Sunset Magazine cover, October, 2008.

 This just arrived in the mail a few minutes ago, and I gotta admit, it is a really cool to have the cover of a magazine like Sunset! 

We had two Zion images being considered as finalist for this cover, the other one was this image of Temple of Sinawava in Zion.  That photo ended up being used as a full page in this months issue of Via Magazine – so now both photos are happy!

Here are more Zion National Park photos.

Zion National Park, Utah.

Today we just published a huge update to our gallery of Zion National Park Photos.  I think we went from 10 photos, to about 60 photos! 

This is Janine holding still for about a 20 second exposure!

The road through Zion National Park, Utah.

Our eyes have the amazing ability to see details in the shadows of a scene, and the details in the highlights at the same time.  Our cameras can’t begin to capture what our eyes can see.  Photographers have been trying to replicate what our eyes can see with a camera for years – these techniques are usually referred as High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography.  Fancy words for a simple concept – makes us sound smart.  

As I have mentioned in the past, my favorite HDR technique is to use graduated neutral density filters whenever possible.  I like the results obtained with these filters, and I would much rather spend a few extra minutes in the field then behind a computer using Photoshop.

But, if the transition between the brights and darks isn’t a relatively straight line, filters really don’t work.  In this case, I have used HDR software such as Photomatrix with varing degrees of success.  I have written about that in the past as well, you can read more here:  HDR Photography.

Last summer, with the release of Photoshop CS3, I started using the Photomerge function for my HDR photos.  It takes a bit of extra effort, by I like having the control over the final results, and I think I am able to get a little more natural looking image.  When I use the Photomerge function, I uncheck the box for “Blend images together”.  Photomerge does a great job of matching up different images, but I prefer to do the blending myself with a layer mask.  

Now about a month ago when I was blending two images together for this photo of Zion Canyon it hit me – the mask I’m creating for the blend looks just like one of Tony’s luminosity masks.  I thought that makes perfect sense, they are tonally based, and as long as the blend is accurate, they would even be self feathering.  So I gave it a try and it worked great! 

I haven’t read about anyone else using this technique, although there are so many people smarter then I am out there, I’m sure many have thought of it, and tried it out – but I was still excited to share my “discovery” on the blog.  Well, I dug up a number of photos from our last trip that needed blending and started working on them so that I would have a nice example for the blog - and to be honest, the technique really didn’t work all that well in many cases.  But when it works, it works great and the technique can be a big help.  In the above photo for example, I had to do some additional blending on the sunlit mountain with a brush set at 15% - but it did a great job with the tree against the sky – an area I could have never blended by hand. 

So in summery, using Photomerge and luminosity masks may not the the holly grail of HDR, but it is a worthwhile technique that is worth further experimentation.

Zion Canyon Overlook, Utah.

When I’m traveling, the photos I post here on the blog are ones that take little work.  Now that I’m back in the office, I have the computer and time to spend on some of the more difficult photos.

In this scene, the sky was a good 3 stops brighter then the canyon.  I tried using a 3 stop graduated neutral density filter, but the horizon wasn’t even enough.  So I ended up taking a few different exposures, and combining the different exposures in Photoshop.  This is my first attempt

Here are more Zion National Park, Utah photos.

This is a narrow side canyon to the main canyon in a place I posted about a few weeks ago.  The three prior posts from the last week were from this canyon as well.

We are now caught up on all our print orders, it took a bit longer then expected, we had about 60 prints to prepare and send.  Orders coming in now will be sent within a couple of days via Priority Mail.

The blog activity might slow a little during the next couple of months.  I know, I have said that a few times before, but continued to post nearly daily.  But this time not only do we need to get caught up on our recent travels, but we have tackled a little remodel project at home, and that is keeping us pretty busy.  I probably won’t do much shooting, but I do have plenty to share from recent travels.  In February we hit the road again for a couple of months, and then it will be spring, summer and fall in Alaska, so I should have plenty to share then!

Janine bravely climbing a rickety make shift ladder.

While in Zion we totally got hooked on canyoneering.  We hope to do much more next fall.  We intended to take some training classes on the subject during this trip, but decided we would wait until next fall for the training since I would likely forget all I learned in the year in between.

Well if you follow this blog, you know how excited I was to be back in Alaska for some great winter weather.  Well unfortunately, highs in the upper 40’s and 6 inches of rain put an end to winter this week – we received 2 inches of rain on Thanksgiving day alone. 

So we decided to take advantage of the bad weather and the holiday weekend to take our office down and paint it.  Then we decided we didn’t like the new color, and painted it again.   It helps having a mom who is an artist to bail us out with color selection!  So now we are back in business.

This was a pretty little stream near Zion National Park, Utah.

The Watchman, Zion National Park, Utah.

 Now that I’m home and going back through our images – editing and key-wording, I thought I would share a few more from our recent travels.

Two more photos from the Lower Emerald Pool, Zion National Park, Utah.

Here are more Zion photos.

Lower Emerald Pool, Zion National Park, Utah.

Despite the name, there isn’t a beautiful emerald colored pool at the Lower Emerald Pool – maybe there was at one time.   There are a couple of nice little waterfalls coming over the alcove and into the pools, along with some nice fall colors, so at least there was still some cool photo opportunities.

Here is a larger version of this photo of the Emerald Pools in Zion.

Angel’s Landing, Zion National Park, Utah.  To the top of this is where you end up when you hike the Angel’s Landing Trail.

Here is a larger version of this picture of Angel’s Landing.

This is a little more of a traditional shot of the Narrows – and probably better shows what the experience is like!

