Canyonlands Morning

During my recent trip to Moab, Utah, one of the goals I had was do a sunrise shoot at Canyonlands National Park.  I checked the weather forecast for the week, and there didn't appear to be one day that "stood out" as the best chance for a dramatic sunrise - a partially cloudy sky - so I chose to head out early on the morning of October 21.  I also checked the sunrise time for that morning - dawn was at 7:07, with sunrise following at 7:34.    

I knew the best vantage point for taking photos that early would be Grand View Point, which lies at the end of the Island in the Sky section of the park.  On the morning of the 21st I got up early and drove 75 minutes to my destination, arriving just as there was enough light in the sky to walk a bit and get set up.  Here's a quick iPhone snap of my setup that morning.  I had a 16-85mm wide to mid-range zoom on, giving me some flexibility in terms of focal length.  In addition to a tripod, I was using a cable release so I wouldn't have to touch the shutter, trying to minimize as much camera shake as possible since I was starting off shooting in low light.

This was taken at 7:32 AM, about two minutes before sunrise.  Turning at about a 90 degree angle (turning south) from where the sun was going to come over the horizon, I could could see the morning sky lighting up, the clouds and the rim of the canyon starting to reflect the first of the sun's rays that were peeking over the horizon...

As the sun came over the horizon it was mostly obscured by the layer of clouds that hung low on the horizon.  I took a few shots, but I had to wait until the sun rose above the clouds to get anything.  Finally the sun made an appearance, and I stopped down my lens to f22 to incorporate a sunburst into the shot.  Taken 7:47 AM.

After about five minutes of shooting, I switched out lenses to the fisheye, and took a few shots.  I liked the look the fisheye lent to the scene, the slight curve of the horizon emphasizing the grand scale of the scene (and I'm always in love with the sunburst I get when using the fisheye).  Later, when processing the shot in Adobe Lightroom, I cropped the scene into a narrower landscape look since this fitted the feeling I was trying to convey.  Taken 7:52 AM.  

After staying to take a few more shots, I packed up and started slowly driving back towards the park entrance.  I stopped once or twice to look around, taking my time. Eventually I ended up at the Buck Canyon Overlook.  I put my wide angle (10-24mm) lens on and took a few shots, but nothing was really "grabbing" me.  I decided to put my fisheye lens on, and I scrambled down to the right a bit from the overlook until I was looking straight down the canyon.  Quite often I'll crop photos taken with the fisheye lens to give them more of a "sweeping" look but this time I liked the shot as is.  Taken 8:42 AM.  

I then headed back down the road, thinking I was done with the morning's shoot.  After a short drive I looked to my left and saw the shadows in the canyon as the sun spilled across the landscape, so I did a U-turn at the first spot I could find and pulled into the small parking area (which I later learned was the Candlestick Tower Overlook).  Thinking I wanted to zoom in and try and capture a smaller piece of the landscape to show the light and shadows and colors present, I put my 16-85mm wide to mid-range zoom on, and started heading down to the canyon rim.  Soon I was in position and spent several minutes firing away.  Taken 9:01 AM.

The morning ended up having a longer window of good light to shoot in than I had anticipated, and I'm glad I lost a little sleep to make it happen...

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 16-85 DX VR (1, 2, 5), Nikkor 10.5 DX Fisheye (3,4)
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