If you are a long-time reader of this blog, you may remember I published this photo back in 2010…only it looked a whole lot different then. With new and improved digital photography tools, one can go back and redo old photos and come out with a new and better image. Such is the case here. This is the the Green River Overlook in the Island in the Sky section of Canyonlands National Park. It’s a series of 3 photographs taken at the same time using 3 different exposures, then combined into a single image. Here is how it all came about:
Back in 2010, my friend and fellow photographer Dave Forster and I were up in Moab, UT shooting the beautiful landscapes that are all around this southeastern Utah city. Late one afternoon, we were high up in the Arches National Park scanning the sky trying decide where we wanted to be at sunset. It did not look promising.
The places we had on our list for sunset shots all needed direct sunset light, but the clouds in the west were becoming thicker and thicker. Our prospects looked bleak. Then, Dave came up with the brilliant idea of going to the Green River Overlook in the Island in the Sky section of Canyonlands National Park. This is the same park where we shot Mesa Arch two mornings prior. With all the clouds in the sky, we might get lucky and have a fiery red sky at sunset…and this overlook is one of the most scenic in the park.
We drove about 40 miles to get there and arrived well before sunset. We scouted for the best view, then set up our cameras on tripods and just waited…and waited and waited.
The problem with shooting this scene was the canyon itself was already in deep, deep shadows before the sun even set. And if the sky lit up liked we hoped, the values between light and dark would be huge, far more than the camera could capture. We both set up a split neutral density filter…a glass plate that is very dark on top and clear on the bottom. This allows less bright light into the camera helping with the exposure with no loss of colors. I also decided to shoot multiple exposures of each shot with a range of +1 to –1. As it turned out, even these settings and filters were not enough.
After a long wait, the sun finally set, but the light still wasn’t right. We had to wait even more to see if the sky would light up… what we call “second sunset.” Our patience was rewarded with a beautiful red and yellow sky that looked like the entire sky was on fire. Both Dave and I shot, and shot, and shot until the fire died away after about 10 minutes. It was well worth the trip and a beautiful site to see.
After the return to to Tucson, I started working on the multiple exposures to try and create one High Dynamic Range image. It turns out my exposure corrections were not quite enough. Through the magic of Photoshop, I had to create a 4th and 5th exposure and combine them into one. It still was not enough to create the perfect picture, at least in my view. The canyons below were still too dark…which of course, gives them a bluish cast. But, I worked and worked the image trying for the best shot I could. The result was the photo I published back in 2010…one that I was not crazy about.
Then, a couple of months ago, Adobe released their latest version of Lightroom. In it was a new HDR image creator that combined multiple images and yield a high dynamic range image. So I experimented with it and was pleased with the results. When done, the newly created image is not ready for prime time, so additional creative measures are required in both Photoshop and Lightroom. But I think this photo turned out more realistic than the first one…and it certainly has a better dynamic range.
And by the way, this is one of the best overlooks in the park. Don’t miss it if you happen to be in the area…sunrise, sunset, or any time in between.
