.

Next it was a 2.5 hour flight back to Seattle-Tacoma airport. Uneventful flight – just the kind I like.

Then another wait for another shuttle… then finally a 1.5 hour shuttle ride to my home.

HOME!!!  I love my own pillow! My own bed! My own shower!

Such a good trip, but you can’t beat getting home.

 

Day 10 – Antelope Slot Canyon

Today was my last full day on this trip. I kind of wish I could do it all over again, because *now* I know what I’d look at, what I’d photograph, and which books to read ahead of time. I’d also remember to bring sun screen!

Today was a very rare leisurely start; we didn’t get on the bus until 10:00! It felt weird just hanging out… suitcase all packed and not much to do. I could see sunrise from my hotel window and was tempted to take even more pictures. Ok ok ok… I got out my spare camera (yes I packed two) and took a few shots. It’s just too hard to resist.

The highlight of the day was Antelope Slot Canyon. This is one of those places you see photographs of and say, “oh my heaven;, where is that?” I spent a bit of time reading websites on *how* to take pictures but wasn’t really sure I could pull it off. There were many hints to wrap your camera in plastic since there’s so much sand/dust in heh canyon. One even said to never change your lens in the canyon; if you want use more than one lens, take multiple cameras. Here was my plan:

***********************  WARNING!  GEEK ALERT! ***********************

• Wide angle lens, widest I’ve got (14-22mm)
• Tripod
• No flash
• Low ISO
• Shoot RAW
• Aperture priority
• f11 to f18
• Let camera choose shutter speed
• Mirror up
• Five-shot exposure bracketing
• Three second time delay
• Auto focus, then put on manual
• Close viewfinder
• Take the shots
• Rinse and repeat as needed

********************  GEEK MOMENT COMPLETE; Resume Normal Reading ***********************

Some not-so-quick facts about Antelope Slot Canyon:

Antelope Canyon is the most-visited and most-photographed slot canyon in the American Southwest. It is located on Navajo land near Page, Arizona. Antelope Canyon includes two separate, photogenic slot canyon sections, referred to individually as Upper Antelope Canyon or The Crack; and Lower Antelope Canyon or The Corkscrew. Both are on the Navajo Nation. We visited the Upper Canyon as it’s easier to access. Light beams start to peek into the canyon March 15 and disappear October 7 each year – so apparently I’m out of luck for light-beam photographs.

The Navajo name for Upper Antelope Canyon is Tse’ bighanilini, which means “the place where water runs through rocks.” Upper Antelope is at about 4,000 feet elevation and the canyon walls rise 120 feet above the stream bed. Antelope Canyon was formed by erosion of Navajo Sandstone, primarily due to flash flooding. On August 12, 1997, eleven tourists  were killed in Lower Antelope Canyon by a flash flood.

Below are some of my pictures from the Canyon. I took just about 125 pictures and do *not* have the software I need, here on the trip, to edit them as I’d like, so these will just have to do. (For most off the canyon I took five shots of each scene, each shot at a different exposure, from too dark to too light. At home I’ll merge the five shots.)

First, the trucks we road out on. It was quite an experience and could be a ride at Disneyland. Talk about a rattle-y truck on a dusty washboard road.

Below is the entrance to the canyon. See that dark slit straight ahead? That’s where you walk in.

Below you can see the path you weave through – see the floor at the very bottom?

And now just some cool shots, looking almost straight up.

After the Canyon, well, what else could there be? We had lunch (not a buffet!) and then drove the 2.5 hours back to where we started – in St. George. And guess where we went for dinner? Yes, our last buffet!

 

Day 09 – Lake Powell, a Boat and Rainbow Bridge

My alarm went off at 5:30 for an early breakfast and early start for the day.  Would you believe there was a buffet breakfast?  I used to think I knew all the “B-words” – you know, those words you don’t use in polite company? I’ve now added Buffet to that list.

Today is a boat ride on Lake Powell. The lake itself is 186 miles long and used a LOT for outdoor recreation. This lake was created in 1963 after the 587-foot tall Glen Canyon Dam was completed. I was dumbfounded when I learned that it took SEVENTEEN years for the lake to entirely fill – or “reach full pool”. The lake is also comprised completely of little ins and outs – much like a fractal image. In fact there are so many side canyons that if you walked around all the little ins and outs you would have walked longer than the entire west coast of the United States.

