Zion National Park Too

Dixie · March 24, 2007

I was in Zion last week and have just started post-processing. Here are the first few.

Comments and suggestions are always welcome.

Click on the images for EXIF data.

Natural Bridge

anwmn1 · March 25, 2007

Looks like we may have crossed paths.

I like your use of foreground particularly the 2nd shot with the grass and trees. Looks like middle of the day sun though and it is a shame because I think the pictures would be 100% better with better lighting.

Aaron

Dixie wrote:

I was in Zion last week and have just started post-processing. Here are the first few.

Comments and suggestions are always welcome.

mmroden · March 25, 2007

I really like that third one

DavidTO · March 25, 2007

They are very nice shots, and yet I can see that you struggled with what I and so many others have struggled with--getting across the immense scale of these things. It's really hard to do it justice.

behr655 · March 25, 2007

Wow! Very nice.

Bear

ShepsMom · March 25, 2007

I was in Zion in October of 05, i soooo want to go back. I really admired mountain climbers, have you seen any? It's an abosolutely gorgeous place, i can move right in and stay for good

.
Great shots, brings back memories!

Skippy · March 26, 2007

Dixie wrote:

I was in Zion last week and have just started post-processing. Here are the first few.

Comments and suggestions are always welcome.
Click on the images for EXIF data.
Natural Bridge

Beautiful shots Dixie

.... Well Done

.... Skippy
.

Dixie · March 29, 2007

anwmn1 wrote:

Looks like we may have crossed paths.

I like your use of foreground particularly the 2nd shot with the grass and trees. Looks like middle of the day sun though and it is a shame because I think the pictures would be 100% better with better lighting.

Aaron

Thank you for your comments. We may have crossed paths. Too bad that we didn't realize that we were there at the same time.

Dixie · March 29, 2007

mmroden wrote:

I really like that third one

Thank you. That was one of my favorites as well.

Dixie · March 29, 2007

DavidTO wrote:

They are very nice shots, and yet I can see that you struggled with what I and so many others have struggled with--getting across the immense scale of these things. It's really hard to do it justice.

You're right, David. I hope to get back there to work more with some of the scenes in different lighting situations. Being down in the gorge does make the mountains seem extreme.

Dixie · March 29, 2007

behr655 wrote:

Wow! Very nice.

Bear

Thanks, Bear.

Dixie · March 29, 2007

ShepsMom wrote:

I was in Zion in October of 05, i soooo want to go back. I really admired mountain climbers, have you seen any? It's an abosolutely gorgeous place, i can move right in and stay for good .
Great shots, brings back memories!

Thank you. I didn't see any in Zion, but I didn't have as long there as I wanted. I did get some climbers in the granite upheavals in Joshua Tree NP just a few days earlier.

Dixie · March 29, 2007

Skippy wrote:

Beautiful shots Dixie .... Well Done .... Skippy
.

Thank you, Skippy. Your comments are always appreciated.

DavidTO · March 29, 2007

Dixie

Dixie · April 4, 2007

DavidTO wrote:

Dixie

Thanks for letting me know.

jdryan3 · April 4, 2007

I also like the 3rd one a lot. I see you were shooting 24 & 30mm on a 5D, in the early afternoon. May I ask what lens(es) you were using?

I am heading out in June. (Any suggestions appreciated). I have a crappy 19-35 that I will be probably replacing with the 17-40. I am also taking my 24-70, maybe my 24 prime.

dogwood · April 4, 2007

Nicely done. Looks like a good time of year to visit!

behr655 · April 4, 2007

Dixie,

I'm going to Vegas in May and plan on visiting Zion. I just had knee surgery but am doing much better than I expected, yet I don't want to push it too much. Those locations in your shots, are they accessible by an easy to moderate hike?

Bear

Dixie · April 7, 2007

jdryan3 wrote:

I also like the 3rd one a lot. I see you were shooting 24 & 30mm on a 5D, in the early afternoon. May I ask what lens(es) you were using?

I am heading out in June. (Any suggestions appreciated). I have a crappy 19-35 that I will be probably replacing with the 17-40. I am also taking my 24-70, maybe my 24 prime.

