Nikon D810, 38mm, ISO 200, 0.4 sec, f/13
Mather Point, located at the Grand Canyon Visitor Center, was the first stop of my weekend. After flying into Phoenix and driving 3.5 hours, I arrived at Mather Point shortly before sunset. This is a very crowded place for sunrise and sunset.
Afterwards, I drove to my hotel in the town of Tusayan. Because this was a last-minute business trip, I did not have the required lead time to make reservations for lodging inside the park. Driving to and from my hotel added about 30 minutes to my day compared to staying in the park. This made for slightly longer days when photographing sunrises and sunsets.
While processing this image, I learned about Lightroom’s Dehaze slider. The Dehaze slider is designed to cut through haze and boost contrast and color. It works well on skies and clouds, and images like this where there is little detail on the rocks. The Dehaze slider does increase saturation, so sometimes you have to reduce the Saturation or Vibrance sliders. Click here for an excellent video that explains the Clarity, Texture, and Dehaze sliders.
Mather Point: 36.062016°, -112.107690°
Train 119 at Golden Spike National Historic Site
Above is the first image posted to this website taken with my iPhone. We were on vacation out west, and, believe it or not, I took zero camera equipment. I was with several non-photographers and knew I would not be able to spend any time on my own. So when we went to Golden Spike National Historic Site, I was kicking myself for at least not having my camera. Oh well, the best camera is the one in your hands. Such a shame I did not have my camera, these trains are really photogenic. I know I could have spent several hours eyer shooting the trains and several of the old buildings.
Train 119 is one of two trains at the site; the other being the Jupiter. The trains steam into position near the visitor center every morning, and steam away late in the afternoon. Check the park website for exact days.
While the image is pretty good, the resolution really drops off when you start to zoom in.
I’ll continue to use my iPhone for vacation snapshots, but will stick to my Nikon to capture images.
N 41 37 04.8
W 112 33 05.34
Zoom in on Google Earth and you can see the trains.
