# Ethereal



## squirl033 (Jun 7, 2009)

this is a shot i took a year ago while visiting Arizona... some of you may recognize it as upper Antelope Canyon, located on Navajo land just outside the town of Page, which is just at the south end of Lake Powell. taken with a Canon 40D and Tammy 17-35 lens at 17mm, 2.5 seconds at f/13...


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## Marea (Jun 8, 2009)

Simply wow.

This photo makes me yearn to go to that spot and see that with my own eyes.

Great shot~


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## Al-Wazeer (Jun 8, 2009)

beautiful squirl, just beautiful!


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## Steph (Jun 8, 2009)

Beautiful shot. Obviously I was not there and did not have to deal with difficult light conditions, so this a genuine question: isn't that picture overexposed? I guess it must have been quite dark at the bottom of the canyon and your picture still appears quite bright. I am just wondering if a bit less exposure would have saved some details in the brightly lit sand and emphasize the darkness of the canyon. What do you think?


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## squirl033 (Jun 8, 2009)

Steph said:


> Beautiful shot. Obviously I was not there and did not have to deal with difficult light conditions, so this a genuine question: isn't that picture overexposed? I guess it must have been quite dark at the bottom of the canyon and your picture still appears quite bright. I am just wondering if a bit less exposure would have saved some details in the brightly lit sand and emphasize the darkness of the canyon. What do you think?



it is surprisingly bright in the canyon, especially when these sunbeams come down. the canyon is only about 100 feet deep, and there's a fair amount of light reflecting back and forth in there, especially at midday. this image appears bright because of the relatively long exposure. i took a number of shots of this, including some that were deliberately 1 or 2 stops underexposed, and even in those, that patch of sand where the light hits is too bright. since the spot of light would be overexposed no matter what, i chose to sacrifice that patch of light on the sand in order to bring out the colors and details in the rest of the scene. i think you'll find most photos of this phenomenon suffer from the same problem, and most photographers choose to let the light patch blow out, rather than leave the rest of the scene in darkness... after all, the idea is to show off the colors of the canyon, not the detail in a small patch of sand...


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## Nix725 (Jun 8, 2009)

Wow. I really need to visit this location.


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## Steph (Jun 8, 2009)

squirl033 said:


> Steph said:
> 
> 
> > Beautiful shot. Obviously I was not there and did not have to deal with difficult light conditions, so this a genuine question: isn't that picture overexposed? I guess it must have been quite dark at the bottom of the canyon and your picture still appears quite bright. I am just wondering if a bit less exposure would have saved some details in the brightly lit sand and emphasize the darkness of the canyon. What do you think?
> ...



Thanks for your reply. It makes sense.


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## Mersad (Jun 9, 2009)

This is an amazing shot. I could look at it the whole day. The colors, the structure, the light...everything is perfect. And that beam of light is the icing on the cake.


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## Photoadder (Jun 9, 2009)

Great pic. 10/10 and nothing to say heh


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## squirl033 (Jun 10, 2009)

Mersad said:


> This is an amazing shot. I could look at it the whole day. The colors, the structure, the light...everything is perfect. And that beam of light is the icing on the cake.





Photoadder said:


> Great pic. 10/10 and nothing to say heh




thanks, guys... this is one of my favorite shots.


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## leighthal (Jun 10, 2009)

Impressive.


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## polymoog (Jun 11, 2009)

Beautiful shot  Where is Antelope Canyon?


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## squirl033 (Jun 11, 2009)

polymoog said:


> Beautiful shot  Where is Antelope Canyon?



thanks! 

Antelope Canyon is on Navajo land about 5 miles outside the town of Page, in NW Arizona, just at the south end of Lake Powell. You can only get into the upper canyon, where this was shot, on a guided tour, but the lower canyon, a few miles away, doesn't require a guide. on the other hand, you don't get these sunbeams in the lower canyon, either...


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## LarryD (Jun 11, 2009)

Great shot.................:thumbup:


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## Clawed (Aug 1, 2009)

What??!! There's a good place to take pics in Arizona? I'm there, amazing shot my friend :thumbup:

Do you mind if I ask what kind of PP was done here? If i go, should I bracket my exposures when I shoot in the canyon, I heard it is difficult to photograph because of the high exposure range?


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## Pirate Neilsouth (Aug 1, 2009)

10/10 PERFECT


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## Sachphotography (Aug 2, 2009)

Peter Lik is a fine art photographer that is internationaly known. He took a shot there and it is titled "GHOST" Google it. He sells his prints for 1000's easily. His big wall prints go for around 25-30 thousand. I saw his gallery in Vegas a few months ago. I is amazing.


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## Clawed (Aug 3, 2009)

Sachphotography said:


> Peter Lik is a fine art photographer that is internationaly known. He took a shot there and it is titled "GHOST" Google it. He sells his prints for 1000's easily. His big wall prints go for around 25-30 thousand. I saw his gallery in Vegas a few months ago. I is amazing.


 I am quite sure the images from his website do the images very little justice.  It would be great to see them in person.

However, as crazy as it sounds, *squirl033*'s capture is amazing (I like it more than the "Ghost" Image).


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