Award winning photographer, Satish Menon, selling fine-art prints and sharing photography insights with other photography enthusiasts.
Grand Canyon Dawn in Winter
Many things came together that resulted in this image.
Road and hills, Marble Canyon, Arizona, USA
Making this shot was an interesting experience. When I was driving on this road, this composition occurred to me. Stopped the car off the road and walked into the middle of the road to visualize some possibilities. I tried several heights of the tripod – flat on the ground, at 1 feet height, 3 feet height and my eye level. At each tripod height, I tried compositional variations and exposure variations. Finally, this is the composition I selected. The tripod is about 1 feet high (I think!). To get end-to-end sharpness, I adjusted the aperture to f22. Since this is a wide angle image, my 17-35mm f2.8 lens was used. Of course, I used a remote release cable to open the shutter. Gitzo 1340 tripod and Kirk BH-1 ball head provided the stability I needed. My wife was extremely helpful – she stood by the side of the road and alerted me whenever a vehicle was approaching on the road. All my attention was on the photographic technique and composition – she made sure that I did not get run over by a car. Every time a vehicle approached, I lifted my tripod/camera and walked out of the road, then tried again.
Light is key.
I was photographing around Lake Powell in the Glen Canyon National Recreational area in December 2012. This image was made one evening. The light was not spectacular.
Glen Canyon National Recreational Area, Arizona, USA
I came back the next morning and this is what I was able to make.
Silhouetted rock and warm morning sky, Glen Canyon National Recreational Area, Arizona, USA
Light matters.
After photographing the hills at Lake Havasu in Arizona, at sunrise, I turned around to return. I was struck by these palm trees, freshly lit by the morning sun. I instantly made this composition with three of them forming a triangle. Bracketed several exposures and combined them using HDR Efex Pro 2 to give it this tone-mapped look. This is one of my favorites from my December shoot – an unplanned image … Hope you like it.
Palm Trees, Lake Havasu, Arizona, USA