Return to Page Town this morning and enter Antelope Canyon for good weather. It means running a lap and a half around the Grand Canyon, half a lap more than planned.
Horseshoe Bend in Page Township
In the morning, visit Horseshoe Bay for the third time. I used to go in the evening, taking pictures against the light. After watching Horseshoe Bend this time, go back to the hotel and go to Lower Antelope Canyon after lunch. Antelope Canyon is divided into Upper Antelope Canyon and Lower Antelope Canyon.
Fantastic Lower Antelope Canyon
Report to the travel company in the town on time in the afternoon. Take their modified jeep to Lower Antelope Canyon. The picture above is the parking lot of the Lower Antelope Canyon Scenic Area. If you don’t follow the group, you can drive directly to the scenic spot to buy a ticket to enter. It is not allowed to bring large backpacks and backpacks when visiting Antelope Canyon. One-shoulder backpacks such as small camera bags can be carried, but water glasses, water bottles, and tripods are not allowed. In fact, the valley is narrow, climbing up and down, and there are so many people that it is inconvenient to move. It would be bad if the water glass dropped your hand and hit someone.
Lower Antelope Canyon. Peggy Page (Arizona , Arizona ), many tour groups drive about 500 kilometers from Las Vegas early in the morning and arrive at Page Town in the afternoon to see an Antelope Canyon and then go to another scenic spot. They usually don’t live in Peggy . Page has two attractions not to be missed: Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend.
Antelope Canyon is one of the world’s famous slot canyons and a well-known photography attraction. The nearest town is Page, which is less than ten kilometers away. This area is part of the Navajo Aboriginal Reservation. According to the history of the Navajo people, this place used to be a place where pronghorn antelopes escaped from the cold winter and the scorching heat, and antelopes often wandered in the canyon, which is why the canyon is called Antelope Canyon. Of course, the antelopes that are harmless to humans and animals are no longer here, and humans that are harmful to humans and animals have come. The older Navajo people once regarded this place as a habitat for meditation and communication with the gods.
Antelope Canyon, like other slot canyons, is formed by the continuous erosion of soft sandstone through millions of years of various erosive forces, mainly flood erosion, followed by wind erosion. During the monsoon season, flash floods often flow into the canyon. Due to the sudden increase in rainfall, the flood water mixed with sediment narrows and cuts down the river channel in the narrow channel, thus generating a large vertical erosion force and forming the lower antelope. In the corridor at the bottom of the canyon, the original colored rock formations are polished into various graceful curves by strong winds and sand grains.
The Lower Antelope Canyon I went to today is less than 200 meters long. The stairs go down from one end to the other. It is not surprising that the eyes in the valley look normal, but once the sun shines into the valley, the light will go through repeated refraction, reflection, and diffraction. It produces magical and fantastic light and shadow effects, and the noon when the sun shines directly into the valley is the best time to visit. Because the Lower Antelope Canyon is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, the time period for light entering the valley is relatively generous, and the dependence on the noon sun is not strong, and it is almost the same at any time. The Upper Antelope Canyon that I will go to tomorrow is narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, so the dependence on direct sunlight at noon will be stronger. Tripods are also not allowed unless it is a photography group.
Key points for mobile phone photography: the color file of mobile phone photography must be set to “bright”. Otherwise, this effect cannot be shot. If the phone is facing down, the image is prone to blurring in dark light, so hold the phone steady, or take a photo facing up in a brightly lit place. Lower Antelope Canyon is easier to take pictures because the cracks in the rocks are wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, so the light is relatively abundant. The cracks in the Upper Antelope Canyon are narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, and the light is weak, so it is relatively difficult to take pictures. There will also be more camera settings for taking pictures, let’s talk about it in the Antelope Canyon.
Remember to look up and shoot upwards. If there are some white clouds, this photo will be perfect…
Page town at dusk
After returning to the hotel from the Lower Antelope Canyon, I went to have dinner just after five o’clock. Since the Chinese restaurants here are average, the Denny’s restaurant here is better, especially the T-bone steak is delicious. This is the third time I have eaten it in a week.
Watch the sunset after dinner. There are few clouds today but not red. The moon is also rising in the sunset. After watching the Upper Antelope Canyon here at 1:30 pm tomorrow, at about 2:30, I will drive 2 hours to live in Tusayan next to the Grand Canyon National Park.
