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Archive 2015 · Canyon of the Gods

Matt Anderson
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Canyon of the Gods

Congratulations to Matt Anderson for winning Feature Thread of the Week with 12 votes - View Previous Winners

Here is an image of the Subway I doubt you've seen before ( At least, a view point I've never seen published. ) This is what you get to see after roughly 5 miles of strenuous hiking through 45°F water...I've been meaning to get to this area since 2005. Finally, after ten years, it worked out. What your seeing here is a stitch of two horizontal 14mm FOV's. Each FOV consists of 9 bracketed shots to fully cover the massive dynamic range present. I did crop a bit off the top. I considered cropping the sky out, but I didn't want to lose the dimension those peaks create. Having been to zion a couple times, and finally getting out to the remote North Creek area, I have to say it was so rewarding and quite worth the effort.

Processing / blending these shots was tricky. Stitching together 14mm images is not easy IMHO. As for the 9 exposures... I typically start on one end of the histogram, and manually adjust one stop at a time encompassing the entire exposure range without clipping the highlight or shadow points. For this shot it took nine exposures. Yes, I could have gone with possibly two images, but in my experience, the image turns out much more natural and clean in the end. The colors are slightly enhanced, to create more chroma separation from all the amazing hues present.

Here's a link to a larger version if you wish to see:

Thanks for looking.

May 12, 2015 at 11:15 AM

Gary Clennan
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Canyon of the Gods

Wow - this is brilliant! I think your PP is perfect here. Well worth the effort I say!

May 12, 2015 at 11:54 AM

Maritan
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Canyon of the Gods

Excellent shot of a beautiful location. Excellent work on the PP too. Exposure bracketing is really key to portraying the dynamic range in a scene such as this. Very well done.

May 12, 2015 at 12:14 PM

fingerda
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Canyon of the Gods

Extraordinary. Well done!

Dave F

May 12, 2015 at 12:21 PM

Travis Rhoads
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Canyon of the Gods

wow, what a unique take on the Subway, you are right, I have not seen this section documented before...kudos to you for making what sounds like a tough trek to get there.

Interesting that you mentioned leaving those peaks...those were the first thing that stood out to me as something to eliminate...I kinda scrolled the image enough to crop to roughly 6x7 and without the sky...I like it...but thats just me. Its a great image either way.

Have you tried tilt shift lenses? It sure makes the stitch a lot easier.

May 12, 2015 at 12:28 PM

roguecoolman
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Canyon of the Gods

I have never had the pleasure to hike the subway and from all the shots I've seen, I thought the only thing worth photographing that alcove with the pools. This is fresh! love it man. The processing is top notch, lights to darks blend so smoothly and in tought lighting conditions! You seem to be processing more photos these days in tougher light but man do you churn out amazing stuff.

Jason

May 12, 2015 at 12:29 PM

LSExplorer
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Canyon of the Gods

WOW, superb and fresh image of the iconic spot! The DR and color range are also well presented. Great work!

May 12, 2015 at 02:08 PM

Sunny Sra
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Canyon of the Gods

Awesome! This indeed is unique.

May 12, 2015 at 03:56 PM

killersnowman
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Canyon of the Gods

I love this. Such a great take on this marvelous place

May 12, 2015 at 04:12 PM

Scott Kroeker
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Canyon of the Gods

Wow...unique take. This turned out great.

May 12, 2015 at 10:35 PM

ckcarr
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Canyon of the Gods

Very nice indeed Matt.

A place I need to explore someday..
Whenever I go there I end up on Angel's Landing.

May 12, 2015 at 10:46 PM

JimFox
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Canyon of the Gods

Hey Matt,

Very nice work on this. A lot of hard work but it paid off. I am pretty sure a few of us have similar shots but like mine they are sitting on the hard drive gathering dust. So nice work on seeing this and bringing it to life as you did, it is really sweet.

Jim

May 13, 2015 at 04:30 AM

Nexed
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Canyon of the Gods

Wonderful work. Love the DR and the colors.

May 13, 2015 at 07:45 AM

ben egbert
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Canyon of the Gods

Very well done. Great attention to detail.

May 13, 2015 at 10:07 AM

Tom Nevesely
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Canyon of the Gods

Nice! I can honestly say that I have never seen an image like this one. Really nicely done!!

May 13, 2015 at 10:11 AM

m.sommers00
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Canyon of the Gods

Wow this is absolutely stunning!

May 13, 2015 at 10:17 AM

dbehrens
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Canyon of the Gods

That must of been a chore in PP but nicely done. Love your choice of a 1x1 crop.
Dave

May 13, 2015 at 10:32 AM

Ipanematom
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · Canyon of the Gods

Spectacular composition that pulls the viewer into the picture!

May 14, 2015 at 05:31 PM

Matt Anderson
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · Canyon of the Gods

Travis Rhoads wrote:
wow, what a unique take on the Subway, you are right, I have not seen this section documented before...kudos to you for making what sounds like a tough trek to get there.

Interesting that you mentioned leaving those peaks...those were the first thing that stood out to me as something to eliminate...I kinda scrolled the image enough to crop to roughly 6x7 and without the sky...I like it...but thats just me. Its a great image either way.

Have you tried tilt shift lenses? It sure makes the stitch a lot easier.

Hi Travis, when I shot Canon I used the 17mm & 24mm TSE lenses. Great lenses. I haven't adopted Nikons tilts, for a couple reasons. I've tried to lighten my bag, the 14mm (14mm-24mm) lens has a wider FOV I like, and I've heard the Nikons have trouble with the D800 and the knobs hitting the body of the camera when used in certain adjustments. Not sure if true, but like I mentioned, trimming down my bag weight, and 14mm is why I don't have any.

---------------------------------------------

roguecoolman wrote:
I have never had the pleasure to hike the subway and from all the shots I've seen, I thought the only thing worth photographing that alcove with the pools. This is fresh! love it man. The processing is top notch, lights to darks blend so smoothly and in tought lighting conditions! You seem to be processing more photos these days in tougher light but man do you churn out amazing stuff.

Jason

Jason, when you're in there, it's much larger then I thought it was. Also, for me, finding compelling compositions, besides the classic view, is tough. The light is changing relatively quick. You also get lots of great scenery leading up to the subway as well. I have some shots of archangel falls I'll get to eventually.

Thanks for commenting everyone, appreciate it!

May 15, 2015 at 06:54 AM

Steve Perry
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · Canyon of the Gods

Really cool shot - love the new take on that subject!

May 15, 2015 at 08:17 AM

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