The Underground Railroad

My, My, Jay, this such a wonder of nature; looks like a deposit of precious gems. I love the angle you shot, the entrance of the underground and the rock curving around the green pool. Amazing place and shot.

Great shot, nice color/tones, I like the smooth curves, works well!

What a wonderfull place Zion must be!, I have it allready in my book of favourite places to go, someday!. Like very much the swirl interaction of rounded rock shapes on both pools and tunnel on right side of scene, regards

Great composition with beautiful lines, Jay...!

Location: "The Subway", Zion National Park. All comments welcome.

Incredible capture of an amazing place. Well seen! Cheers, Iren

Fantastic shot! Great light.

 

Congrats.

Jay:

 

While the colors are vivid, I find this image all about light and quality of line. The repetition of curves and circles, accentuated with the rich light is quite engaging. Excellent shot.

 

A few questions. Is the light in the foreground there by natural means? Or did you have to use any fill lighting? Is this a long exposure? The water pools look as though it is but that could just the JPG. Finally, was there a shot by moving the camera to the right to capture the whole of the larger pool?

Excllent observation about the composition and lighting. In fact, the alternative title for this photograh is "Confluence of Circles" due to the various circles you see in the photograph. I am undecided on the final title.

 

The lighting was all natural (I never use any artificial lighting for any of my landscape photography). The lighting was selected to create the maximum tunnelling effect, but is not quite optimal. So, I will attempt (if I get a chance) another shot at this this year in fall when I give a workshop in Bryce/Zion.

 

The pool on the right would loose its circular shape had I panned the camera too much to the right. Having said that, in the next shot, I will attempt to place the left cirle closer to the left edge, either by moving the camera or panning the camera to the right without loosing shape of the circular pool.

 

Finally the shutter speed used was very slow (greater then 1.5 sec). The camera was perfectly still, but the water was moving not only in the pond, but also in the foreground which you cant tell easily. :-))

 

Thank you for taking time to comment.

Jay: Many thanks for your follow-up comments. It is a pity that the larger pool does not conform better to compositional needs ;))

 

When you are back, It might be interesting to try a shot with some ripples on the larger pool. I don't know if they allow tossing in a pebble but concentric ripples on the "floor" might complement the vertical circle of the tunnel. Alternatively, you can do some gritty "cell" shots after you are busted by the Rangers.

Jay, I see that you are doing workshops now, your skills are shown through each photographs, this one especially, when I read the description, really felt like wanting to go shooting with you one day. This is a really busy photograph, patterns, colors, and what I am really impressed is the exposure control, was the lighting even through out the scene? Did you use any filters? regards, Rajeev.

Thanks for the comments. The only filter used for this photograph is a circular polarizer.

I thought it was taken inside a cave. After reading the comments and responses, I guess it's a space with openings for natural lights. Amazing picture of an amazing place!! (all your recent postings are so unearthly.)

Thank you Jay for the info...

Wonderful! This is a different view than all the others I've seen of the subway; I love it!

great shot - fantasstic location - great natural colors !!