Due to the heavy snowstorm at Bryce Canyon in the middle of May, I had to cut my visit short. In order to salvage the day, I decided to drive to Zion National Park the same day with the hope of photographing sunset there.
Most of the visitors come to Zion National Park from Las Vegas, and as a result, they enter the park from the south entrance. This is where all the hotels are located, as well as where it is always busy even if it isn’t the high season.
In my case, approached Zion from the East, which is a much more beautiful and interesting drive with almost no people around.
The road to Zion goes through the beautiful valley with mountains, canyons and then it passes buffalo farm where you can see and photograph beautiful creatures from the side of the road. This location is only a couple of kilometers to the Eastern entrance of Zion.
The featured photo is of the final stretch before entering the eastern gate of the park before sunset.
USA. Utah. Zion National Park.
Loc: 37.23836, -112.8379
Deconstructing Featured Photo
Camera: Canon 60
Lens: Sigma 17-70mm
Focal Length: 17mm
ISO: 100
Aperture: F8
Bracketing: 3 shots ( -2; 0, +2 )
Tripod: FEISOL Tournament CT-3442 – Check my FEISOL Tournament CT-3442 Review.
Ballhead: FEISOL CB-40D
Processing: HDR Processed in Photomatix
Lightroom: import, tagging, export to Photomatix
Photomatix: I used 3 photos to tone map image ( -2; 0, +2 ). 16-bit tiff image was exported to Lightroom. (Check my tutorial Before & After – HDR With Photomatix)
Lightroom: straightening, cropping, export as PSD image
Photoshop: cleaning, contrast.
Photoshop Plugins:
- Topaz DeNoise was used to reduce digital noise (sky)
- Topaz Detail was used to enhance details in foreground elements (canyons).
