How do I shoot Slot Canyons?

[nwoods]

Okay, so at the end of March I am taking a nice little venture into Southern Utah and I am going to be exploring a few slot canyons and Anasazi ruins and so forth. I have always wanted a shot like this in my portfolio:

I have looked at a LOT of slot canyon photos, and have tried to compose them in my mind and sample the camera settings that would get the best results. Frankly, it seems to be a very illusive skill. Most of the images I have found are very flat, stark, underlit or overly blown out. Clearly this is a hard subject to shoot properly.

So how would you do it?
I welcome any thoughts, advice, examples and suggestions. I will have the following camera, lenses and tools:

Canon 20D body
- Canon EF 70-200mm F2.8 L
- Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 ultrawide
- Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8 L mkII
- sturdy tripod
- possibly a Canon EF 15mm f/2.8 Fisheye rental lens
- WindowsXP laptop with Photoshop CS3

How do you avoid something like these?:

And get more like these:

or these: http://www.jameskay.com/canyoneering_and_hiking/climb.htm

 

[Lost Canadian]

What if you expose for the highlights and used a soft flash to fill in the shadows, perhaps gel the flash to the tone of the walls. Don't know really, actually looking at those shots has me wondering too.

 

[akphotobob]

The easiest way is to manipulate it with software. With the camera firmly on a tripod, take a series of shots exposing for the darkest areas through the lightest areas. Three shots is the minimum and five is better. In software you merge the five shots into one. Photoshop CS3 is very adept at this and it is called HDR for High Dynamic Range. Here is a brief tutorial:http://www.photoshopsupport.com/photoshop-cs3/hdr-high-dynamic-range/index.html

Some would argue that it is manipulation, but I think it allows you to capture the scene exactly as your eye sees it.

 

[nwoods]

The easiest way is to manipulate it with software. With the camera firmly on a tripod, take a series of shots exposing for the darkest areas through the lightest areas. Three shots is the minimum and five is better. In software you merge the five shots into one. Photoshop CS3 is very adept at this and it is called HDR for High Dynamic Range. Here is a brief tutorial:http://www.photoshopsupport.com/photoshop-cs3/hdr-high-dynamic-range/index.html

Some would argue that it is manipulation, but I think it allows you to capture the scene exactly as your eye sees it.

That's a good link, and a good point. I am updating my tools in the origonal thread accordingly.

 

[Photog]

The easiest way is to manipulate it with software. With the camera firmly on a tripod, take a series of shots exposing for the darkest areas through the lightest areas. Three shots is the minimum and five is better. In software you merge the five shots into one. Photoshop CS3 is very adept at this and it is called HDR for High Dynamic Range. Here is a brief tutorial:http://www.photoshopsupport.com/photoshop-cs3/hdr-high-dynamic-range/index.html

Some would argue that it is manipulation, but I think it allows you to capture the scene exactly as your eye sees it.

:iagree:
The best images in the slot canyons I have seen lately, were done this way. I have nothing to add concerning the lighting issue.

I can sugest paying close attention to where the light is coming from. The first image was taken at high noon, the light was coming straigt down; but only got to the bottom, in one spot. Therefore the light seems to come from the floor, not the sky.

The last image seems to be taken on an overcast day, softening the shadows.

Slot canyons take excellent thechnique, timing with the sun, and proper location within the slot. They are very challenging, and a worthy opponent. If we lived close to some slot canyons, I would work them over, every chance I could get.

If you are going to Antalope Canyon, you will have an indian guide with you, that should be able to help with the right location in the slot. Try to be there from 11am to 1pm. Outside of that time, there are other locations to work with, outside the main slot.

The wide lenses will provide the best results, since you can't back away from the scene. Use the one that is the sharpest in the corners of the image.

 

[Overland Hadley]

I would say one of the biggest things to work with is composition.

If you look at the photographs you have here as examples, both have very overexposed areas-white or almost white, and very underexposed areas-black or almost black. And I would guess from looking at them that they are NOT HDR images. In fact, most "classic" images from slot canyons were made long before HDR. I am not saying anything bad about HDR, just that you want to start with a very strong and workable image. In other words you want to work with the light and dark areas.

When working in slot canyons a very, very long exposure works best.

Link to images of slot canyon by Charles Cramer

 

[nwoods]

Wow those images from Charles Cramer are awesome! That is exactly what I would like to be able to accomplish.

Okay, long exposure. I have a remote cable shutter release for my camera, so I can take nice steady tripod mounted images. But I am inexperienced at doing so. What settings would you reccommend to start with?

Let's say it's a 30 second exposure. What should my aperature and ISO be? I would think a very low ISO to get the most color saturation, and I think a small aperature to have a wide depth of field.

Do you reduce the exposure compensation quite a bit to prevent things from being overexposed?

In my limited tripod work, all my photos are overly bright.

Mental note: I need to bring a grey card!

