Arizona

Grand Canyon - Mohave Point

Submitted by Alik Griffin on Thu, 02/21/2013 - 20:48
HDR of the Grand Canyon at Mohave Point

Last year I was out shooting a lot of photography and it got to the point where I was just forgetting about days I shot. This was one of those days. It's from the Grand Canyon at Mohave Point. I colored a few photos from this day and then moved on since later I went to the Horse Shoe Bend, Utah, and Japan, Bali, and China shortly thereafter. After firing up my old drive I decided to give a visit to some of my old forgotten HDR landscapes already colored and ready to go. This one was in the batch. It's from Mohave Point. It's on the south rim of the Grand Canyon and one of the west most points. it's supposedly has the best sunsets although we were unfortunate the night we were there. The clouds sucked.

Today's HDR Photo
Arizona Sunset

Submitted by Alik Griffin on Wed, 01/23/2013 - 00:24
Those following this blog may have noticed I haven't been posting as much as usual. There are a few reasons, one I've been too busy with work. The second is I'm working on a lot more of the backend of this site. Doing this like Tutorials, walkthroughs, and various products along with link juice sculpting, content delivery networks and all that fun back end seo blog stuff that makes Google happy. You may have noticed all sorts of formatting errors and as well as the site running slow or being in maintenance mode. Continue to expect that this next week or so since I'll be doing a major theme overhaul over the next few days.

I'm still designing a new look. I threw this one up as temp that I quickly designed on a bored Saturday when I had nothing else to do. I really like the color palette but it's far to similar to stuckincustoms even though it was my themes default. But that's ok. I'll have something very cool soon. Hopefully. Time to put my design skills to the test.

Here is a photo for today. I actually have a lot more finished and I'll try to get them up this week when I can.

Today's Photo
- Arizona
- Canon 70-200mm f2.8L IS II
Looking Down the Grand Canyon

Submitted by Alik Griffin on Tue, 01/08/2013 - 18:48
This photo was taken from Mather Point looking down the at the Colorado River as it continues cutting it's way through the Grand Canyon.

To process this HDR photo I used a different method than usual. I did something call exposure fusion. It's a setting in photomatix that sort of blends the colors differently. It seems to work great on some landscapes and especially the Grand Canyon.

Today's HDR Photo
The Last Sunset of 2012

Submitted by Alik Griffin on Tue, 01/01/2013 - 23:09
My wife and I decided to go to Tucson Arizona for new years and visit some friends there. I like southern Arizona, except in the Summer. Weather is nice sunsets are cool and landscapes are awesome.

Things didn't go as planned while we were there though, we were going to go hiking at Sabino Canyon but got in a car accident. It wasn't bad but we all got a bit of whiplash. I had a headache all night and all day and my wife's neck was killing her along with other issues our friends had. So the next day we spent a good half of the days at the doctors getting checked out to make sure nothing was serious, just to play it safe. Not fun and very boring. And by the way, nothing was serious. We just got some muscle relaxers and the blasted me full of Advil.

I think we were there like 3 hours of something and by the time we got released there was no time to go to Sabino Canyon. So we just drove locally until we found a cool looking spot at Pusch Ridge. We went up a hundred yards or so and watched the sunset. This was the last sunset we saw of 2012. It was awesome.

Today's Photo
- Arizona
- Canon 70-200mm f2.8L IS II
Tourists of Mather Point

Submitted by Alik Griffin on Sat, 11/03/2012 - 12:42
This shot is from Mather Point of the South Rim. When I first arrived at the Grand Canyon this time around, I only had a few hours. I started off with my wide lens, the Canon 16-35mm f2.8L II and tried to get some nice landscape shots while there were still clouds in the sky and before the sun set. When I felt I'd shot all I could from the Mather Point area I switched to my long lens. The Canon 70-200mm f2.8L IS II. And my results were something that I didn't expect. The long end of the lens really compressed the scene, and when you shot people the true scale of the Grand Canyon started to shine.

