Pavithra's Photography: May 2009

May 31, 2009

Antelope Canyon at Navajo Nation

Upper Antelope Canyon Colors

Focal length: 47mm
Shutter speed: 3.2secs
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/20

The narrow canyon slots in Antelope Canyon, near Page Arizona, offers to the travelers and photographers the unique opportunity to enter the Navajo Land and experience an incredible view of the colorful sand formations with its swirls and waves. Antelope Canyon is a breathtaking place to see in summer when the beams of light pierces the darkness of the canyon slots at noon. This canyon, I have noticed recently, is crowded with tourists and photographers all trying to capture scenes of the canyon. Maybe its the digital world and the use of Internet that these remote locations have become famous for people to travel to. With digital cameras to share pictures with family and friends and Internet photo sharing websites like Flickr or Picasa, these destinations have become popular for tourists to travel too and share the same vision as the initial discoverers. Due to the timing on the sun, there is only a short amount of time in which there is light into the canyons and this is the time when you find the most crowd in these areas. This is my second visit to this canyon but first time with my Canon 5D. Its great to visit over and over because the canyon never has the same lighting or the shapes due to weather conditions being different from the day before or past. I traveled to Antelope Canyon for the Memorial day weekend 2009, having enough time to cover Zion National Park, Horseshoe Bend, Antelope Canyon, Monument Park, Vermilion Cliffs- Cliff Dwellers, and North Rim Grand Canyon. It was a big trip for a three day weekend but since some where time based we prepared ourselves for the next right away. I definitely recommend all these places to be visited if you ever travel to Antelope Canyon. Everything is close by so its best to set aside couple of days for it. So here are some shots from Antelope and I will post the rest according to each post.

Canyon Welcome beam

Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/4
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/4

Canyon Main

Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 2.0secs
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/4

Subtle Colors

Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 0.5secs
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/4

George Washington in the Canyon

Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 4.0secs
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/4

Monument Sunset on the Sandstone

Focal length: 50mm
Shutter speed: 1/3
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/4

Sunlight beam

Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 3.2secs
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/4

Sun spotlight

Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 4.0secs
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/4

Looking up in the Canyon

Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 2.5secs
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/4

HDR trial of the Canyons

Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 3 different for HDR
ISO: 100
Aperture: 3 different for HDR

Pockets in the Canyon

Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 6.0secs
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/20

Candle light Pathway

Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 4.0secs
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/20

Enjoy! and PEACE not WAR!

May 27, 2009

Horseshoe Bend

The Horseshoe Bend
Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/200
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/10

Located in the outskirts of Page, Arizona, Horseshoe Bend has become a popular hike for tourists. I myself have been there twice already and this time with my Canon 5D. Horseshoe Bend is called such because of its river pathway following a bend like an impression left by a horse's shoe. The river that runs this path is the Colorado river. There are no rails or barricades at the viewpoint so its definitely a scary place for those who fear height. Of course it takes brave photographers ;) to take a picture of this overlook. Anyway, I love this spot for its beautiful rock formation as well as the colors of the river traveling this path. These pictures are taken on my last trip to Antelope Canyon Navajo Preservation during spring, where the sun is at its best and there are no storms in the path. I tried my first few trials with HDR photography, High dynamic range imaging. HDR with tone mapping is a form of photography to create different dynamic ranges with my camera's AEB setting to bring out all the ranges of exposures. I used different tools, like photomatix (which puts a watermark) and Jaspers DRIMaker aligning tool (which aligns the images with out tone mapping) to create my amateur HDR trials. HDR is a hard technique to master. I hope my next few tries are better. Check out my trials and comment! thanks! :)

Relaxed Feet
Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/100
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/18

Campsite at the bottom
Focal length: 400mm
Shutter speed: 1/400
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/6.3

Rugged Rock

Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/80
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/18

Horseshoe Overlook
Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/50
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/18

Overcast Bend
Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/25
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/18

Photomatix HDR trial
Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 3 different
ISO: 100
Aperture: 3 different

Jaspers DRIMaker aligning tool HDR trial
Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 3 different
ISO: 100
Aperture: 3 different

takecarez!

May 26, 2009

Zion National Park

Spring at Zion
Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/100
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/7.1

Zion national park in Utah is on the way to bryce and other Utah destinations. Since its on the way to most Utah and Arizona parks its easy for tourist to spend a day visiting this beautiful mountain park. Zion is a Mormon word for a heavenly place, and this park definitely embodies that word. I spent a bright sunny day at Zion national Park in May visiting the most popular destination, the narrows. To get to the narrows is a 1mile walk passing across a beautiful river and the mountain side filled with hanging gardens. From the 1mile is a 5mile walk through the river to the proper narrows, which i was unable to do since i did not have the proper gear. This is will be my goal for the next visit. So from just the 1mile i was able to get some good shots of the spring greenary in the park. So here are some pictures taken from this short trip at Zion:

The Court of Patriarchs
Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/400
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/6.3

The Temple of Sinawava
Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/400
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/4

The greens of spring
Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/125
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/8

The Virgin River
Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/30
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/18

The Narrows of Zion

Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/20
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/18

The Hanging Gardens
Focal length: 95mm
Shutter speed: 1/8
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/18

The face of the mountains
Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/10
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/18

Takecarez :)

May 16, 2009

Ladybugs

Focal length: 100mm
Shutter speed: 1/320
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/5

The fun friendly bugs known as Coccinellidae or Ladybugs is a beautiful insect part of the beetle family. There are 5000 different kinds of ladybugs around the world and about 450 live here in North America. Ladybugs, like other beetles and insects, go from eggs to larval to pupa until they become the Adult Ladybugs. Most children consider it their favorite insect. Ladybugs are one my favorites to photograph. They give a pop of color to the flower or leaf they are on. Check out some pictures ive captured since the beginning of this january. Enjoy!

Focal length: 100mm
Shutter speed: 1/320
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/5

Focal length: 100mm
Shutter speed: 1/320
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/5.6

Focal length: 100mm
Shutter speed: 1/500
ISO: 320
Aperture: f/7.1

Focal length: 100mm
Shutter speed: 1/250
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/5

Focal length: 100mm
Shutter speed: 1/500
ISO: 320
Aperture: f/6.3

May 4, 2009

Death Valley Desert

Death Valley National Park is located in the east of Sierra Nevada Mountains in California. It is known for its dry and hot conditions, and is probably considered the Desert of North America. It has its lowest point in North America at the Badwater Basin, below sea level at 282ft. Surrounding the Basin are the snow cap Panamint range mountains standing 11,000ft tall on one side and the Black mountains on the other side. It is the largest park in the United States, not including Alaska, and is rich in minerals like borax and different salts. Death valley is a perfect place to capture photos of desolated areas with its numerous ghost towns and vast areas of nothingness. I visited the Death Valley National Park at the end of April 2009 and beginning of May to get a good glimpse of the park when the weather conditions were not too hot or too cold. Here are some pictures from the trip: