The Road to Somewhere
Next time here, Canyonlands, I'm going to find out where this ends up
Next time here, Canyonlands, I'm going to find out where this ends up
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Sep, 2015Views
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Contest Finalist in Roads Of The World Photo Contest
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dereksturman
June 16, 2016
Oh my! Sweet shot! it's funny I am fairly sure I was in this exact spot or one very similar in Canyonlands!
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Behind The Lens
Location
This was taken in July, 2015 in Canyonlands National Park in UtahTime
This was taken around 11AM. Certainly not when I wanted to be here. I would have preferred just before or just after dawn. However, the more overhead lighting did open up the shadows on the canyon wall. "You can't always get what you want, but sometimes you get what you need." Though I'm an early morning-early evening shooter usually, mid day does have it's advantages.Lighting
Inherently, the big draw visually here is the winding trail snaking down from the top of the canyon and extending across the valley floor. There are umpteen perdillion great vistas in Canyonlands, but this one's inclusion of the trail makes it unique. This is at Dead Horse Point and overlooks the Shafer Trail.Equipment
This was shot with a Sony a6000 and the Sony10-18 f/4 zoom. I needed every bit of width I could get from my perch at the canyon edge.Inspiration
I had seen several similar views of this site while researching on Google Images before the trip. We did several National Parks on this trip (Canyonlands, Arches, Yellowstone, Badlands, Mesa Verde, white Sands) and I had a list of "must get" locations made prior to the trip. Honestly, most of the shots that I really loved were found while moving from one site to another. I didn't really want to just ape shots previously made by others; hopefully I was trying to put my own stamp on things.Editing
A few things in post: dehazing the most distant area of the scene (including the clouds. Contrast adjustments locally with On1 Perfect Effects "Dynamic Contrast" filter masked into select areas. A mild vignette also.In my camera bag
This evolves. Today I carry three Sony a6000 bodies; one modified by LifePixel for 720nm infrared. Lenses for the Sony include a Samyang 12mm f/2, the Sony 10-18, a Sony/Zeiss 16-70, and the Sony OSS f/4 70-200. I also carry a Nikon kit witha D7100 and D750 bodies. My lenses for the Nikons are all from the latest Tamron SP series: SP 15-30, SP 24-70, SP 70-200, and the SP 90mm Macro. All lenses have vibration control except the Samyang 12 for the Sony. I just recently added a D810 Nikon, but have yet to take it out in the field. Two tripods, a heavy duty Manfrotto and a MeFoto travel tripod. A couple 10x neutral density filters.Feedback
You have to "be there." This means putting yourself in the actual locations; but also stopping to soak in the experience of actually being there. For me, "being there" is first and foremost. The resultant photos are artifacts of the actual experience. Hopefully, those not always, the photos capture how I was feeling and well as the scene itself.
