badlands and deserts Bryce Canyon in pre-dawn light

I've always wanted to visit this fantastic place. And in winter the contrast between red rocks and white snow is exceptional. Nothing  to say technically (all is OK). Thanks for sharing this photo. Best regards from Italy, Antonio

I kind of think Antonio is on to something here.  I wonder if this really isn't the very best time of year to photograph this scene?  What I mean is that without the snow to help provide some visual separation, I wonder if this all just doesn't sort turn into a red-orange blob of sandstone with a few specks of pinon-juniper?  This is really a stunning photograph.  Lordy, I'll bet it was colder than frozen zot waiting around to take this too!  Cheers!  Chris

Quite a majestic view and place to experiment with images. Wonder what a panoramic shot would look like here. nonetheless a very imppressive captlure.  thank you so much for you comments and imput on my recent offerings.  As you so aptly pointed out the closer image is my favorite. The light was stunning as the sun rose over the horizon.  This is a favorite place on Lake Michigan that people gravitate to take pictures. I try to look for the much less obvious such as the beach or the light house, just finding the right light, textures in the sand or some isolated beach grass is much more of a challenge and reward to me.  Thanks again, take care, rek.

Hey, thanks for the comments.  I've been out of internet range for quite some time.  Richard, I did try a few panoramics, but I haven't yet processed them.  Chris, it was only minus 6 degrees.  Plus, I got confused when I got to the rim and went the wrong direction for about 30 minutes.  Altogether, I was out on the rim for about 3 hours with inadequate protection from the cold.  I had planned to hike down on the single open (but icy) trail, but I was so cold it was getting difficult to walk (or talk).  I had a most wonderful $3 shower back at Ruby's.  I wish I could have tried more lenses (especially 300mm and 400mm teles), but I was just too cold.

Steve, what everyone else said and I also think that the light to darker transition works well.

Thanks for your email......sounds like you've experienced some tough weather during your travels.....along with the rest of the country!  :-)  Thank goodness you got snow here.  IMO it's the best way to showcase these wonderful pinnacles.  This is spectacular, and I look forward to what else you'll be posting from your trip.  No doubt you're going to be busy!

Detail, detail, detail! I get lost in photographs with great detail and I love this one for that very reason. 

Stephen, you have been amply rewarded for your travail in bitter cold weather. Admirable contrast of colors & light. Looks like a fairy-land.

Thanks for the comments.  Now that I'm back in a warm home, I sometimes look at these photos and see other shots "I should have tried," and I wish that I had been able to hike a trail down into the columns.  However, those feelings vanish when I remember that my long-time desire to see Bryce with snow has been realized.  It was a marvelous experience -- even the exceptional cold.

The thing that strikes me straight away is the snow clinging to the strata of the rocks, highlighting every crevice and ledge, these interspersed by the diagonal shadows in the snow make for a really pleasing image. I think there is the possibilityy of a crop also, that would start just left of the second foreground column and finish just after the main rock formations to the right. I know it kind of gives a square format that I'm not usually keen on, but I think it serves to highlight the small trees and snow textures to a greater degree, not a better crop by any means as I really rate the original, but maybe an alternative.

Excellent work Stephen!

Regards

Alf

Alf, thanks for the comments.  The two foreground columns were almost a problem because they were so big (they extend very far down).  I can see your crop, and I'm not at all adverse to squares.  The only disadvantage to cropping is that, while it can produce a very nice web image, it starts to limit the print sizes that can be made.  I had fully intended to use more lenses and take a greater variety of compositions (in particular, that series of lighter-colored columns at about the "second row" back were especially attractive).  Unfortunately, I was just too darn cold.  If I hadn't gotten disoriented prior to dawn and wandered along the rim for about an hour looking for Sunrise Point, I might have been in better shape.  I do have some additional photos that are much tighter on the columns in the background, but I haven't gotten to them yet.  I came back with 92 GB of digital images and about 20 rolls of 120/220 film.... I hope I can get it all processed before another trip in April.  Such a burden!  ;>)

It was minus 6 degrees for 3 hours to get a few photos (and I got lost in

the dark), but enjoyable nevertheless. Soft light just prior to sunrise.

Comments and suggestions are appreciated. Thanks.

Red and white, a fantastic place.

Ciao. Barbara

excellent, nothing to say

Stephen this is not a good image for us, make melee too cold, inapt cold enough to freeze the XXX of a bras monkey.

Wonderful image here and of very hog quality exposure with superb DOF where the details obtained are so fine and so the control over the icy zones well contrasted and adding to well engineered composition.

