Hard to capture with my 35-70mm lens, how would you have done it differently?

I took so many shots, this one looked the best but still doesn't seem

to have much life.

How would i have gotton the river to look "better" maybe have better

color?

How would i have captured the immense size of the cliff in this shot?

I remember the area and how incredibly large it was but i don't feel

like i captured that, what do i need to do next time to capture that

feeling?

I'm an amature, so if you think of something seemingly obvious, tell

me, i probably dont' know about it =)

Well, I was just there and got some decent shots. I'll have one on my website soon. (Send me an email at nosh@bigfoot.com if you'd like me to let you know when I've added it and send you the URL.)

First, a wider angle lense is really useful at this spot. For a shot of the whole scene (somewhat like what you've gone for) I used a 17mm focal length (Sigma 17-35EX). You might eventually want to replace the lens you have with something that goes down to 28 or 24 mm (Canon has a couple of relatively cheap good zooms... 28-105 and 24-85 I think). That will expand your possibilities. You could add a wide angle prime or zoom (like mine) to your system, but that gets you into carrying multiple lenses and such. I don't know how much you like to lug (I took 5 lenses on my trip). Enough on equipment choices...

Don't be afraid to crawl... :-) I crawled right up to the edge on my belly. That way, when I held the camera, it was sort of hanging over the edge. This allowed me to include the whole bend in the river without those rocks in the front getting in the way.

For less wide angle shots (maybe around 35mm) you could consider not including the whole bend. I got a picture I liked that just included the right half of the bend. Actually, I guess this is probably better advice than what I've already written. Gotta work with what you have... Can't buy new gear for every shot. :-)

As for the colors in the scene, you might try a different time of day (or year, but I know that can be tough...). I shot in the afternoon (maybe 3 or 4 pm, I don't remember exactly) on a partly cloudy day and that worked well (I think the sun was shining directly on the scene and not behind a cloud). The water appeared very green (I don't know if this varies with time of day, but I could easily believe it does). These big overlooks are just never as impressive viewed on paper, so you really need some good color to help it out.

If this is a scan of a print, there's a possibility that the print isn't the best picture you could get out of your negative. It might be that different paper, a more skillful printing job, etc could help. You could scan the negative (or have it scanned and put on PhotoCD) and adjust the colors in PhotoShop, but that's a whole different story.

Hope that was helpful.

Hi !

I've been to these place (Horseshoe near Page) and shoot it. I had a 20-35mm at 20mm to help me frame everything. If you have the occasion to go back, try to get closer (I know it's scary when you look 400-500 ft down to look at the river) so you won't get the rocks in the foreground and instead have the river. Also arrive early in the morning for better color on the rocks.

You can have a look at my picture on my web page:

www.u.arizona.edu/~dbeauvar/grandcanyon.html

Didier

I agree with the comments above.

It is hard to get nice colors with that blazing sun. Early mornings and late afternoons will yield much deeper colors.

A wider lens is certainly a benefit. If you do not have one, try to go very low.

Try slide film for better colors.