Sometimes you just have to be lucky. How often do clouds cover over Vermillion Cliffs? And no where else? Very rare. How often does it rain there? Very rare. How often does the cliff get sandwiched between the clouds and shadowed grasslands and get sunlight on the cliff? Very rare. Well you sometimes need to get lucky unless you live there everyday. On a photo trip, I constantly check weather but you still need to get lucky. I was lucky (Sony A7s, 55mm Zeiss FE, f/5.6 at 1/1000 sec, ISO=100)
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This is one of the famous shots, looking at Watchman over Virgin River in Zion National Park. Though it's famous and attractive, it's extremely easy to get this shot. No hiking required. Driving from St. George, go north on IS-15. From 15 go east on 9 toward Hurricane and toward Zion. After Springdale, pay $25 to enter Zion National Park. Once you enter the park, drive about 1 mile and you will see a junction to go into the valley. People call it "Canyon Junction" but it's not on the Google Map. If you go left (or North) you will enter the main Zion Valley via Zion Canyon Scenic Drive, but hold your urge and don't enter the scenic drive (you can't go in anyways during the peak season anyways. It's only accessible with their shuttles). There is a small parking area right after the junction which fit about 3 cars. From the parking area go back towards the bridge you just crossed (it's only about 100 feet walk), then you have the view, facing south. There is not much space to stand on the bridge, so be careful with the cars. You can walk down along the river on the paved trail but you won't see any better view than this (I tried). The map below is not accurate because I can't point it to the junction but the place is past Springdale. (Sony A7R, Zeiss 16-35 mm FE at 35 mm, f/20, 2 sec, ISO = 100, JPEG in Vivid mode, with tripod)
White pocket (there are multiple pockets but it's singular) is probably the most amazing place I've ever been to. Southern Utah and Northern Arizona have the most interesting formations in the world. That means good photography opportunities. But these places are not easy to get to. For this picture, you need a 4x4 truck and really good sense of direction. People actually can get lost, stranded and die in middle of nowhere. Pictures would look nicer if water is in the pockets with all the reflexion. But it only happens few times a year. You really have to be really lucky. When rains, it's almost impossible to get there; but if you wait too long after rain, then the water evaporates quickly in the desert. I was so lucky to have this shot. To get this we had to drain 1/2 tank of gas from the 4x4 car to make the car lighter and take some air out of its specialized tires to get more traction in the mud. Despite all the trouble, It was so worth it. (Sony A7R with Zeiss FE 16-35mm at 16, f/8, ISO=100, 1/200 sec, JPEG in Vivid mode). Difficulty: 9
Bryce Canyon is one the darkest spot in the U.S. You can see the milky way with naked eyes! This makes taking pictures of stars more interesting. You get green, red, blue in the galactic center. With today's camera equipment, a shot like this is super easy....as long as you don't fall into the canyon or get lost. It's super dark and scary. Make sure to have enough battery in your flashlight. (Sony a7s, Zeiss 50 mm 1.8 at f/1.8. 20 sec. ISO 6400). Difficulty: 6
The main entrance of the Texas State Capital is on the south side but the best photo opportunity is on the back (north) side of the building, capturing the extension with the main building. Get your widest angle lens and capture things at near and far. Focus about 1/3 from the bottom. With the widest angle around 15-20mm, the depth of the field is large enough to make everything sharp at f/4. To minimize noise, get yourself a tripod and shoot at the lower ISOs. To minimize the camera shake on a high MP camera, a remote or timer is necessary. This was the 36 MP Sony A7R. With the slower shutter speed, pushing on the shutter button with the finger can blur the image. One other pearl is that you should turn of the grid to make sure that the image is nice and symmetrical. It's hard to correct asymmetry post-processing. (Sony A7R, Zeiss 16-35mm at 16mm, f/8, ISO = 400, 1.3 sec, tripod, taken JPEG, Standard mode, post processing for lens distortion correction)
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