 

[Photog]

Wow those images from Charles Cramer are awesome! That is exactly what I would like to be able to accomplish.

Okay, long exposure. I have a remote cable shutter release for my camera, so I can take nice steady tripod mounted images. But I am inexperienced at doing so. What settings would you reccommend to start with?

Let's say it's a 30 second exposure. What should my aperature and ISO be? I would think a very low ISO to get the most color saturation, and I think a small aperature to have a wide depth of field.

Do you reduce the exposure compensation quite a bit to prevent things from being overexposed?

In my limited tripod work, all my photos are overly bright.

Mental note: I need to bring a grey card!

You are using a digital camera, so there will be no reciprocity failure. Don't worry about modifying the exposures, like we had to do with film.

Use the lowest ISO available in your camera. Use a small aperature. You might need to use a neutral density filter, to slow down the exposure.

The longer exposures really eat up the battery life; so bring extra batteries.

Try a few long exposures at home, to make sure you are getting a proper exposure. Light meters are not always correct.

You probably already know this; but, if you use a grey card, only use it for exposure settings, not color correction. The light in the slots is not accurate anyway. If you use a grey card for white balance, it will neutralize all those nice warm colors bouncing off the rocks. I would start with the "cloudy" setting, and see what it looks like. Shoot in RAW, and you can switch it around later anyway.

 

[TeriAnn]

Photoshop manipulation? We don't need no stinkin Photoshop manipulation!


Sunlight + tripod + FILM + reciprocity table for your film +shutter release cable + timer

Shooting decent slot canyon pictures is a piece of cake with the above tools!

Here's a setup:

This is a self portrait in the Upper Antelope canyon shooting with a Pentax67 medium format camera. Film is Velvia

The sun enters the canyon and is reflected from wall to wall. I am shooting by reflected sunlight.

Some other results

Different canyons have different coloured sides so the reflected light looks different. Below is an image from a canyon that has darker sides.

​

 

[articulate]

Sunlight + tripod + FILM + reciprocity table for your film +shutter release cable + timer

He'll have a hell of a time trying to figure out where to put that film in his 20D.

 

[TeriAnn]

He'll have a hell of a time trying to figure out where to put that film in his 20D.

It obviously needs to be put someplace where the sun doesn't shine :yikes:

I don't know where he'll find that in his camera.

Whomever said film was dead never shot in slot canyons

 

[Photog]

It certainly can be done with film, and therefore can be done with digital, without photoshop manipulation. I have seen some fine work, created by well known photographers (now including TeriAnn), of slot canyons, shot with film.:26_7_2:

My earlier reference to using HDR in Photoshop, was a reference to the best images I have seen produced lately. I was not suggesting that it is the only way to get the job done.

The Fuji Velvia film has a similar dynamic range to a digital JPEG image; about 5 stops from white to black. It can be done, even without shooting in RAW format, let alone HDR.

The key is the light within the canyon. Not all light is of equal quality, and not all canyons are equal in their light bouncing abilities.

An open-top slot canyon, might be better approached with morning or evening light, as this will produce the warm colors that might be washed out during the day. It will also help diffuse the light, like a deeper, more convoluded slot canyon does.

Most of the great images from within Antelope canyon, like TeriAnn's, are from deep within, where the light must bounce off the red rock, before reaching the bottom. This makes for warm and rich color in the light, and helps reduce the dynamic range. There are still times when small rays of light seem to reach straight to the bottom. These moments can be magical, with a little dust in the air; but they are more difficult to capture.

 

[nwoods]

Photoshop manipulation? We don't need no stinkin Photoshop manipulation!

This is a self portrait in the Upper Antelope canyon shooting with a Pentax67 medium format camera. Film is Velvia

The sun enters the canyon and is reflected from wall to wall. I am shooting by reflected sunlight.

TerriAnn, that is a super cool self portrait!

Oh man, it has been YEARS since I even looked at a reciprocity table! But the concept in digital has not evolved all that much I think. I will be shooting RAW certainly, but I think I will be playing with exposure bracketing also. I'm going to be shooting a LOT of images on this trip

 

[Overdrive]

Use the lowest ISO available in your camera. Use a small aperature. You might need to use a neutral density filter, to slow down the exposure.

I'm trying to learn here, too; but I must be missing something. Why is it advisable to force a long exposure (talking slot canyons here) by stopping down and maybe using a ND filter? Does digital saturate the colors more by longer exposures?
Scott

 

[sinuhexavier]

200 ISO 125th @ 2.8

200 ISO 40th @ 2.8

200 ISO 60th @ 2.8

All of these were taken with a tripod. One problem I have always found with shooting slots, and I claim no perfect slot shot, that the long exposures tend to go flat as shadow details are lost. I also shoot with a wide open aperture because I like the narrow depth of field and the feeling it gives the image.

Personally I think that you, NWOODS, need to practice and find your own photographic vision. All those reference images have been done before, do something that hasn't, create your own visual language and you will feel much more fulfilled.