Gary Hart's Eloquent Images
Sunset, Hopi Point, Grand Canyon
Posted by Gary Hart (California, United States) on 14 May 2009 in Landscape & Rural and Portfolio.
Most people think I’m nuts when I say I find the Grand Canyon a difficult place to photograph. After all, there probably isn’t a square inch on the canyon’s rim that doesn’t have a breathtaking, photograph-worthy view. But I’ve photographed the Grand Canyon three times in the last five years, and it wasn’t until the most recent trip (in April) that I finally felt productive.
Part of my problem is a familiarity thing—I can visit Yosemite in any month, under any conditions, and come home with several images I’m excited about. I know Yosemite’s light, locations, and conditions, and how the conditions and light in one location will translate to another. At the Grand Canyon I’m a rookie.
But my difficulty at the Grand Canyon goes beyond my knowledge of the area. I think an even greater hindrance is that, as an infrequent visitor, my impressions of the Grand Canyon have been formed largely by the images of others. It takes time and exposure to purge that programming and see it my way. And there’s a large part of me that just doesn’t want to turn off the nature lover who simply appreciates. Fortunately, my previous visits allowed me to manage my awe this time, and I headed out to Hopi Point that evening armed me with my own mental picture that helped me plan my shot.
Hopi Point is magnificent torture for a photographer. Magnificent because it offers a 270 degree perspective of the canyon; torture because we can only shoot in one direction at a time. The last time I shot there I found myself in what I call panic mode, watching the sun’s orange disk inch toward the horizon in front of me, all the while being fully aware of the rich golden light illuminating the clouds and casting long shadows behind me. The result was decent but not great images in both directions (and a lot of angst).
So on this visit, rather than react to the light, I simply picked a composition that would work in the light I knew was coming, and committed to it 100 percent. The scene at my back would have to wait for the next trip. If I’d have been there by myself I probably would have explored a bit more before picking my sunset composition, but since I was assisting Don Smith’s workshop, I set up in the midst of the rest of the group, which had scattered along a couple of hundred foot stretch of the rim. As I usually do when I’m leading a group, I called out my thoughts, advising them to anticipate and monitor of what was going on behind us, and to find the composition that worked for them before things started happening. Many stayed with me; others headed off in search of a different perspective. But at least they had a plan.
My own plan worked as designed. I was in position early enough to get a feel for the small details that often make a scene, and to prepare for the difficult light. Technically, shooting into the sun is always tricky, so I readied my array of graduated neutral density filters (at the risk of repeating myself, I'm not a fan of HDR). For this composition the Singh-Ray 3-stop Daryl Benson reverse GND was perfect. I went with a small aperture to enhance the sunburst. And while the color in the sky was nice, I really wanted to emphasize the foreground, which I thought was much more interesting, hence the extremely high horizon line.
In scenes with a close foreground and distant background, it's almost always more important that the foreground be perfectly sharp, even at the expense of a little softness in the background. So I focused on the small shrub in the left foreground--I knew at f18 with a fairly wide aperture I'd have lots of depth of field, but this was as far out as I was comfortable focusing with confidence that my entire foreground would be perfectly sharp.
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@john4jack: Thanks, Jack. My objection to HDR isn't so much the idea of it as it is the way it's used. I'm kind of old-school where it comes to post-processing--I appreciate the control Photoshop gives me, but I don't want to use it to do anything that couldn't have been done in a darkroom. Another way of putting it is that I want my creativity to be in the capture, not the processing. So if I can tell an image has been HDRed, it's too much. It seems the best (most realistic) HDR images I've seen are those that don't include the sky. Just an observation--it would be an interesting thing to look at more closely.
@Tracy: Thanks, Tracy. So much of successful photography is about anticipating. And I find that the more prepared I am, the easier it is for me to react to the unexpected.
@Rick Trautner: Thanks, Rick. As you know, Don and I like getting our groups in place early so people can get a feel for the location and make sure everything's in order. And as you also know, sometimes getting groups onsite 30 minutes before sunrise is like herding cats. We try to sound all tough about waiting for no one when we reach our designated departure time, but the fact is we're really not that ruthless (but don't tell anyone). Don and I still remember that one morning in the Big Sur workshop when we made it just as the good stuff was starting (can't remember what the hold-up was that morning) but not early enough for everyone to prepare, and you ended up shooting a beautiful sunrise at the previous night's ISO 1600. We really did feel bad about that. Of course since then we've made a point of reminding everyone to reset their ISO for the sunrise shoot. Ahhh, the lessons of experience....
@john4jack: Thanks for your thoughts, Jack. I don't want to give the impression that I don't use or love Photoshop--it's an amazing piece of software that's essential to my finished product. But my workflow is generally limited to curves, dodging and burning, occasional minor cropping, and cloning out small flaws like sensor dust. Not only do I shun HDR, I don't even do any digital blending of images (and can you believe in this day of HDR, digitally blending multiple images via layer masks is "old fashioned"?). The less time I spend in PS, the better. What I'm noticing now is a real move toward "creative" capture and processing (e.g., intentional camera shake, infra-red, stitching, image blending for dynamic range and DOF) as landscape photographers tire of all the Grand Canyon sunsets. The problem is, these gimmicky things are so easy now; once everyone starts doing them, their novelty wears off and they become the new cliche´. But what isn't getting any easier, and what I think will always have staying power, is a well conceived, composed, and captured landscape. The challenge is finding something new (that stands out), but as with all things, the greater the challenge, the greater the reward. Hmmm..., sounds like a good topic for a blog post.
@Don Smith: Thanks for your thoughts, Don. I don't think anticipation and reaction are mutually exclusive. In fact, I think they're complementary--different sides of the same coin. Like anticipation, reaction is a function of preparation. If you're prepared, not only are you better able to anticipate shots, you're also better able to react to the unexpected.
