Digital Photography Guide

Utah bills itself as the National Park capital of the United States and I happen to agree with them. Utah contains five national parks in all, each in the southern portion of the state chiseled out of, and into, the ancient sandstone laid down hundreds of millions of years ago. Time and the elements have shaped the land with many unique features including some of the largest arches and canyons in the world.

This area of Utah can be a landscape photographers paradise but a little planning should be involved before jumping in a car and heading to Southern Utah. Getting there is indeed, half the fun. The national parks are not close to any large airports or metropolitan areas, thus almost requiring either a flight to large city or an adventurous road trip.

All the parks require a entry fee, ranging from $5 to $25 per vehicle and are good for 7 days. If other National Parks are in your future, it may be wise to purchase the America the Beautiful – National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass. For $80 ($10 for US Seniors over 62) the pass allows entry for the holder and up to three adults or children practically all US National Parks as well as many other federal agency properties which charge a use or entry fee. It does not cover camping and a few other items. There are a few fee free day planned for 2011, which include: April 16-24 (National Parks Week), June 21st (First day of summer), September 24th (Public Lands Day) and November 11-13 (Veteran’s Day Weekend). Expect these days to be busy.

Before we being, there are some general photography tips which cover all of the parks, the most important of which, I feel, is get up before the sun every day. On any given day this area of the country receives more than average sunshine and it is one of the big draws or the region. Take advantage of the wonderful light on the sandstone by rising well before sunrise to take advantage of the Golden Hour. Not only that, depending on season, getting up early will likely be the coolest part of your trip!

And be warned, this is area of Utah is rugged, harsh country. While there are paved roads and campsites with amenities, even some paved hiking trails, always carry plenty of water and personal supplies. Especially sunblock and a good hat. In summer the temperatures will regularly top 100F.

Arches

Arches National Park is located close to Moab, a growing town which serves as an excellent refueling and resupplying point for adventure in Souther Utah. Because of its proximity and the hotel accommodations located therein (perfect if you are not the camping type), Arches is a busy park. Open year round, the visitor center only closes on December 25th and is worth a stop for a primer on what the park has to offer.

As the name implies, the highlight of this park are the hundreds of natural arches carved into the sandstone walls and fins. The most famous is Delicate Arch, a photo of which adorns the Utah state license plate. It is best visited in the late afternoon as most shots are taken facing mostly East with the La Sal Mountains in the background. One of my personal favorite formations in the park is Marching Men from the South (pictured here), approached via a 4×4 only trail or by foot in the park’s Western limits.

The Park Service has great recommendations on its site of formations and the best time of day to shoot. Mid-day is a good time to take a break or walk a trail if your stamina is up for it. The Devils Garden is an enjoyable hike as a loop and can even yield a photo or two at mid-day. Did I mention carry lots of water? Always.

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon National Park is know for its hoodoos, tall pillars of rock standing as sentinels against a slow erosion from wind and water. They are an excellent place to examine the different layers in sandstone structures and stratification. The park is a long, single drive which remains on a platue above the hoodoos offering excellent views to the East.

Camping in Bryce Canyon is ideal as a number of the best view points are within walking distance. And with names like Sunrise, Sunset and Inspiration point you can expect the views to be worth the drive. The names can be a bit of a misnomer, as sunrise is equally as good from Sunset Viewpoint as from Sunrise Viewpoint. And don’t forget the moon rise! If you can plan your trip around the time of a full moon, it is worth adjusting your schedule. The expansive view to the East is equally good to witness the moon starting its walk across the Utah sky.

After sunrise, before the heat kicks in during summer, head down into the hoodoos and pass by Thor’s Hammer, The Queen’s Garden and Wall Street. As the sun passes noon and starts to get beyond the rim above, the harsh light will begin to fade and make for interesting shots amongst the hoodoos. The rim of Bryce canyon National Park is over 8000′ in areas, so expect to be a bit winded of higher elevations are new to you. Give yourself a day or two in the park to get a feel what the reduced oxygen feels like.

