The Shape of Things to Come
Antelope Canyon in black and white.
Antelope Canyon in black and white.
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Feb, 2018Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
The photo was taken at the iconic Antelope Canyon, Arizona, USA. Antelope Canyon is a slot canyon carved by water over the years and is on Navajo land with access only permitted via guided tours.Time
I had always wanted to visit Antelope Canyon having seen so many amazing pictures of it however, there are only a few hours in the day when the sun is at the right angle where it shines directly into the canyon creating the light shafts that you see, on the day I went in June 2015 this was around midday.Lighting
The lighting was both amazing and challenging as it went from extremely bright to very dark bringing out the texture in the rock, this was the primary reason for booking the tour at that particular time of day.Equipment
The photo was taken with a Canon 5D MkIII using an EF16-35mm F2.8L lens. A flash was not used but I did use a tripod. (N.B. In order to use a tripod in Antelope Canyon you have to book a photographic tour otherwise tripods are not allowed.)Inspiration
For many years I have wanted to visit Antelope Canyon having seen so many amazing pictures of it so grabbed the opportunity when it arose however, I wanted to do a slightly different take hence this photo is in black and white and is not one of the usual photos you see of shafts of light entering the canyon and illuminating the canyon floor. For me looking up to the roof of the canyon and making the photo black and white allowed me to focus on the beautiful contrasty conditions of the light playing over the shape of the canyon walls.Editing
This photo required a reasonable amount of post processing not least the conversion from colour to black and white. My workflow on this photo consisted of initial edits in Adobe Lighroom to reduce the extremes of exposure after which it was taken into Photoshop where it was converted to black and white and the contrast and clarity enhanced.In my camera bag
I have three lenses that I usually travel with, an EF16-35mm (as used for this shot) a Canon EF28-72mm F2.8L (my usual goto lens) and a Canon EF70-200 F2.8L lens. As a Canon user all my life I have progressed from the original AE1 to the 5D Mk III I use now. A Manfrotto carbon fibre tripod goes everywhere with me now having kicked myself many times in the past for not having a tripod with me. I also carry a set of graduated, non graduated and polarising filters. More often than not you will also find in my camera bag what I refer to as my happy snapper, a Sony alpha 6000.Feedback
Antelope Canyon is not the only slot canyon although it is probably the most well known. My advice to anyone who wants to visit it is to be clear on what you want to get out of a visit and check the Internet for times the sun will be in the correct position and, most importantly, book your visit well in advance as places on the photographic tour get snapped up very quickly.
