Slickrock and Shadow

Marching Men:  Arches National Park Marching men are located in the northwest corner of Arches National Park.  This area is also called Klondike Bluffs and is located at the end of the dirt road.  The drive up to that point is relatively easy.  A hike is then necessary to reach the marching men.  This takes about one hour of hiking (one way). There is a climb just north of the marching men that has quite a bit of sand as well as vegetation and rock.  These are all choices for foreground subjects when composing a photo.  With the sun creeping low, the shadows across this sand dune caught my eye. A word on camera settings:  the marching men are are in the distance, so a small aperture of f/16 and hyperfocal distance were used.  I shot two different configurations:  each as the 3 largest "men".  The horizontal was shot at 32mm focal length.  The vertical at 45mm focal length.  You may notice that the higher focal leng...

Arches Windows Section Panoramic Sunset Having only one sunset in Arches National Park, I thought long and hard about which location to choose.  This was near the end of my trip to Moab and I felt weary.  I'd previously debated between the Windows section, delicate arch, and the marching men.  Perhaps choosing the easy way out, I decided to shoot a panorama of the Windows section.  However I did not simply take one picture and call it quits.  Instead, it shows the location far away from the Windows and set up my 300mm f/2.8 lens on a heavy tripod.  Shooting quickly but deliberately level at sunset, I captured more than 20 images from the left to right.  The golden hour was truly beautiful. At home, I stitched these together to create my most successful and beautiful panorama.  The power of a panorama comes out when these are viewed very large.  I encourage you to visit my website where you can see this in original size.  It's huge...