In the winter the park will be hit with snow storms at times and this may cause road closures until plows can clear the way. Otherwise the park is open year round, including the visitors center. Winter snows on the red rocks create some of the most stunning photographic art in the state. Bring lots of water.

Canyonlands

Canyonlands is a massive, sprawling park nearly impossible to see in a day. And forget about trying to photograph it in less than a few days or weeks. The park centers on the joining of the Green and Colorado Rivers, both of which have carved out the awe inspiring canyons. Island In The Sky is the area closest to Moab and easiest to visit, providing great visibility over both of the major canyons. If you have access to a 4×4 vehicle, by all means, travel the White Rim Trail, a two or three day event, longer if you stop to explore on foot often. This is an area down close to the canyons, complete with some natural bridges fit for walking. Being further down into the canyons means less direct sun in the morning. Bring a gradient filter to help balance the sun lighting the tops of formations before it catches the valley on which you stand.

Both morning and evening light are gorgeous over the chiseled landscape of Island In The Sky where the canyon walls and shadows make photography easy. Over at the Needles District are more spires, towers and canyons with quite a few more hiking trails. The canyons can provide some respite from summer heat. For a change of paces, drive to the West side of the park (no small feat!) to the Maze District with its labyrinth of twisting and turning colors and stratified rocks. The saturation of these formations is spell binding at sunset. Bring lots of water.

Capitol Reef

Capitol Reef National Park is a long sliver of a park which butts up to Glen Canyon National Recreation Area to the south. The park has limited roads and a lot of the best exploration is done on foot. It is fairly easy to approach as Hwy 24 cuts through the center of the park although it is the least explored (by tourists) of the National Parks in Utah. You can read that last line as “No Crowds”. The park encompasses an original pioneer homestead and fruit orchard as well as the Waterpocket Fold, a giant wrinkle in the earth extending in the park’s southern reaches.

Not only are the chocolate hued Moenkopi sandstone formations, which dominate this park, incredible to see in the late afternoon light as they light up to a warmer copper, there are a number of pictographs and petroglyphs to be viewed, more easily reached than other parks. While driving options are few in this park (unless you have a high clearance 4×4) there are a number of wandering options to get up on top of the sandstone and capture the vastness of the realm. Bring lots of water.

Zion

Zion National Park is a canyon lover’s paradise. Zion Canyon, the main attraction of the park, is cut sometimes 2000′ down into the park. The photography here can be a bit easier as the canyon internally will be light with reflected light. A tripod will be needed for such an occasion. Photos of the silky water moving through the carved and rusted canyon walls (maybe with an occasional hiker passing through) are a favorite.

Weeping Rock is a quick hike and the spring-fed waterfall bursts with colors in fall. It is a short 25 minute diversion which can turn into an all day event for the flower loving photographer. The Court Of The Patriachs, a long wall of beautiful sandstone footed by green forest, is best shot in the morning hours.

I feel overwhelmed and limited with the space of this post and realize I barely touched the surface of the opporunities of the National Parks in Utah. Perhaps I will write a post on each park to delve deeper into what they can offer a traveling photographer. If you have any suggestions of particular spots, formations or areas you love photographing in this wonderland, please leave a comment.

Barring more words, I will leave you with more photographs of this great land.

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips. Check out our resources on Portrait Photography Tips, Travel Photography Tips and Understanding Digital Cameras.

Advice For Shooting in Utah’s National Parks

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Photography is a great interest to share with your children. Or any children, for that matter. For parents the joy of interesting kids in photography can either be a challenge or a delight. Often children will mimic their parents and pickup whatever hobbies their parents have. Or at least try them out. That’s when it’s a delight; when you spy your daughter eying your camera, curious how it works. On the flip side of the coin, a hobby taking over family time can often turn children off to what might have been a fun experience to share together. That’s when it can become a challenge.