Now it’s time for a confession. I have issues with “boats”. Back about 25 years ago I went on a nice one-day boat ride to Ensanada – or at least that’s what I remember. On the return trip I got sicker than a dog. All I remember about that horrible sea-sick trip was curling myself around a toilet on the boat and wishing I were dead. Even after getting home, my head kept spinning for three more days. It wasn’t pretty. At that point I swore off boats. Haven’t been on them since, well, that was until this past June I was on a trip that included a little 30-45 minute ride on one of the “duck” boats – the boats that drive on land and then drive right into water and act like a boat. I crossed my fingers and tried the “duck” ride – and it was fine!

Still, I’ve been obsessively worried about today’s boat ride. When I found out it was two hours out, then one-and-a-half hours scheduled for a hike, and then another two hour boat ride back, well… I thought a LOT about just staying in town for the day. Luckily a friend (waving at Ann!) had actually talked to some RoadScholar members who took the exact same boat, earlier this summer. On her recommendation, I ate a light breakfast (lol) and got on the boat with everyone else.  I headed for the front of the boat and spent the first 30 minutes staring straight out the front of the boat, hoping to “align” my ears.  And what can I say? The trip was FABULOUS! No problems at all! I even ate lunch!  HOORAY!  You have no idea how relieved I was – to not get sick, and to not embarrass myself in front of all 99 people on the boat!

I can tell you how good the day was; I took 460 pictures!

We left Page and boated up Lake Powell. According to the Captain it was 42 miles each way. The weather was cold but the sky was blue and overall it was great and the scenery? Breathtaking. Well worth it – despite all my worries! During the trip up there were audio lessons and they stressed things like “take nothing but pictures, leave nothing behind.” We’d heard the same thing at every park we’d been at for the past week.

Once we docked it was about a  half mile walk to Rainbow Bridge. Even the walk was spectacular. There was another tour group on our boat and since they were younger (!) they got to the bridge well ahead of us. It was a little, well, odd? to see them all standing silently, with their hands up, palms facing the arch. They were there quite a while. All we ever found out was that they were a “new age” group.

Once at the bridge there was a sign that I saw and ignored, assuming it said something along the lines of “leave nothing behind, take nothing but pictures” and I proceeded to walk out under the arch and take photos. I couldn’t figure out why no one else was there, but there *was* a ranger giving a presentation and everyone seemed pretty engrossed in what he was saying.

Well, you cannot imagine how mortified I was when I came back from my solo photo journey and actually read the sign:

I left the group at that point and slunk back to the boat alone. I was afraid someone would yell at me or throw away my camera or something. No one said anything, but *I* felt horrible.

Our return boat trip was beautiful. It had warmed up a bit and I spent more time on the upper deck. Here are two photos to show you how lovely it was:

Our last stop for the day was the Glen Canyon Dam. Frankly I was tired and photo’d out. I actually found the shadow from car bridge near the dam more interesting, so here’s my last photo for this post:

 

This is Nice

I’m at the Best Western “Plus” in Lake Powell, Arizona. While I can still find a few faults with the room (bed too hard, pillows like huge boulders), the rest of the room is great!

There’s a Keurig coffee maker, all the lights work, the A/C is quiet, I’ve got two giant beds, there’s hot water that actually gets hot, and the sink drains. Yes, many those were issues from “other” hotels during this trip.

And the shower faucet is very nice! I could use something like this at home!

 

Day 08 – On the Road South to Page, Arizona

Today has been described as a “windshield day” which means “lots of time sitting on the bus”.  I have to say, our bus driver has been amazing. His driving skills are outstanding and he’s a nice guy too.

After a buffet breakfast (is anyone keeping track?) we had our luggage out at the bus by 7:45 and on the road again at 8:00 a.m.

As I write this it’s  now 8:56 pm and most of us have had a long day, many cases of “bus butt” and I’ve now heard of four malfunctioning cameras!

We rode in the bus for quite a while and stopped at The Edge of Cedars Museum – it was more interesting than I’d expected.  Inside there were amazing Native American pottery displays. The outside sculptures were fun to photograph – especially the large one that is supposed to act as a sundial of sorts.

