Zion National Park C&C

Turnerea · Jan 7, 2009

Had the opportunity to take a 3 day weekend out to Zion this past weekend- despite the 16degF night on Saturday night, it was an awesome trip. For anyone who has been frustrated with the summer crowds there, buy a down jacket and go in the winter!

Anyway, here are some of my favorites... this was my first trip out using my new ND grad filter, and I think it helped save a lot of shots from the bright sky. Any comments appreciated- especially negative ones- I already like these... knock em!!

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Ls3D · Jan 7, 2009

Awesome views brave camper! First two look at bit soft,... did you use tripod? At 1/40 in the cold...

-Shea

Turnerea · Jan 7, 2009

I only used a tripod for the waterfall one. I know the others really could have used it- though I was at 35mm, so it was close to being hand holdable... should have taken a bit more time to take it out though. I haven't sharpened them in post though, maybe that will help a bit...

Ls3D · Jan 7, 2009

The resize will soften an image as also, so I often sharpen the reduced/web version on wide angle shots like this.

Can you have a big fire in camp? Or is goose down the only defense..

-Shea

EDIT:

If you have CS3 or higher check out this non-destructive sharpening technique - desaturate, high pass, hard light, layer opacity, selective filtering. PSD File here.

Turnerea · Jan 7, 2009

Fires are OK in the developed campgrounds in fire pits. Though you should bring firewood with you from somewhere further than the town directly outside the park (this is true for most NPs). Not hundreds of miles, as this can introduce different bugs etc, but you pay 3x the price at the town right outside the gates...

I'll try fooling with the sharpening tonight... also meant to include a star trail, so I'll throw that up here...