As a parent you have a unique opportunity to motivate your children in particular paths. Some might even call it brainwashing and to some extent it is. Kids learn primarily from their parents (in the beginning) and the examples the parents portray is often what a child sets as their own ideal. If you are a parent and wish to interest you child(ren) in photography, I have a few suggestions from my own experience and from speaking with other photography parents.

Make It Available

The number one way to help kids be interested in photography is to make it available to them. You have a fancy camera, maybe, and it’s hard to hand that over to a two year old who can, at times, break down and start a barrage of toys flying across the room. It’s best to wait until you are sure equipment won’t be smashed to smithereens before just handing over a camera. In the mean time, there are a number of age relevant digital photo options, such as the Fisher Price Kid-Tough Digital Camera and Diego Npower Flash Jr. Rugged Digital Camera for those six and under.

As your child ages and seems more responsible and coordinated, you can move into more and more useful cameras. When my daughter was five I handed her my aging Canon SD630 and let her walk around a party with it. She got very excited, walked around taking pictures from her perspective and was walking back towards me to show her prized photos when she stumbled and dropped the camera, breaking it (while noting that the pictures were still safe on the card and we did view them later). It was against this backdrop which I was choosing a camera for her three years later for a trip to Africa. By that time she had shown the ability to handle my Canon 7D without dropping it and overall understanding of the value of certain things, which made me more comfortable purchasing her a nicer Point and Shoot for the trip.

As a parent, you will know best when your child starts to move into a more responsible age range and can handle a slightly nicer camera than the introduction models noted above. Just having a camera around, that is all theirs to use, will make a big difference in their adoption of the art. And as a parent, don’t be amazed if the camera is ogled over for two days and then left on the floor for a month.

Make It Easy

Start with cameras that are easy. Super easy. Point and shoot and see the image on the back. That is what most kids want from the one year old range on up. Don’t worry too much about downloading to a computer (unless your child really shows interest) or printing for a while. Let them get used to the simplicity of hitting a button and freezing time on the screen of whatever might be of interest.

Do Cool Stuff

When photography gets to be more commonplace with your child and they pick up the camera more often, start planning some cool outings. Think like a kid in this case. It can be something as simple as taking photos of cool stuff in the garage or a walk around the house. Or it can be as structured as a scavenger hunt with a list of objects to shoot. Make it fun and lighthearted to help that part of photography (a part many of us often forget) sink in at a young age. Be spontanious, “Ok, grab your camera. We’re heading to the park to see how many dog pictures we can capture!” Keep play and excitement in the frame and you are sure to help keep your child hooked on photography.

Ignore The Rules

We spend our adult years learning so many rules and photography is no different. Heck, it’s even called the Rule Of Thirds. Take all those rules, some of which automatically kick in when shooting, and throw them out the window when it comes to photography with your younger child (while noting that older kids will be ready to start learning some photography rules). Their composition or lighting or angle may not be the best you’ve ever seen, but so what? If they take a photo and smile while showing you, you’re on the right track

Show And Tell

Lastly, around the ages of 5-7, your child will start to develop more cognition to appreciate a photo and want to break it down. It’s that, “How did they do that?” age and it’s a great time to explain, in brief, what you’re doing, why you’re doing it and how you’re doing it. Be it in the computer or behind the lens. My daughter loves to sit on my lap as I go through photos (for a while, until something else catches her eye). I will show her some simple edits I’m making to photos and quickly explain what the contrast slider does or how to change levels. Making it fun, I will grossly exaggerate the effect, such as saturation to which she responds, “Whoa, that’s REALLY saturated!” It’s easy, it’s fun and she starts learning about photography elements bit by bit.

You are a great resource to help your children get interested in photography if it is your hobby. You know your child better than I do when it comes to the level of pushing and prodding they can take before they rebel and I hope some of the ideas listed here help you find common ground to spark their interest without pushing them away from photography. Photography is a fun and wonderful interests to share with your child or children and I wish you good luck in opening their eyes to the art and excitement it entails.

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips. Check out our resources on Portrait Photography Tips, Travel Photography Tips and Understanding Digital Cameras.

Introducing Children To Photography

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