Dreamy Upper Antelope Canyon
The only tour arrangement in Page is the Upper Antelope Canyon. The “upper and lower” difference between the Upper Antelope Canyon and the Lower Antelope Canyon is that the Lower Antelope Canyon is a crack below the surface level, while the Upper Antelope Canyon is a crack in the hills above the surface.
Entrance to Upper Antelope Canyon. Rocky crevices on the desert floor.
After entering, I realized that there is not much difference. The Upper Antelope Canyon is shorter, less than 150 meters, and the gap is narrow, so the sunlight is not easy to come in. The valley is relatively dark, and it is more difficult to take pictures, because it requires a longer exposure time and the photos are shaken by hands. The effect is more obvious, and it is easy to cause blurred images. The best way to visit the Upper Antelope Canyon is to sign up for a photography group at noon, because the price is high, you are allowed to bring a tripod and stay in the valley twice as long, and the photography group may also capture the beam of light entering the valley at noon. If you don’t take part in the photography tour of the Upper Antelope Canyon, it’s best to visit the Lower Antelope Canyon, and you can take pictures with a hand-held camera that is dazzling and clear. No matter the upper or lower Antelope Canyon, the mobile phone must use the “bright” color for taking pictures. The main points of Antelope Canyon camera are summarized as follows:
- Ultra-wide lens, preferably F11, ultra-wide angle can accommodate more curved space, and it looks more dazzling.
- Tripod, shutter release and other necessary items to eliminate camera shake, and participate in the photography group. These are not required if you are not participating in a photo tour. Also not allowed.
- Bring tools for cleaning the lens such as air blowers and brushes. There is a lot of wind and sand inside and outside the valley, so don’t wipe the lens directly with lens cloth/paper
. 4. It is a must to remember not to change the lens on site, otherwise sand and dust will definitely enter the camera. - Look for hidden places with few people to shoot. The back of the head is not so good-looking, right?
- If you really can’t avoid the crowd, try to capture people in bright clothes in the photos. Free models don’t use white or white.
Try looking up and shooting up. If the location is right, the slit is wide enough, you can take pictures of the dreamy scene in the valley, maybe you can also take pictures of the blue sky and white clouds at the same time . - Camera parameter settings:
. Set the camera to manual (M) mode
. If you have enough memory, try to shoot in RAW format for post-production.
. When using a tripod in Upper Antelope Canyon, use aperture f/11-f/18, shutter speed 2s-6s, ISO100-200, and change according to the change of light; if Upper Antelope Canyon does not use a tripod, use ISO400-800, maximum aperture, shutter speed for handheld shooting 1/40s-1/8s. Hand-held shooting in Lower Antelope Canyon is no problem at all with ISO400, f/8-f/11, shutter speed 1/10-1/40, and without a tripod.
. White balance is set to cloudy
. Turn on long exposure noise reduction
. Various operations are set up at the hotel. Because there is no time to debug in the valley. It is also possible to check the shooting effect and the exposure curve graph frequently and quickly. Because every group in the valley is in and out, the time is very rushed.
. Turn off the anti-shake function of the lens and body
. Turn off the HDR function
. With Live view (real-time view), you don’t have to lie on the ground to aim
. Turn off ISO auto, manually set it to 200-400, unless you are printing a large photo a few meters long
Ok, now you can take a good photo…
The cracks in the upper rock are too wide, without the repeated refraction and diffraction of light, there will be less color.
The tour guide threw a handful of sand without warning in advance. Fortunately, I reacted quickly and took a photo of this quicksand light and shadow. Therefore, it is always beneficial to follow the tour guide when traveling.
There is enough light at the exit, which is a good time for shooting.
Upper Antelope Canyon Exit. The exit rocks are actually exactly the same as the rocks in the valley, but there is no repeated refraction and diffraction of light in the valley, so there is no color effect. After watching the Upper Antelope Canyon, we left Page Town.
After two or three days of tossing, I finally had a clear understanding of Antelope Canyon. Its mystery has also been solved. It is understood that there are many seams similar to the Antelope Canyon in the surrounding mountains, but the scale is not as large as the Antelope Canyon, but it is as beautiful as the Antelope Canyon. It’s just that tourists from other places don’t know, they need to find a tourist service company in the town to take their off-road vehicles and be taken by their tour guides. Next time, remember to stay in Page Town for one more day: take a boat to the Rainbow Bridge in the lake in the morning, and take a private tour of the colorful seams with the travel company in the town in the afternoon.
