Bizare
Fantasy Canyon, UT
Fantasy Canyon, UT
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Apr, 2016Views
186
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Awards
Fall Award 2020
Outstanding Creativity
Absolute Masterpiece
Superb Composition
Top Choice
Peer Award
All Star
Magnificent Capture
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Behind The Lens
Location
This image was created at a little 10 acre state park in northern Utah called Fantasy Canyon. Off the beaten path in the gas well fields make sure you know where you are going before you go. This is a crazy geographic area with sandstone erosion causing bizarre rack formations. It looks like the set of scary movie form the 80-90s era, so many of the rock look like something else, a face or a cross who knows. Take you time and walk the whole scene, it's worth it.Time
I arrived early in the day and had shot sunrise but also wanted to shoot sun set here. I spent all day getting to know the area fortunately had some mobile phone service so using the The Photographer's Ephemeris (TPE) app had an idea of where the moon would rise to capture this shot. It took some patients but the moon did come out where I planned and I got the shot making use of the unusual rock formations and the moon. This was hand held and nothing special to take the shoot as far as lighting. In hind sight it was slightly under exposed and I could have used a tripod to slow the shutter down and expose 100% correctly.Lighting
Mother natures light during blue hour is my favorite kind of light and what I would use all the time if I could. This shot was late in golden hour verging on blue hour. Had I waited for the shadows to calm down more the moon would have been to far out of position for this shot.Equipment
Canon 5DmkII, Canon 24/105f4 at 102mm, ISO 100, 1/400 at f10 no flashInspiration
It's an unusual place and not a lot of people have been there but most people who have been there have similar images. I wanted to have something unique and have found the time between when most people go home from the parks and the when the light is completely gone some of my best images are made. This time of day there are very few people around to interrupt the image creation process I go through on location and the wind has stopped. Even on a windy day at blue hour the wind stops even if it picks up again at night you get an hour of blissfully peaceful quite. In these times when everything is so still you can hear bugs flying around from 10 feet away.Editing
At 1/400th it was under exposed and i had to boost the exposure a little. Slight tune up on the crop and white balance but not much else was done here. When this shot was made I was leaving a lot of room to crop.In my camera bag
To much. 7D, 5DmkII, 14/40f4, 24/105f4, 70/200f2.8, 100/400f5.6, 35f1.4, 8/15f4 fisheye, 17mmTSE. Two Ex580ttl strobes, filters, tripod, bean bag, horse hair brush, light meter,........... To Much stuff. These days I often leave the house with the 35f1.4 and nothing else. If I have a tripod with me for the day I may bring just he 17TSE. To much gear causes me to change lenses all the time and I find if I limit my gear I still get the shot or something similar and I think about it more so the quality is better. Don't take to much gear. No days I wont even take a bag I just carry my camera on a tripod in to the field and shoot. This is my favorite way to hike and shoot these days, minimalist. I take one body, 1one lens, a horse hair brush and leave everything else in the car.Feedback
Plan a head and know the shot you are going on location to get - if you don't know why you are there it will show in your results. You'll have snap shots but not something special and unique. See the finished shot in your head before you take off the lens cap. In many situations I will use a tripod or makeshift support so I can keep my ISO as low as possible. I check my work constantly asking my self if I adjusted for the light that can change quickly at golden hour or dramatically on a partly cloudy day. Take you time and think about your composition, your equipment, and detractors your want to avoid in the back ground. Have fun!