The Fall colors are all but done in Zion – we are moving on to Palm Springs with a bit of a lay-over in Las Vegas, although I think I will post a few more Zion photos over the next few days.

Another shot of the Narrows, Zion National Park, Utah.

The Narrows, Zion National Park, Utah.

I liked this gap with fall colors – I shot a lot of variations of this scene.

Here is more about Zion on this photo blog, in addition, here is our collection of Zion National Park photos.

Zion Narrows, Zion National Park, Utah.

The Narrows is a famous Zion hike, probably one of the great hikes in the entire west, and for good reason!  Let me describe it and you will understand why.  Basically you are in a narrow canyon with the walls rising straight up 1,500 feet around you.  And if that wasn’t cool enough, the canyon itself has a beautiful, clear water river (Virgin River) running down the middle of it.  In many places the river flows literally from wall to wall so you have (get) to walk right down the middle of it!

This photo is of one of the wider places – thus the trees. 

The first time we hiked this in October a number of years ago we just wore running shoes and shorts.  This time we got a little smarter and not only used canyon shoes and neoprene socks, but we also rented dry pants.  The Zion Adventure Company will rent the shoes, socks and a walking stick for $17 for the first day, and $9 per day for additional days.  For $29 for the first day, and $15 there after you also get the dry pants.  The dry pants are especially helpful if you plan to start the hike in the morning.  We went on Friday; in the morning the air temperature was 42, and the water was 49 – with the dry pants and shoes we weren’t the slightest bit cold, despite spending an extended amount of time in the water as I set up shots.  By the afternoon the temps were in the 70’s and shorts would have been fine – at least if you are from Alaska.

The Narrows hike begins at the far end of Zion Canyon at the Temple of Sinawava.  From there you hike a mile on the nice easy Riverside Walk trail.  At the end of the Riverside Walk, the Narrows literally begin.  If you think you can do this hike and stay dry, reality will hit you right away as the river is running wall to wall right at the beginning.  From this point on you make your way up the Narrows.  There is a nice extra narrow canyon coming in from the right about 2.5 miles from the beginning known as Orderville Canyon.  You can walk a ways up this canyon, and it is a nice side trip.  Past Orderville is one of the narrowest parts of the Narrows called Wall Street.  This is a popular location with photographers, but really, there are photo opportunities along the whole hike.

Here is a larger version of the Zion Narrows photo.

Temple of Sinawava, Zion National Park, Utah.

I posted of photo of this spot last weekend.  I really like this scene so I returned a photographed it again, this time I got further out into the Virgin River and much lower into  the rapids.

Left Fork, North Creek, Zion National Park, Utah.

When you reach this beautiful little setting, you are very close to the Subway.

I mentioned yesterday that there were some really cool things to photograph near the Subway; this was one of them.  This is a crack in the red rock creek bed, and a portion of the Left Fork of North Creek flows through it at a rapid rate of speed.  It is an interesting sight!

The Subway portion of the Left Fork of North Creek, Zion National Park, Utah. 

We are visiting some wonderful areas during this two month trip, but the one place I have been looking forward to over all others was the Subway in Zion.  What a fascinating place! 

It is interesting, I didn’t notice the leaves in the pool moving, but I guess the 30 second exposure was enough time to capture even minor movement.

To access the Subway, you need a backcountry permit.  The Park Service issues up to 50 per day.  When we checked on the permit count at the end of the day on Tuesday, they had only issued 2 for Wednesday - we knew it would be a perfect day!  The Subway is not a very large area, I can’t imagine sharing it with 50 other people!  We did see the other 2 permittees, one on our hike out, the other was a photographer who choose not to photograph the actual Subway.  Janine and I had the marvelous place all to ourselves!  I understand last weekend they sold out the 50 permits, and I believe in the summer they can be hard to get and require advance reservations.  They do set aside 40% for walk-ups the day before, but you better be their early during the busy times. 

 The trail-head is about a 45 minute drive from the main Zion entrance in Springdale, west of the main Zion Canyon area.  The hike in is time consuming.  It is only 4.5 miles each way, but it isn’t on a park maintained trail – the going is somewhat slow as you scramble over boulders, cross the creek numerous times, and backtrack around obstacles.  The guide books say to allow 2.5 hours each way – it took us less time, but I think that is a reasonable estimate. 

Even though there isn’t a maintained trail, the route isn’t hard to follow.  A short distance from the trail-head, you drop 400 feet down a hillside into the North Creek Canyon.  From there, you follow the main creek bed upstream until you reach the Subway.  The best chance for getting lost would be to miss the climb back out of the canyon at the end of the day.  If you make a mental note of the hills around the canyon near the exit at the beginning of your hike, the exit route is pretty obvious.  In addition, the Park Service has a couple of signs in the bottom of the canyon notating the exit route.

I have a few recommendations.  We hiked in our canyon shoes which can be rented in Springdale from the Zion Adventure Company.  The rock in the Subway is very slick, we didn’t have a bit of trouble using these shoes with their unique ability to grip rock.  It also made the hike easier as we often just stayed in the creek bed.  Bring extra food and water.  You figure if you spend a hour or two taking photos, and five hours hiking, it can be a long day.  I finished off both my large Nalgen bottles of water and it wasn’t a hot day.

The Subway isn’t the only attraction in the area – there are some other really cool photo opportunities near the entrance to the Subway – I will post a couple of shots over the next couple of days.  I’m getting a big queue of photos to post – I guess that is the beauty of being in a place like Zion!

 I should add, you can hike down through the Subway from upstream, but that does involve some technical ability and ropes.  The route I described is from the “bottom”, and the preferred route when hauling a lot of photo gear.

Here are more photos of Zion National Park and the Subway.