Prelude to a Utah Shootout

Fred W

I flew into Salt Lake City a few days before the 2008 Smugmug Utah Shootout and was immediately greeted with two days of rain.:cry :cry I made the best of circumstances and headed to Zion. The first day I scouted from the car preparing for a better next day. The following morning I looked out my hotel window and was thrilled to see stars.:D After an hour drive I arrived at Zion NP and found clearing skies but still low lying clouds in over the mountains. As the day progressed the clouds eventually disappeared leaving some beautiful sky.

Zion National Park

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Here is Upper Emerald Pool with a water fall created from the previous days rain.


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This is the top of the falls for Lower Emerald Pool.

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Lower Emerald Pool was really cool and more accessible than the Upper Pool.

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A fisheye view from behind the falls turned out interesting with the upper cliff and lower guard rail almost looking like eyelids.:huh



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The morning sun was not yet in the valley but an overhead view provided some nice sky contrasted with the cliffs surrounding the park.

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schmoo

YEOW! We were at Zion NP a few days before the shootout, too, and it sure didn't look like that!

That's an amazing first shot you have. I was commenting all day that Zion looks the same through most shots I see of it, but you caught just the right moment with those clouds. I would not have recognized it.

Wow, fantastic capture! I think the FG could be a little lighter, but the drama and the light... it's all there.

Tango

those are awesome!, i did some fisheyes shots at emerald pools last week, but havent gotten to them yet, i hope they look half as good as yours....

dlplumer

Beautiful shots. Love the fisheyes

Fred W

schmoo wrote:

YEOW! We were at Zion NP a few days before the shootout, too, and it sure didn't look like that!

That's an amazing first shot you have. I was commenting all day that Zion looks the same through most shots I see of it, but you caught just the right moment with those clouds. I would not have recognized it.

Wow, fantastic capture! I think the FG could be a little lighter, but the drama and the light... it's all there.

Thanks Stephanie. Funny, that was exactly what I was thinking when I arrived there. So many people have taken pictures of Zion. When I entered the park that morning and saw the fog and clouds starting to burn off I was hoping to capture that mood of Zion. I agree with your FG comment and will try a little mask work on it later.

Fred W

AaronNelson wrote:

those are awesome!, i did some fisheyes shots at emerald pools last week, but havent gotten to them yet, i hope they look half as good as yours....

Thanks Aaron. I am very interested in seeing your Emerald pool shots also.

Fred W

dlplumer wrote:

Beautiful shots. Love the fisheyes

Thanks Dan. This was my first real shoot with a fisheye and so far it has been a blast.:ivar