Horseshoe Bend, Arizona (revisited May 2017)

[Thor Lidasan]

I had another Southwest roadtrip 3 weeks ago and passed by Horseshoe Bend in Page, Arizona. I was there in 2014 but I arrived late and way past sunset. This time around I timed my arrival an hour before sunset with my goal of catching the golden rays of the sun as it was bathing the Bend. A very taxing dynamic range for any camera as shooting the Horseshoe Bend during sunset involves shooting directly against sun and into the deep shadows of the Bend.

Nikon D610 with Nikkor 16-35 f4:


Horseshoe Bend 2017-web

[Jakov Minić]

Isn't nature amazing!
As is your image, Thor!

[Erik Lund]

Very nicely captured! I like the rendering of the water

[Thor Lidasan]

Thank you, Jakov and Erik!

Yes, Horseshoe Bend is up there on list of favorite places to photograph. Nature is indeed amazing!

[Akira]

Thor, welcome back!

The image is simply SPECTACULAR!  I can enjoy it forever!

[Thor Lidasan]

Thank you, Akira!

I've always wanted to capture Horseshoe Bend during sunset. This one is going to be printed big and will be on my wall soon!

[Akira]

Thor, don't print it big.  Print it HUGE!  The image deserves that.

[armando_m]

Fantastic location , and a terrific way to capture it

[John Geerts]

That's a beauty Thor. A great combination of sky, sun, water and rock.

[golunvolo]

Ditto to all of the above!

  A question, this is developed from a single image?

   Thanks for sharing Thor!

[Thor Lidasan]

Thank you all for the kind comments!

@ golunvolo, yes, it is from a single exposure of f/16 at 1/13 sec iso 200. The sun rays could have been sharper but my travel tripod is not heavy, wind was blowing so I turned on the VR feature of the lens. I think the rendition of the sun rays the way they are, is caused by VR anomaly. I did bracket my shot but I am not an HDR fan so I picked the one that approximates what I saw on the original scene.

Below is the ViewNX screen shot of the original NEF file. It can be seen that shadows needed to be opened, contrast added to the foreground, some cloning of the flare, burning/dodging of the horizon to reveal the clouds, a little bit of desaturation of yellow/burning the rim of the sun and the sun rays are pretty much what I did:

[golunvolo]

Thank you very much for the detailed response.

  I'm using the d750 - same sensor as far as I know- and the amount of information in the files is amazing. Great job making it work!

[Thor Lidasan]

Thank you very much for the detailed response.

  I'm using the d750 - same sensor as far as I know- and the amount of information in the files is amazing. Great job making it work!

Yes, that is one reason why I am still shooting raw. I still enjoy being able to wring out the information out of a single exposure. 

[CS]

Yes, that is one reason why I am still shooting raw. I still enjoy being able to wring out the information out of a single exposure.

To quote Ansel Adams, it's "making a photograph" instead of "taking" one. 

[CS]

Thank you, Akira!

I've always wanted to capture Horseshoe Bend during sunset. This one is going to be printed big and will be on my wall soon!

I gotta tell 'ya, Thor, that shot is a strong candidate for being printed on metal. If you plan to hang it on a wall, metal print prices can be competitive with other mediums when you consider mounting and framing costs for those other mediums.