Below is a statue that was outside the museum. I was especially attracted to it when I read its name: “Figure Running through Time”.

We continued our bus ride south and finally made it to Gouldings Lodge – apparently a famous place. But – Lunch! Order off a menu!  Yes!  And, are you ready? They even had a veggie burger!  Ahhhh… a “burger” and fries – deeeelish. The local little museum was dedicated to all the films that had been shot in the area. The two movie names that stick in my mind are John Wayne’s “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon” and “Back to the Future”.

Monument Valley was not quite what I expected. First, I was totally unaware that it was  NOT in Utah! Ends up most of it’s in Arizona. And I guess, technically, it’s not even in the United States since it’s part of the Navajo Nation!  And although it’s HUGE, there’s not really all that much to see. I got some typical shots from the visitors’ center and then it was once again, back on the bus. There were some cool flag – and you wouldn’t believe everyone’s confusion over the FOUR flags that were displayed. Can YOU name all four?

We finally arrived in Page, Arizona and I have a great room at the Best Western. I swear I have two king-size beds all to myself. Ahhh, room to spread out again. After a quick hour at the hotel is was again back on the bus for a short ride to a Navajo presentation. We sat outside for a short presentation as the sun set and it grew colder. We then went briefly through a male Hogan and then went into a larger female Hogan for a long presentation on culture and weaving. The weaving was interesting, but the Hogan was only lit by lanterns and it was difficult to see. Next it was back outside to watch a native dancer dance the “hoop dance”. It was fascinating. Imagine someone doing a Native-American type dance with about ten hula hoops. That guy was amazing to watch. I’ll have to see if I can find a video on line that’s similar.  This is very similar to the dance we saw.

Dinner?  Guess what, a buffet! At least this time it was Chinese food; although there was very little that was not full of meat. Anyway, I’m full, it’s late (we changed time and lost an hour when we entered Arizona), so I need to get this posted and in to bed.

Tomorrow is The Day of the trip. It will either be glorious or disastrous. If you don’t see a blog post tomorrow, you’ll know things didn’t go well.

 

Breakfast Buffet!

I’ve been writing a bit about our buffets, so I thought I’d add some photos of our this morning’s breakfast buffet. And while some of our lunch and dinner buffets have been nice, this is pretty typical of our breakfast offerings (I didn’t get a photo of the orange juice, so you’ll have to mentally add that yourself):

 

Day 07 – Ahhhhhh Arches!

Up and going and the bus pulls away from our hotel at 8:00 a.m. We spent the entire day in Arches National Park. It was wonderful! A beautiful place and worth the visit!

A few quick facts: 120 square miles, promoted to a National Park in 1971, over 2,000 arches!

The weather can change rapidly in the desert, so watch the sky in these images change as the day progressed.

The day started at the visitor’s center and after a quick video it was on into the park itself. Our first stop was Balance Rock.  The rock balanced on top is estimated to weigh 3,500 tons. It was a short 0.3 mile walk around the base of the rock.

Then it was on to Landscape Arch which was about a 2 mile round trip walk from where our bus parked. It was a bit up and down, and the park elevation of 4,000 to 5,600 made some of us go a little slower than normal. Landscape Arch is 306 feet across the base.

The wind was blowing quite a bit at times, and I was very glad I had some equipment with me to clean my camera and lenses. After each stop I got out the little squeeze-bulb air blower and brush.

Back on the bus and a nice picnic lunch in a natural amphitheater. But, the clouds were rolling in and it was getting a bit cooler and darker.

On to Delicate Arch which is really quite a walk – at least to me. It was 3 miles round trip and I didn’t make it all the way. There was a lot of stair climbing up (and down!) and walking on large masses of solid rock.  Still, even from a distance it was a beauty! I was surprised at the angle of the rocks at the base of the arch – I just kind of supposed it would be level.  Notice how small the people are, compared to the arch.

Then we went to North Window, South Window and Turret Arch. By now the wind was really picking up and it was a pretty rushed walk to all three. On the way back to the bus the rain was just beginning, but we made it back just fine.

I’m thankful I brought a lens cleaning kit with me. Today with all the wind and sand blowing around, a few folks were mentioning “gritty” action when their camera lenses extended and retracted. And, bummer, two had cameras that quit working – one was stuck “open” and the other was stuck “closed”. Darned sand and dust!