These kind of shots I almost never see. Most people usually just go for very pretty landscape shots, so it was a nice to be able to capture a different take on Grand Canyon photography.
Once Upon a Time, There was the Grand Canyon

Submitted by Alik Griffin on Sat, 10/27/2012 - 18:42
This is a photo of the Grand Canyon. I think it was Navajo Point, not positive. This and Mather point are my two favorite spots so far. Eventually I want to see the Grand Canyon from the north side. Lots of cool stuff up there, but it's a bit more out of the way. I think this spot is only like four hours or so from Las Vegas, making it about eight or nine hours from my house in Los Angeles. To get really unique photos of the Grand Canyon I've noticed you just have to have perfect timing. Weather needs to be doing something amazing, sunset needs to be amazing, and a little snow here and there helps. I didn't get any of those last couple times I've gone there. Maybe next time.

With this photo, I did a lot to it in post to give it an old look. A bunch of cross processing, colored filters, painting more color on etc. It's usually what I do to all my photos a little bit, but this is by far the most extreme.

I'm still working on a proper color photo of this spot. Just taking me a little time to get it right. I'll post it very soon.
HDR Photo the Horseshoe Bend of Glen Canyon

Submitted by Alik Griffin on Wed, 10/24/2012 - 20:22
If you've been to the Grand Canyon and though it was cool, the Horseshoe Bend of Glen Canyon is just as cool if not cooler. It doesn't compare to the scale of the Grand Canyon and there isn't as much to do, but the subject matter itself is something to behold. I wasn't there at the best time of day but I was able to get a couple nice HDR photos out of it. I was also fortunate to have some nice clouds to decorate the sky. This place could probably produce some amazing photos if shot at the perfect time of year during the perfect time of day. Which is what photography is really all about right?

One of the most important things I've learned recently about trying to make photo real HDR landscapes, is you literally have to turn the strength in Photomatix all the way down. Close to zero if not at zero. This one was on zero. Another challenge with the Grand Canyon or the Horseshoe Bend not losing your contrast through the atmosphere on the farther canyon walls. I try not to over do it, but I'll usually go in with a gradient filter or brush in Lightroom and just enhance them a little. Helps make a little more of an even contrast throughout the image.

Learn all about how I process my HDR Photography with my Complete HDR How To Guide
Glen Canyon and the Colorado River

Submitted by Alik Griffin on Wed, 10/17/2012 - 02:42
This is a shot of the Colorado River cutting through the Glen Canyon. This specific location is actually called the Horshoe Bend. It's one of the most epic sites I've ever seen in person. If you were to look at a map this would be at the very top of the Grand Canyon. Not technically the Grand Canyon yet, since this is not nearly as grand. But still epic. It's quite terrifying though standing on the edge of a huge cliff with no gaurd railing.

You would never think it but, getting the colors to try to look perfect on a shot like this is actually really hard. It's probably the mian reason why you'll see me and most photographers always put some sort of cross processing on our photos. To get a photo like this perfect it takes me hours.

Learn more about how I process my HDR Photography with my Complete HDR How To Guide
Glen Canyon Dam

Submitted by Alik on Mon, 10/15/2012 - 00:25
This dam is a hydroelectric plant that creates Lake Powell which is the second largest man made reservoir in the country. This dam was finished being built around 1966. And in 1983 it nearly collapsed from all the flooding that occurred that year. It seems like it's a bit bigger than the Hoover Dam which is the much more famous Dam that's several hundred miles down stream of the Colorado River. That Dam also forms Lake Mead which I think is the largest reservoir in the nation. Although currently I think Lake Powell has more cubic feet of water in it. Other than all that boring history, this dam is in a pretty cool spot. The dam itself isn't as cool as the Hoover Dam but Glen Canyon is amazing and this whole area is unlike anywhere in the world. Some of the most beautiful desert landscape I've ever seen.

This shot is a mild HDR done with Photomatix and Lightroom. I'm getting very close now to creating a nice HDR tutorial showing how I do this stuff. The only thing stopping me now is free time.
One Foot from Death

Submitted by Alik on Sat, 10/13/2012 - 16:07
This is a photo I took while standing on the edge of the cliffs over looking the Horseshoe Bend in Arizona. This area has probably one of the most amazing landscapes in the world, it feels like Mars. And it's all a Navajo reservation. Lucky Navajo. The scale of the Horseshoe bend is spectacular. Easily just as amazing as the Grand Canyon. I guess it's kind of part of the Grand Canyon since the Colorado River leads through it.

It doesn't look that huge in this photo but doing this was terrifying. All it would have taken is one slight push and I'm gone. Needless to say my wife was not happy about me doing this.

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