Thank you for sharing it and wishing you all of the best my friend.

Stephen,

   Your pre-dawn wandering in the cold is in keeping with the idea that artists should suffer for the sake of their art...more seriously, the result was worth the discomfort (easy for me to say). The problem when presented with a scene as rich in strong visual elements as this one is to simplify and isolate in order to pull out a strong composition. I sympathize with your frustration over running out of time, light and body warmth before putting your long lenses to work. Nevertheless, your mention of the quantity of digital and film captures yet to be processed from this trip suggests there should be a number of interesting images yet to come.

Stephen,

There really isn't a lot to comment on that hasn't been pointed out so far. Just know that I think this is a fantastic shot. The only thing about it that doesn't sit right is the striations in the background are a little crooked. I hope you don't mind but I gave it a subtle twist and crop. Still great, just looks like a crooked horizon to me.

Ryan, thanks.  I have too much of a tendency to process and post, and I notice these details only when I view the photos of others.  Thanks for pointing that out.  I will correct it.

Now let's not be so quick to decide.  Keep in mind that this is coming from someone who can measure with my eye, not needing a tape measure.  So things being uneven really bothers me.  But this is a difficult one.  In the original, the striations are crooked.....true.  But MOST of the spires are straight, notwithstanding the big ones in the lower left, which lean to the left a bit.  And though the trees are leaning various directions, most of them are also vertical.  Ryan, in your version the striations are better, but to my eye the spires are leaning a bit to the right, again notwithstanding the 2 big spires, which do appear straight.  And even some of the trees appear to be leaning to the right.  Mother nature doesn't always cooperate in making the earth's layers even, so I wonder if perhaps the original is correct after all?  Just questioning......not sure......but I'd be curious to know what you think.

Isn't Bryce great in the snow? I think winter is my favorite time in the park. Did you get down to Zion on the same trip -- also wonderful with a little snow in the valley. I remember being there the day before Christmas and having the entire park almost to myself. Not only are these lovely places, but going in the winter gives you a feeling that you are there alone -- it is almost magic.  Thanks for sharing.

Christal, you do make a good point.  However, at this scale I think Ryan's definitely looks to be more level.  I'll have to check it out at a larger size.

John, I pretty much had Sunrise Point all to my self for several hours.  Had I not gotten so cold (poor preparation on my part), I would have hiked the one trail that was open.  I did get to Zion (my first time there), but the trails were plagued with ice (created by hikers walking on snow).  I will get back to Zion, perhaps this fall.  I've written about the experience on my blog (see my website link).

A beautiful shot superbly captured.

Stephen: As others have said, the snow really makes the picture.  Also, the whites in the snow still hold the details which is often so hard to do.  Regarding the "tilt" of the image, I think your original is correct.  I've also tried to straighten a horizontal line only to find that I tilted the image when doing so.  The verticle were straight and then went tilted.  I think what's happening here is what happens when you shoot tall buildings and the lines converge.  That's because you're transferring a 3D image onto a 2-D plane.  That got me to thinking just now.  Wouldn't horizontal lines converge for the same reason.  As the landscape extends out in the distance, the 3D will transfer to 2D in the same way as the buildings making the lines converge, but only horizontally.

So using Elements 8, Perspective control, I played with the horizontal rather than the vertical control which you'd use with buildings.  It seems to work and I have to remember this trick.  What do you think?  Alan

Alan, as a line moves away from the camera but remains at the same elevation, it's going to appear to drop down from the top of the frame in a photograph (or even to a 3-dimensional eye).  It's possible that is what's happening along the top of this photo when the rock layers in the distance look lower from the top of the frame than the same layers closer to the camera (on the right).  Unfortunately, I've been so totally engrossed (I mean absolutely nothing but) in organizing and digitizing my photos that I've hardly done anything else for many weeks.  I've had a brand new Canon 1D-IV for two weeks and have yet to take a shot with it.  So I just haven't put the time I want into looking more closely at this photo.  But to my eye, your adjusted photo looks a lot straighter than my version, so maybe it is a matter of lens distortion rather than physics.  Thanks for taking the time to work on this and for sharing the results with me (us).

[bTW, I tossed about 85% of the transparencies I've stockpiled over the years, scanned those that hadn't been previously scanned, sold the scanner, did the same editing on my digital files, merged three different photo databases, and put the 1.32 TB of remaining files on two external drives.  Loading the second drive is happening right now and will be finished by morning (USB takes about 13 hours).  Soon I'll be able to get back to photography.]