The Grand Canyon in winter

[RbnDave]

Last week, I was lucky enough to be at Grand Canyon National Park the day after a snow storm. Except for a few lingering clouds, the conditions were almost perfect for photography. I hope I didn't squander this once in a lifetime chance.

Please let me know what you think of these pics (kind of a lot for the critque forum)

http://www.pbase.com/rbndave/image/14193758/large.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/rbndave/image/14194261/large.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/rbndave/image/14194393/medium.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/rbndave/image/14194765/large.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/rbndave/image/14194644/medium.jpg

Thanks for any comments

Dave

[Conk]

These are absolutely beautiful. I would never have thought you'd ever see snow in that area. The photo's with snow on the trees remind me of infared photo's but the rest is all colour. Wow!

[kellylipp]

Image 261: Love it.

Now, how much fooling in Photoshop have you done?

[RbnDave]

Kelly,

I'll admit to a little cheating with PS. I actually only spent about ten mintues on pic 261. When I took that picture, I purposely took it underexposed. If I got the background properly exposed, the snow in the foreground would have been overexposed. I figured I could fix underexposer with PS but not overexposer.

I used fill flash on the entire pic. Also, I used the magic wand to select the blue parts of the sky and then added a little more blue to those areas. I posted the original.

http://www.pbase.com/rbndave/image/14208085/medium.jpg


Conk

Thanks for the comments. Acording to the people at the Grand Canyon, it snows there frequently in the winter, but it hadn't snowed in five years due to an extended drought. The elevation at the rim is about 7000 feet. They close the north rim for winter because of all the snow. When we planned the trip, there was no snow and we planned to hike to the bottom. The snow storm changed that.


Dave

[RbnDave]

Now that I can directly link photos, I had to edit this post. Are the pics too large for dial up users?

[eland]

I've seen the Canyon under snow, but that was some
years ago.

Your shots are excellent.

Images almost always look better with some help on
an editing program.

Photographers have always worked on their images, even
way back in the 1850's. Not even worth asking about
but your tip about underexposing is a good one.

These are shots to be proud of.

And yes they were a bit slow downloading.
Not so much due to size but number of images.
It was worth the wait !

eland

[gandini]

These are great images! I especially like your willingness to show us the original against the "final" image of the long view down the canyon. This comparison just shows what can be achieved by judicious use of digital image editing tools--all with the aim of improving the image for the viewer. Which in this case turned a pretty ordinary looking photo into a wall-hanging jaw dropper! Absolutely great, and thanks.

cheers,

[kowen]

Wonderful shots, breathtaking views. Thanks for posting. I lived in Arizona for 3 years-Phoenix, never hit the Canyon.

Kerry

[RbnDave]

Thanks for the comments and compliments everyone. I've been lurking around this site for the past year and I have learned a lot from your posts.

Dave