> First the canyon part: What is the best way of shooting inside Antelope
> Canyon? Shall I use a solid tripod and expose real long, or are faster
> speeds and a wide aperture better? Is the use of MLU necessary with the
> F4? (wow, it's even Nikon-specific...)
> What kind of film (slide and negative) is recommended? I'd like to make no
> compromises. Filters? And what time is the best (AFAIK, there's never
> direct sunlight)?
Gruetzi, Boris.
Antelope is dark. I mean: DARK.
You absolutely have to have a good tripod. Exposure times are in the
ballpark of 5 to 50 seconds. (I doubt that MLU is necessary, but...)
I used two bodies, F801 and FA, one loaded with Velvia and the other one
loaded with 400 print film (also Fuji).
Using two cameras it helps to have a STURDY tripod quick release system.
Film: Use slow film. Reduced grain will pay off! Go for high color saturation,
perhaps something even with characteristics like the Agfa Ultra (which is
reportedly really grainy even though it's slow). Colors in there are
super natural anyway. Therefore you want super saturated pics.
Lenses: I took a Sigma 18-35, a Nikkor 50, and a 75-150E. You'll need
everything from super wide to moderate tele. I wish I had had a better
quality wide angle. Make sure you don't suffer from zoom creep, a fellow
photographer used a band aid to stop his 70-210E from doing that ;-)
Stop down for enhanced depth of field. You may need to compensate for
reciprocity failure. Make sure that you understand your cameras exposure
meter at low light and your films reciprocity behavior beforehand.
Filter: have a variety of blue / blueish filters available. A low sun is red.
Red sandstone is red, too. Red light reflected by red walls is - well - super
red. Expect all colors from yellow to dark red. On some shots you might want
to compensate that with a soft or strong blue and get neutral, lavender,
even blue in the picture as well. Experiment! You'll shoot lots of films,
so throw in a few filters as well. I'm not sure if a polarizer would help
in that situation (use film with high color saturation).
Time: Plan for a few hours starting at 9AM and staying till 2PM. While you
are there there will be hordes of tourists coming and going. Just bear with
them, there are also quiet times where only photographers are in the canyon.
The canyon is on Indian property. Either you just show up at the gate
(and may find nobody to let you in, so you have to wait) or you go with one
of the organized tours that are offered in town. Have a little flashlight
with you, it's a pain to set exposure things in darkness. Don't use flash
when taking pics, you'd destroy the mood. You won't need food or water
while you are in the canyon. The place is so exciting, you'll simply forget
that your body has needs (just kidding, have a little snack with you).
Technique: start at the end of the canyon and work towards the entrance.
Then work your way back to the far end. Do that several times, light changes
every minute.
That place is stunning. Even though I had no idea what to expect I got a
few excellent pics. I hope that one day I'll return to that place...
If you have more questions don't hesitate to contact me.
W/
--
Wieland Eckert
AT&T Labs Research