We made it back to our hotel around 3:00 and I for one am glad to hunker down, do a little blogging and have some quiet time.

 

Another Mystery

Look closely at this picture; about in the middle. I swear it was a blueberry on the ground. Any chance it’s a juniper berry? As for it being a blueberry, yeah, it’s doubtful – it was too hot and dry out for a blueberry to look so fresh as it was sitting on the ground. But do juniper berries get as big as a nice blueberry?

 

Day 06 John Wesley Powell Museum, Canyonlands, and Dead Horse Point State

Up and the bus was going by 8:00 a.m. Today the plan was to drive back through Capitol Reef National Park, then visit the John Wesley Powell Museum, see the Dead Horse Point State Park, and end the day at Canyonlands National Park. We reversed a few things in case the weather turned and ended up visiting the state park last.

Our first stop of the day was in Hanksville. We’d had quite the lead up to the magnificent homemade cinnamon rolls available at a little restaurant in Hanksville. Our leader had even asked how many folks were going to buy and she pre-ordered 20 cinnamon rolls. This morning many people skipped breakfast in anticipation. Well, wouldn’t you know it. We pull into the TINY (did I say tiny?) town of Hanksville and many of our group rush over for cinnamon rolls and coffee… only to find out that the supplies delivery was rescheduled and no cinnamon rolls were available. For once, I was glad I had not planned on getting one. It was quite a disappointment after the build-up we’d had for the past couple of days.

Back on the bus and we drove to the John Wesley Powell museum. J.W. Powell was the first man to go down the Green River from Utah AND navigate the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. At the time he and his group of men did this amazing feat, the whole area was uncharted and there was no way to know where rapids where, what was around the next corner (perhaps a waterfall), etc. It really was quite amazing. We watched a brief film that was a condensed version of their 120 minute movie, and it made the journey almost like a ride at Disneyland – everything was sweetness and wonderful. In fact, if you want to read about the trip and be as impressed as I am, pick up the book Down the Great Unknown by Edward Dolnick.

I did finally find a good book to buy for my one-year old granddaughter, Kate.  I hope you enjoy coyotes, Katie!

I did see a t-shirt with this quote on it (should have bought it, but…):
I’d rather be in the mountains thinking about God
Than be sitting in church thinking about the mountains.

After a buffet lunch (!) it was back on the bus – but first! The bus driver ran over and told me to grab my camera and hurry. We went to the front of the bus and saw this (I think it’s called a leaf hopper?)

We then headed for Canyonlands National Park. It was a bit of a drive, but we were entertained along the way by a museum about the Mormon settlers in the south east corner of the state. Quite interesting and talk about perseverance! The video we watched was Journey of the San Juan Colonizers, Hole-in-the-Rock Expedition.

Finally, Canyonlands!  Some quick facts: established as a National Park in 1964 and expanded in 1971, 527 square miles, 4,000 to 6,000 feet in elevation.

Honestly, we didn’t get a chance to spend too much at Canyonlands; there’s just too much to see in southern Utah for a ten-day trip. We saw some motorcycle riders and they said that they stop and take lot of pictures ,and average 30 miles a day!

Here’s a classic shot from Canyonlands. It shows the Mesa Arch along with an intrepid traveler – NOT someone from our group!

And here’s one showing how dry and desolate it is in Canyonlands, when you’re not looking at the fantastic views.

On to Dead Horse Point State Park for our last stop of the day. To get here you drive along a plateau and there’s not much to see, just land and more dry land. You suddenly see the land falling off to both sides of the road and realize you’ve driven out onto a point of land with just a narrow bit of land to get there. Legend has it that pioneers thought that this “point” of land was a good place to keep horses, since all they had to do was block off the narrow bit of access land – just 30’ wide and poof – instant horse containment, in the form of cliffs thousands of feet deep.  The legend continues that the pioneers forgot to come out and water the horses, and they all died of thirst, even though there were within view of the Colorado River, 2000 feet below.

I’m now in my room. Although I have a hotel room to myself each night, this is the first time I’ve only had one bed. I miss being able to spread my stuff all over the spare bed! I also cannot figure how how I get so tired when I sit on a bus all day, but I’m pooped and heading to bed early.