The overall scenes were shot with a Canon 5d using the EF 24-70 mm. EXIF is giving the correct settings used on the 24-70 for those three shots.

The last photo of the Natural Bridge was shot with a Canon XTi with a EF 100-400 mm (640 mm with 1.6 conversion).

Dixie · April 7, 2007

dogwood wrote:

Nicely done. Looks like a good time of year to visit!

Thanks, Pete. Yes, it was nice. It was in the 80s with a nice breeze. I only had the one day and it takes 2-3 or even more days to really do Zion justice. I was there from just before noon until mid afternoon so I was fairly restricted in what and where I could shoot. To really explore and shoot Zion right you need the time to re-visit the same areas at different times of the day. Totally new shots open up to the photographer based on the time of day. Conversely, many shots are taken away if you are in some particular areas at certain times. I found it very restrictive shooting on the far end of Zion Canyon Scenic Drive between the Grotto and Temple of Sinawava in the early afternoon hours.

Dixie · April 7, 2007

behr655 wrote:

Dixie,

I'm going to Vegas in May and plan on visiting Zion. I just had knee surgery but am doing much better than I expected, yet I don't want to push it too much. Those locations in your shots, are they accessible by an easy to moderate hike?

Bear

Bear,

All the shots were done close to where I could park my vehicle. For example the shot with the stream with the boulder in the center with the mountains in the background were probably taken no further than 50 feet from where I parked. I did have to walk down a path about 20 feet, but footing was good.

Don't let that knee surgery get you down. I had total knee replacement surgery Jan 06. In Feb, just 4 and a half weeks after surgery I was in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park chasing wildlife (figuratively - not literally) and shooting winter scenes.

behr655 · April 7, 2007

Dixie wrote:

Bear,

All the shots were done close to where I could park my vehicle. For example the shot with the stream with the boulder in the center with the mountains in the background were probably taken no further than 50 feet from where I parked. I did have to walk down a path about 20 feet, but footing was good.

Don't let that knee surgery get you down. I had total knee replacement surgery Jan 06. In Feb, just 4 and a half weeks after surgery I was in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park chasing wildlife (figuratively - not literally) and shooting winter scenes.

Thanks Dixie, I'm feeling better about this trip all the time. When I first found out that I needed the surgery I was sure I was going to be car bound while at Zion.

Bear

Dixie · April 8, 2007

behr655 wrote:

Thanks Dixie, I'm feeling better about this trip all the time. When I first found out that I needed the surgery I was sure I was going to be car bound while at Zion.

Bear

Bear, it is all in your mind and you just have to set post-op goals and fight to meet them. When I talked with my surgeon pre-op, I told him that I wanted the knee with the most flex (they normally reserve them for the younger more active people under 60). He knows that I am a photographer and I told him that I wanted to be able to do more than I could with my bum knee. I was in constant pain (all gone now) before the replacement and I couldn't stoop when I was working close to the ground and any time I tried I had to have hold to something to steady myself and be able to get back up. I told the doc that I wanted to be able to sit on my heels when needed. He laughed at that, but that is exactly what I can now do and stand back up without any assistance or pulling up on something.

I was so determined post-op that by the second physical therapy session (going twice a week) I had already met the doctor's post-op goals within one week of surgery so he told me to stop going and I was doing more good on my own because of my determination. He did leave the staples in an extra two weeks just in case.

I'm not telling you this to brag, but rather to give you incentive. To me if the doc did his job right the rest was up to me and I firmly believe that it was 99% mental from that point on. You do have to work through some of the initial pain, but over time the pain disappears much faster the harder you work through it initially.

It does take 1-2 years to fully re-develop your strength and use and after the first year I am back to about 75% of my load carrying capacity over distances. Without a big load, distance isn't a major problem. I've just had to learn to pack smarter with what I know I am going to need on a photo hike opposed to carrying anything that I think I may need. ...and that's not bad in and of itself.

Since you said you are doing better than you expected, I suspect that you have pretty much the same attitude that I had so just stick with it. ...and have fun on the trip.